Watford Water Polo Club retained the Herts League Division One Trophy for the third consecutive year by beating Bedford 15-7 to end the season unbeaten.

Four quick-fire goals gave Watford the perfect start, with Jack Pickford (2), Cami Baker and Zoltan Agocs helping establish a commanding lead.

Bedford did pull one back, but Watford began the second period strongly and efforts from Pickford and James Kattan put them five goals clear. Carpenter scored either side of a goal from Watford’s Andy Holt, before Baker and Sam Carling weighed in for a 9-3 half-time lead.

Watford continued to score at will and a brace from Holt was added to by Yakov Sadovskii. Justine Irvine got one back for Bedford, but Watford soon replied via Tamas Csendes and Agocs.

The final quarter ended 2-1 in Bedford’s favour, but Watford were already well ahead.

Watford have also moved top of the London League Division One standings with an 18-15 win over Chelmsford.

Victory guarantees Watford second spot and potentially a play-off against Premier Division outfit Beckenham for a place in the top-flight next term.

Nandi Cseh gave Watford the lead, but a brace from Joel Abbott and one from Nick Hart turned the game in Chelmsford’s favour.

Cseh and Abbott traded goals once more, before Holt brought the deficit to within one goal for Watford. Hart netted again to put Chelmsford 5-3 ahead at the end of the quarter.

Pickford scored a spectacular solo effort and further efforts from Holt and Richard Hime kept Watford within touching distance as Chelmsford scored twice more to make it 7-6.

Chelmsford struck early in the third quarter, but two from Agocs tied the score up at 8-8. Both sides cancelled one another out to end the quarter at 11-11; Watford netting through Csendes, Holt and Kattan.

The goals continued to flow with the game tied at 14-14 and time running out. However Watford found the extra gear and scored twice through Cseh and once with Rogers and Holt to seal victory.