MEN’S 1STS BACK IN NATIONAL INDOOR ACTION

The spotlight is back on the national indoor game this coming weekend with the Men’s 1sts competing in Division 2 of the Maxinutrition Hockey 5s at the UWE in Bristol. The squad goes into the event following nine successive victories which has seen them win the East Championship in December and Division 2 North of the Maxinutrition Hockey 5s the weekend before last. They play Cheltenham (12.00) and Wimbledon (3.00) on Saturday and Indian Gymkhana (9.00), West Herts (12.00) and Sheffield Hallam (3.00) on Sunday.  Magpies beat Cheltenham 8-6 and Sheffield Hallam 10-3 on their way to the Division 2 North title but they will be taking nothing for granted as they seek one of the two promotion places. ‘Out on loan’ Magpies playing for other teams are likely to include Richard Alexander and Matt Riches for Wimbledon, qualifiers from Division 2 South alongside Indian Gym and West Herts, and Will Blyth and Gareth Furlong for Sheffield Hallam.

Good luck to the Magpies squad which is – Leigh Sitch (captain), Chris Barber, Tristan Baynes, Andrew Bedwell, Simon Hipwell, Richard Hobley, Richard Larkin, Rees Leonard (GK), Sam Moore, Toby Price, Thomas Ridley, Sam Rowe, Mark Wheelhouse, Martin Fields (coach) and Bertie Steggles (manager).

Last weekend at Arena Sport Kettering Bowdon Hightown and Reading qualified for the Maxinutrition Hockey 5s women’s final to be played at Wembley Arena on Sunday 2 February (3.15). Bowdon needed a penalty shootout to beat Canterbury in their semi-final after a 5-5 draw and Reading who had been three goals ahead against Slough (with whom Magpies drew 2-2 the previous weekend) in the other semi were thankful that Alex Danson completed her hat-trick with fifteen seconds remaining!

The semi-finals of the men’s event to be played on the same day at Wembley Arena will be between East Grinstead and Holcombe (12.30) with Reading taking on Canterbury (1.45). The final is scheduled for 4.45. Tickets are available on 0844 824 4824.

Last weekend all our outdoor teams were in league action (except for the Ladies’ 1sts who resume on 8 February) and despite two wins for the Men’s 1sts pride of place has to go to the Ladies’ 2nds for their splendid 6-1 away win over Broxbourne. Early in the season they lost to Broxbourne at Weybread despite dominating the match for long periods but they made no mistake this time with the goals coming from Krystal Bishop (3), Katie Ogden, Lucy Whiting and Katrina Sitch. This coming Saturday they have an even tougher game when they entertain second placed Bromley & Beckenham (2.15) looking to make up for their 4-0 defeat when the teams met at the beginning of October and when Magpies were still adjusting to life in the East Premier.

While Katrina was scoring at Broxbourne husband Leigh is reputed to have scored a rare goal for the Men’s 1sts at Wisbech. It is rumoured to have come about when the penalty corner routine went wrong giving Leigh a chance to score the team’s first outdoor goal of 2014 and this coming hard on the heels of his indoor goal the previous week! But as I have no wish to further boost an ego (!) I’ll move swiftly on to say that Sam Moore made the game safe with a second half effort. The next day at home the team had another tough encounter coming out on top 2-1 over Cambridge University with goals by Toby Price and Chris Barber although I’m sorry to say I missed the game following the affects of a minor op two days earlier. The weekend was made even better for coach Les Howlett and his squad having David Ling thankfully playing again after his long term injury and learning that West Herts had lost on Saturday to City of Peterborough. But Magpies will be fully aware that they play both these strong teams in the next three weeks.

At Weybread on Saturday the Ladies’ 3rds suffered a rare defeat going down 2-0 to Dereham 2nds while the Ladies’ 5ths were made to work hard to beat theLadies’ 6ths (for whom goalkeeper Amelia Norman was in outstanding form) with Lauren Rowe coming up with the vital goal; the Girls’ Development beat Pelicans 3-0 (Millie Preece, Phoebe Ellington, Georgie Cantrell) without the onfield help of player manager Sandra Elliner who has unfortunately broken her right thumb while theLadies’ 4ths as expected had a tough time against unbeaten league leaders UEA going down 6-1 (Caz Aldous). Away from home there was an encouraging 3-0 win for the Ladies’ 7ths over Norwich City 6ths with the goals coming from skipper Shirley McAllen (2) and Lucy Freeman on her fourteenth birthday.

Also in Weybread action were five of our men’s teams with the 2nds again playing some really attractive hockey but for the fourth successive game shipping a lot of goals losing 6-3 to Letchworth who also had a leaky defence. William Dunn scored a superb reverse stick equaliser from  a pinpoint pass by David Francis and despite getting back into the game with another quality equaliser, this time from skipper Lawrence Baynes, Martin Fields’ penalty stroke conversion came too late in the game to affect the outcome.  This Saturday the team is away to Cambridge University 2nds (1.30) whom they beat 5-1 earlier in the season.

Meanwhile the 3rds were determined to ensure that the 4ths were unlikely to repeat their comeback when the teams met earlier in the season. Skipper Matt Brand scored two early goals with the others coming from Andy Johnson and Guy Paul who also scored a couple each. Jack Frere-Smith got the consolation for the 4ths. Next up were the 6ths beating UEA 4ths with Duncan Cogdell making a rare but very welcome appearance with a couple of trademark goals with the other coming from Jake Sewell while earlier in the day the Boys’ Development lost 8-1 (Ben Kilburn) to Pelicans. Away from home the Men’s 5ths played well despite losing 2-0 to Dereham 3rds while the 10-man Men’s 7ths lost 4-0 to Felixstowe 3rds.

Good luck to all our teams this weekend including on Sunday, in EHB O50s Cup Round 3 action, the Men’s Vets at Chelmsford (2.00). Please see the website for a full list of the fixtures.

Congratulations to Tim Whiteman who made his debut for England in their 2-0 win last Friday against host’s India in the first match of the Hero Hockey World League Finals. Tim, who learnt to play hockey at Magpies and was in the first team before going to university, has gone on to play in England’s subsequent wins over Germany (2-1) and New Zealand (5-1). Commenting on Tim’s debut head coach Bobby Crutchley said “Tim played really well tonight and it’s great to see him playing at this level. We’ve always known he is a high quality player, both on the ball and with the decisions he makes and he showed all of that tonight. He’s struggled with injuries in recent years and I’m delighted to see him come through that and get his first cap.” After their three wins England head their pool and next play in the quarter- finals on Wednesday – see www.youtube.com/fihockey

Other comments in brief

a) Best wishes to the England men’s team which is competing in the EuroHockey Indoor Championships from 17-19 January in Vienna. With 18 members of the England centralised training squad in India playing in the World League Finals the tournament provides a great opportunity for players on the fringe of the centralised group to experience indoor hockey against seven of the world’s best teams. England’s aim will be to at least finish in the top six to retain their status and to qualify for next year’s Indoor World Cup in Germany.

b) ‘Thank you’ if you have completed the strategy committee’s questionnaire.If not you are urged to kindly do so and it is available from the Home Page of the club’s website.

c) It is also ‘thank you’ (and a big one) to Andrew Longe for kindly realigning two columns of floodlights on the sand-based pitch following their battering from the recent high winds.    

d) Former 1^st teamer Emily Wilford, who is now at Birmingham University, is running in this April’s London Marathon for cancer research and is looking for sponsors. If you would like to help Emily and her great cause please go to www.justgiving.com/Emily-Wilford1

IceniPost.com – sponsors of www.magpies-hockey.co.uk

With kind regards

Mike Denham

[email protected]

14/1/14

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