DUNFERMLINE Water Polo Club’s senior men have their sights set on retaining the Scottish Cup after reaching the final for the second successive year.

The club’s pool stars cruised past the challenge of Warrender at Carnegie Leisure Centre last Thursday with a 22-8 win that has put them through to a meeting with Portobello in the new year.

The success of the senior men was followed by the club’s under-16 side who were crowned Scottish National League winners on Sunday after they came from 10-7 behind in the final period to clinch a memorable 11-10 victory over Warrender in their final match to end the season unbeaten.

Four goals each from James Melville and Euan Broatch and solitary strikes from Hannah Milner and Finlay Nesbitt gave Dunfermline the victory and coach Paul Metcalfe said, “They can be proud of this win and also in the manner of the league victory which came as a result of the contribution of the whole squad over the year. With only one player moving up an age group next year, this young squad is well-placed to achieve further success next year under the guidance of coaches Davy Stewart and Calum Fraser.” And there was further good news for the club’s junior section as Thomas Cameron and Craig Harris were selected for the 2001 Scotland boys’ squad that will travel to Walsall on 6th and 7th December to take part in the 2014 Inter-Regional Water Polo Championships.

Senior team manager Alasdair Campbell said, “We are up against it financially because we have to fund everything ourselves and pool time isn’t cheap but we do really well.

“It’s a great achievement for the senior team to reach the Scottish Cup final. It will be tough – last year we beat them in the semi-final after extra-time but they have won it 10 times in the past 11 years. It will be a proper final and is great for the younger guys in the team that are coming through to be able to experience it.

“I hope that the juniors would look up to the seniors and see that they can go on and achieve quite a lot in the sport. It’s great news for Thomas and Craig – for water polo in Scotland, the goal is to go down south and play as the standard is higher, especially at that age. It is also how players will get noticed for a call-up to the GB youth set-up, which is as high as you can go, so it is a good opportunity for them.”