The U16 Girls and U18 Boys deserve centre stage this week as both will be playing over the coming weekend in their respective national indoor club championship finals. The Girls, having qualified as East champions, will be in action, as last year, at the Aldersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton and the Boys, as East runner-up, will be playing at Whitgift School in Croydon. The U16 Girls were cruelly denied a semi-final place last year by conceding a last second goal in their final pool game and with six of last season’s squad returning this year they will be determined to avoid a similar slip and to, hopefully, emulate the Magpies’ squad which finished as champions three years ago. The U18 Boys have yet to become national champions (the U16 Boys achieved this distinction in 2004) so this year would be as good as any to get the club’s name on the trophy for the first time.
Good luck to our strong looking squads which are as follows. Please see the Home Page of the club’s website for their pool matches.
U16 Girls – Sarah Brook (capt), Ellie O’Sullivan (GK), Holly Baker, Emily Brown, Elizabeth Jones, Catriona MacIver, Katherine Ridley, Saffron Wilford, Kira Wooltorton. Coach (David Brook), Manager (Nigel Wooltorton). U18 Boys – Will Blyth (capt), James Graham (GK), Tom Graham, Elliott Smith, Rhodri Furlong, Dom Absolon, Sam Ashurst, Josh Fitzgerald, George Payne, Andrew Johnson, James Baker, Giles Flatt. Coach (Martin Fields).
I remind you of the Not The Cheese and Wine! being held on Saturday 28 January (7.30pm) in Tibbenham’s Barn, Weybread. Your support would be much appreciated. Tickets £12 (including food and drink) are obtainable from me or from the clubhouse bar.
Last Saturday brought much needed wins for some of our teams. The Ladies’ 3rds outplayed visitors Lowestoft Railway 4-0 (Catherine Kilbourn, Dominique Dyball, Saffron Wilford, Catriona MacIver) to record their first win (apart from a walk-over) since their excellent start to the season; the Ladies’ 6ths beat Lowestoft Railway 2nds at Weybread with goals by Jose Tibbenham and Clemmy Ardley-Forder and the Men’s 2nds, after three consecutive defeats, beat Colchester 2-1 away with late goals by new skipper Martin Fields and Rhodri Furlong, the latter making a very welcome league debut for the club. Meantime the Ladies’ 2nds were maintaining their 100% record with a hard fought 4-2 win (Krystal Bishop (2), Keira Booty, Lucy Whiting) over nearest challengers Sprowston (with Anouska Hipperson both the MOTM and the DOTD – is this a record?!) and the Men’s 7ths were recording their eighth consecutive win by beating UEA 3rds with two goals each from the deadly duo of Roger Kent and Jon Wells. Goalkeeper Eric Davy, protected by a ‘ring of steel’, kept a clean sheet (albeit without a shot to save) which begs the question as to whether skipper Murray Graham will be able to force his way back into the team when fit again! But picking the team should help!
After the Ladies’ 3rds it was time for the Men’s 3rds to grace the water-based against Cambridge City 3rds with just eleven players despite the best endeavours of skipper Matt Brand due to playing numbers being tight throughout the club. After City took an early lead Matt was unfortunate (on his son Benjamin’s 5th birthday) to collide shortly afterwards with his goalkeeper, James Lane. The upshot was that Matt (who has not missed a game for 15 years) had to leave the field with what turned out to be his left collarbone broken in two places. Matt is, thankfully, making good progress from the operation which he had the next day in the N&N to put a plate in his shoulder. With the team reduced to nine for the first fifteen minutes of the second half (due to a school match commitment) the remaining players gave their all with James Lane pulling off a series of fine saves. He was later beaten to the MOTM award by Charlie Blandy in an arm wrestling competition after both had received the same number of votes! Restored to eleven with subs Jonathan Aldridge and Toby Williamson the team secured a dramatic late equaliser when Tiger Brice swept home Jonathan’s accurate through pass. Some game!
Pressure on the Men’s playing resources this week (with the U18 Boys in indoor action) is eased with the postponement of the Men’s 7ths game (until 31 March) thanks to the much appreciated cooperation of Div 5NE league secretary David Burt and Felixstowe HC and the work of our men’s fixture secretary Merna Merrett.
The league action at Weybread on Saturday is led by the Ladies’ 2nds who entertain IES (12.30) and the Men’s 2nds who host Blueharts (2.15). In other matches the Ladies’ 5ths will be determined to get back to winning ways, after their defeat by leaders Norwich City 3rds last weekend, when they play Dereham 4ths away (12.45) and the Men’s 5ths, after their 2-2 draw away to Ipswich 3rds, welcome Sudbury 2nds (1.45). Please see the website for the full list of matches. Good luck to all our teams and thanks to all the umpires.
I must confess to not having embraced the phenomenon of ‘social media’ so I am grateful to James Lane for the following.
Magpies now has a new Facebook page and a Twitter feed – apt for Magpies! If you go to www.facebook.com/magpieshockey and click LIKE, you will be kept up to date with fixtures, results, news and views, including this column linked to it. There is a Group already, but this is a better way to feed info to club members and followers.
The Twitter for Magpies is @magpieshockeytv, so search for Magpies Hockey on Twitter, or go to www.twitter.com/magpieshockeytv and follow us.
With kind regards
Mike Denham
17/1/12
To find out more about Lowestoft College ring 0800 854695
To find out more about Lowestoft College ring 0800 854695
