MEN’S 1STS STILL HAVE PROMOTION CHANCE
After last Saturday’s matches four teams, including Magpies Men’s 1sts, are still in with a chance of winning the East Premier A title and with it a place in next season’s national league. But the main beneficiary of the draw between Cambridge University and Magpies were Wapping (victors over Wisbech) who if they beat Cambridge University away this coming Saturday will be champions provided they beat Felixstowe on the final day of the season.
Magpies entertain the other promotion hopefuls St Albans this Saturday (12.00) and they must win and hope that CU beat or, better still, draw with Wapping then it would be back in the hands of Magpies with Blueharts and Felixstowe to play. A further significant match could yet be St Albans versus CU on 21 March!
Magpies expected the students to give them a really tough game last Saturday and that is precisely what they got. Ben Wright put Magpies ahead in the first half after considerable CU pressure and the students equalised before the break. Thereafter CU continued to dominate the game but Magpies defended well, with Leigh Sitch and keeper John Livings to the fore, against class opponents and did well to come away with what might yet be a vital point. St Albans, who thumped Dereham 8-1 last weekend, will also give Magpies a severe test on Saturday and especially if they can repeat the level of play they reached in the first half when beating Magpies 3-2 back in November. Very unfortunately Magpies will be without Chris Barber for the rest of the league season due to the hamstring injury he sustained, ironically, in scoring the tenth goal in the team’s 14-1 win over Wisbech on 21 February.
Also playing away last Saturday were the Ladies’ 1sts and they recorded their fourth win on their travels this season beating Horsham 1-0 with their goal coming in the third minute when Lucy Whiting followed up her first shot which had hit a post. This good result for Magpies keeps Horsham rooted to the bottom of the table with the best they can hope for a relegation play-off place at present occupied by Bedford after their 3-1 defeat by Ipswich who need two points from their last two games for safety. Meanwhile third-placed Magpies will be on their travels again on Saturday when they play second-placed Sevenoaks (1.30) who beat them 2-1 at Weybread in November.
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FIZZ & CANAPES EVENING – SATURDAY 28 MARCH TIBBENHAM’S BARN. PLEASE NOTE YOUR DIARY.
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Meanwhile there were away defeats for the Men’s 2nds and Ladies’ 2nds. The Men’s 2nds went down 4-2 to Ipswich who look likely to join already promoted Havering in East Premier A next season. In a game in which three Magpies’ players saw yellow Ipswich led 4-0 (with the help of three penalty corner conversions) until David Francis pulled a goal back in the second half with the second another James Baker ‘special’. Max Macaulay found Phil Cobbald down the right wing and James allowed Phil’s centre to pass behind his back before finding the corner of the goal with a deft reverse stick shot. Magpies are safe from relegation which for the sake of the nerves of their supporters is just as well as they have three of the top four teams yet to play to complete their season starting with Letchworth (1.30) away this Saturday. On the plus side the team will recall they beat Letchworth 4-2 at home in November at the start of their revival. The Ladies’ 2nds lost 3-0 to West Herts but luckily teams below them also lost meaning that Magpies need three points from their last three games to be sure of not falling into any of the four relegation spots. The team have an away double-header this weekend when they play Norwich Dragons on Saturday (12.30) and Ipswich 2nds on Sunday (1.30).
There was also mixed success for our other teams playing away. The Ladies’ 4ths lost 4-0 against Broadland, the Ladies’ 6ths got a good draw against Broadland 2nds with Verity Tomson scoring and Phoebe Eglington making her ladies’ hockey debut a few days after her thirteenth birthday, the Ladies’ 7ths beat Norwich Dragons 7ths 5-1 with their goals coming from Shirley McAllen (2), skipper Karen Ray and most notably of all with two (her first ever goals) from Annie Lancaster who took up the game a season or two later than most players! Also away were the Men’s 5ths who lost 6-1 (John Pope) to an Andy Cook inspired Ipswich 3rds and the Men’s 4ths who got an excellent point drawing 2-2 with third-placed Pelicans 2nds with their goals coming from Harry Haigh and Jake Sewell who both played well. At 2-2 Sol Barker made a vital goal line save and next day he was on the score sheet with both goals in the team’s 6-2 away defeat at the hands of Bury St Edmunds who are well set for promotion.
The two Development teams got play underway at Weybread with the Girls drawing 1-1 against an older Lowestoft Railways team. Railway opened the scoring just before half time and midway through the second half Grace Collison equalised in an evenly contested game. The Boys had to settle for a practice match as Pelicans were, unfortunately, unable to raise a team. With no midday games the next team into action were the Men’s 6ths playing Sudbury 3rds and a few minutes after the start Roger Kent was back in the clubhouse bleeding profusely from a cut (caused by the ball) over his left eye. He was immediately in the tender care of Philippa Taylor, Kirstin Cumming and ‘chief nurse’ Sandra Elliner while three bystanders were cruelly milking the occasion for all the humour they could extract! I asked the brave Roger if he was concussed to which he replied ‘No, I can still hear you!’ Meanwhile Sandra was applying Steri-Strips and copious bandages and before long Roger who started the game as a man was re-joining it as a mummy! Sudbury scored the only goal of the game shortly before the end and not long after Steve Halliley in the Magpies goal had made a fine save flinging himself to his right. There is no truth in the nasty rumour that this was the first save that Steve had made all season and coming as it was on the eve of his 49th birthday!
By now we needed some home wins and they came from the Ladies’ 5ths, captained by Emma Tolhurst in the rare absence of Jose Tibbenham, and the Ladies’ 3rds. The 5ths beat Dereham 4ths 2-1 with their goals coming from Alice Woollatt and Anna Kilbourn but towards the end of the game the team were under pressure while the 3rds were winning for the eighth time in their last ten games beating Dereham 3rds 3-0 (Catherine Kilbourn 3) and they are almost certain to finish third in their league. In the last game of the day the fine run of the Men’s 3rds came to an end against Norwich Dragons 2nds despite Andy Johnson converting a penalty stroke eight minutes into the second half before Dragons scored two excellent goals to give them a deserved victory. Outstanding in defence once again for Magpies was Deben Nelson whose form since his comeback has been an important factor in the team’s recent revival.
On Sunday at Weybread the Mixed team beat Havering 5-1 in the 3rd round of the England Hockey Cup. Havering started the game very brightly and Magpies appeared to be in for a tough game but after Ben Wright scored with a reverse stick shot at the left post and Toby Price had pounced on a loose ball in the circle to make it 2-0 an easy win then seemed likely. But Havering, with what turned out to be their only shot of the game, scored with an excellent reverse stick effort just before half time to put doubts in the minds of the home supporters. However, after the break Magpies resumed their control of a sporting game and Martin Fields made the game safe shooting home in spectacular style from an excellent through pass by Andrew Bedwell. Ben then made it 4-1 before in the last minute Toby Price went on a thrilling run from defence before crossing from the left and after some neat stickwork Ben passed the ball to Maria Andrews who scored the fifth. Outstanding for Magpies in a good squad performance were Amy Campbell, Richard Larkin and Katrina Sitch. In the next round (Last 16) on Sunday 26 April Magpies are away to Wisbech.
Good luck as always to our teams this coming weekend including the Men’s Over 50s who host West Wilts on Sunday (2.00) in the 4th round of the England Hockey Masters Cup and our teams who will be playing in the Norwich Dragons Minis. Please see the Latest News page of the website for the complete list of fixtures.
80TH ANNIVERSARY BALL
At the Ball on Saturday 13 June it is hoped to display a range of photographs depicting the activities of the club and its members over the years. If you have some suitable photographs which you are kindly willing to lend for this purpose please let me know. The organisers of the Ball are also looking for someone to co-ordinate this project. Any offers please?
With kind regards
Mike Denham
10/3/15
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