The fourth placed Dolphins defeated Minor premiers Mariners 4-3, in an unexpected result at Southern Highland's water polo semi-final night at the Frensham pool.
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Finals time can bring out the best and worst in teams and this is what spectators witnessed on Monday evening in this game.
The scores reflected the closeness of the match, with the scores even at the first break at 1-1. Sean Andrews scoring for Mariners and Hal Canute for Dolphins. Both goalkeepers were on top of their games, as the game flowed from end to end.
The halftime score saw the Dolphins poke their noses in front, as they took a 3-2 lead into the main break. Hamish Barber posting a double on the back of a great defensive effort that only Campbell Wakeling had been able to penetrate for Mariners.
The Mariners saw so many shots go sailing over the crossbar the exact opposite of their normally accurate shooting. In the tense period after halftime it was again the defence of both teams that stood out, Mariners were unable to find the net, while Hamish Barber posted his third goal of the match for Dolphins and at 4-2, an edge that was enough to take them to the grand final next week.
The Mariners tried valiantly to comeback in the final period but were restricted to a single goal to Alexandra McCue. While disappointing for Mariners the Dolphins have shown that they are real premiership contenders.
In the other B grade semi-final Horton's Heroes won a place in next week's Grand Final with an 8-2 demolition of the Polar Bears B.
The Polar Bears held their ground in the first quarter at 1-1, through a Karl Nurse goal.
Horton's Heroes stepped up a notch from the start of the second period, Marco Basaglia managed a second Polar Bears goal and were still in the match at 4-2 at halftime.
Austin Lockhart had scored three for Horton's Heroes and John Jamieson 1. From the start of the third period it was all Horton's Heroes as they posted four more unanswered goals, Austin Lockhart had scored three more goals for Horton's Heroes and John Jamieson another to mirror their first half efforts.
The unsung hero was Horton's goalie Cameron Butcher who saved many shots, stumping the Polar Bears attack.
In A grade the Mariners put up some stiff opposition against minor premiers, Sharks 5-9.
Sharks had the first bite and led 2-0 at the end of the first break through goals to Miles Lochhead and Emma Maddox.
The second period saw Mariners comeback and they took the second period 2-1, to see the scores balanced at 3-2 to Sharks, going into the second half.
Will Jamieson and Jovi Winters scored for Mariners and Gabby Butcher for Sharks. Sharks came back in the third period to take it 3-2 and give themselves a two goals buffer going into the last period.
Emma Maddox scored twice and Ian Feary once for Sharks and Jason Sellers and Will Jamieson for Mariners. The Sharks made sure that they kept up the pressure in the final period taking it 3-1, with two goals to Jason Nicholas and one to Ian Feary for Sharks and Jason Sellers for Mariners for the final 9-5 scoreline.
In the other A grade game the Dolphins grip on a Grand Final position was only in doubt for a matter of a couple of minutes, as the scores were 1-1 for that long.
It proved to be Polar Bears only goal through Scott Bidewell, as they went down to Dolphins 12-1.
It was a case of scoring machine Daniel Barnes being too hard to contain, as he posted six of his teams goals, Ben Canute scored three and Blake Osborne three.
The outside shooting of Dolphins was on the mark. Polar Bears goalkeeper Andrew Basaglia was facing a daunting task.
With Dolphins having won their last meeting with Sharks it sets up an intriguing Grand Final next week.
The B grade Grand Final between Horton's Heroes and Dolphins B is at 6:15.
The A grade Grand Final between Sharks and Dolphins is at 7:30.
