BASINGSTOKE'S water polo team failed to make the most of home advantage during the fifth weekend of the National Water Polo season, as they lost all three games at the Aquadrome.

Poor starts to all the games cost the team. Slow starts seemed to have turned into a bit of a habit, something they need to put right in the final weekend of the season at Ealing in two weeks' time.

Surprisingly, Basingstoke still lie in fifth place in the league, one point ahead of their nearest rivals Invicta Marlins of Kent.

In their first game last Saturday against Newcastle, the team were 4-1 down after the first period.

The second session saw the team respond with a couple of scores, but they still trailed 6-3.

The third quarter saw Newcastle outscore Basingstoke 4-2 to extend their lead to 10-5.

However, an excellent comeback in the final period saw Ben Naylor score four goals without reply to leave the score at 10-9.

With 15 seconds remaining, Basingstoke were in possession and were trying to call a time-out to maximise their scoring chances. The referees failed to respond to this and the game ended.

The second game saw Basingstoke pitched against Scottish champs Portobello on Sunday morning, the only team in the league with an unbeaten record. Not surprisingly, Basingstoke lost 19-6.

The last game of the weekend saw the home side face Invicta Marlins.

Basingstoke had previously beaten Invicta 8-7 in weekend two and were hoping for a repeat of this.

Another slow start saw the home side trailing 3-1 after the first period and 5-2 at half-time.

A better third quarter by the team saw them pull Invicta back to 6-3. Naylor, Steve Fairhead and Gav Bridger were the pick of the Basingstoke players, all putting in strong performances.

The last period saw the home team fade away as they lost 10-6.

Basingstoke now travel to Ealing in London for the final round of the National League, with games against Bristol University and British Armed Forces.

For the team to stand any chance of maintaining their current league position, they will need to win both games.

The local members of the team are Steve Paton, Fairhead, Bridger, Paul Adams, Naylor and Neil Ingram.