INDOOR TRIUMPHS WITH MORE TO COME?
What an indoor month January is turning out to be for the club with the Ladies’ 1sts winning division 1 of the national league in Lilleshall over the weekend and the Men’s 1sts also gaining promotion back to the premier league when finishing second in their division 1 in Birmingham.
To make things even better
we have the possibility of more national success this coming weekend when the U16 Boys and Girls compete in the club finals in Wolverhampton with the U18 Girls in action in Croydon.The Ladies’ 1sts topped their league after dropping just two points in eight games to secure a return to the premier league after a gap of several years while the Men’s 1sts are back in the top league after just one season out. While the Ladies were three points clear of second placed Clifton, whom they had beaten 13-4 the previous weekend, they were seven points clear of the third placed team. In contrast I witnessed the Men’s 1sts having a mixed but ultimately successful weekend. Going into Saturday top of their league with three wins from four games they started with a good 6-4 win over Brooklands MU before losing 8-6 (from being 5-3 up at half time) to the eventual champions Sevenoaks. Needing to win their two matches on Sunday to ensure promotion they played well in the last fifteen minutes to edge past Bournville 4-3 at the unfriendly start time of 9.00am (for players and spectators alike!) and they were then helped in the next two games by Doncaster beating Brooklands
7-5 and Sevenoaks comfortably seeing off the challenge of Barford Tigers 8-2. These results meant that promotion was assured which was just as well as by their own admission they played badly to let slip a late lead to lose 4-3 to Stourport. But at the end of two demanding weekends it is ‘congratulations’ to both the Ladies’ and Men’s squads who have done the club proud.
There were 102 games played in the four men’s national indoor leagues and every team found the net at least once in all their games except one. The one team was Havant when facing Marc Lloyd the Magpies’ keeper. Well done Lloydy!
It is a remarkable achievement for a club to get three of its youth teams through to the indoor finals and it is best wishes to our players and their managements. It would be really good for at least one of our teams to emulate the U16 Girls who were national champions in season 2008-9. The format for all three events is the same with teams in two pools of five and after two matches on Saturday and Sunday the top two in each pool progress to the semis with the final later in the day. Please see the Home Page of the club’s website for more details of our matches.
Turning now to the outdoor game last Saturday was for once a bad day for the ladies’ teams with only the 3rds winning when they beat Beccles 2-0. In contrast the Men’s 3rds moved up to third place with a 3-1 win over Spalding, the 4ths gained a much needed win over Dereham 3rds and there were good wins for the 5ths and 7ths. The Ladies’ 2nds, 4ths, 5ths and 6ths all have home advantage this Saturday as they seek to get back to winning ways and the Men’s 2nds will hope to do the same when they take on Ramgarhia (2.15) in need of points after their 5-1 away defeat at the hands of league leaders Dereham. Good luck as always to all our teams.
The many friends of Charles Cunningham will have been greatly saddened by his death last Friday. He was held in the highest possible regard by all of us lucky enough to have known him and to have enjoyed his company. Charles was a very keen Magpies’ supporter and was often seen on the touchline at Weybread, with his wife Ann, when not watching his other favourite club, Ipswich Town. Our condolences go to Ann – who is a vice-president of HMHC – on her great loss.
Congratulations and best wishes to Rachel and James Goodson on the recent birth of Thomas Stuart. This is also very happy news, of course, to Rachel’s and James’s families with Rachel’s mother being, as many members will know, our club president Irene Bicker.
Comments in brief
· Tickets (£12 each including food and drink) for the Savoury & Sauvignon Soiree to be held in Tibbenham’s Barn on Saturday 29 January (7.30pm) are on sale from the clubhouse bar or by calling 0774 779 5481. Please come – you will be very welcome! Irene Bicker is organising the raffle to be held during the evening and would appreciate any prize(s) you are willing to kindly leave at the club this coming Saturday or to bring along on the night.
· The clubhouse kitchen is in need of a replacement electric cooker. If you have a suitable one going spare I should be grateful if you would kindly let me know.
Mike Denham 01603 506925 [email protected] 18/1/11
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