Prince William watched with former GB player Joanna Wray

Great Britain's women have reached the semi-finals of water polo's European Nations Trophy in Manchester after winning their three group games.

Chloe Wilcox scored five goals to take her tournament tally to 19 as Britain crushed Slovakia 17-6 on Thursday, with Prince William among the spectators.

That result guaranteed a semi-final appearance for Britain after they also beat Belarus 20-4 and Portugal 8-3.

Britain will play either Croatia or Slovakia in Saturday's semi-final.

The competition features eight of the top 14 teams in Europe and Britain's impressive form in the tournament means they bypass the quarter-finals as group winners.

Captain Ros Griffiths said: "It was wonderful to have Prince William here. The whole experience was very different and we had fantastic support.

"We all worked really well as a team and are really positive about the semi-finals now. There are a number of areas which we can improve on but we're feeling confident for the next game."

And that game will either be a re-match against Slovakia, who finished third in Group B after the heavy defeat by Britain, or Croatia, who were narrowly beaten 16-13 by the Czech Republic in Group A.

Victory for the Czech Republic meant they maintained their unbeaten record in the competition and they too go straight into the semi-finals where they will play either Portugal or Ukraine.

Prince William was at the Manchester Aquatics Centre to show his support for British water polo, which suffered a 75% cut in funding during UK Sport's recent shake-up.

The Prince, who was selected to represent Scotland Universities in an international tournament in 2004, said: "Water polo is very personal to me.

"And we saw a fantastic performance from the British women's team."

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