YET MORE INDOOR SUCCESS FOR MAGPIES
What an indoor season it has been for the club! The U14 Girls came second in the Brentwood tournament, the Ladies’ 1sts retained their national premier league status playing against the top teams in the country and last weekend the Men’s 1sts came second in division two of the national league at the UWE in Bristol (and with it promotion to division one for next season) to add to their division two north title earlier in the month.
On Saturday they got off to a good start beating Cheltenham 8-5 before losing 5-3 to Wimbledon the eventual champions. This left them needing a minimum of two wins from their three games on Sunday to have a chance of promotion and they started well beating Indian Gymkhana 10-5. They then lost 7-4 to West Herts in their worst performance of the weekend. This left them needing to beat Sheffield Hallam in their last match and for Wimbledon to beat Indian Gym if they were to secure the second promotion spot. They duly beat Sheffield Hallam 7-0 and with Wimbledon going on to defeat Indian Gym, Magpies had pipped Indian Gym for second place. Congratulations to coach Martin Fields, skipper Leigh Sitch, manager Bertie Steggles and all other members of the squad for doing the club proud.
The team must now forget about indoor hockey and concentrate on the outdoor version of our sport as they prepare for Saturday’s vital away game against City of Peterborough (1.00) who recently claimed the scalp of West Herts thereby enabling Magpies to open up a gap over West Herts at the top of the league. But this advantage could well disappear with defeat on Saturday before the even more vital home clash with West Herts on Saturday week.
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Meanwhile at Weybread last Saturday the first game of the day on the water-based was between the Men’s 7ths and the 6ths and the ‘home’ team shocked the league leaders by taking a two-goal lead through Harry Haigh and a long distance effort from Roger Kent (there are no OGs in Musings!) before the 6ths hit back through Stuart Peters just before half time. That other youngster Simon Bardwell equalised just after the break and from then on the 6ths, for whom Matthew Bensly was in good form, were on top with Sol Barker and Jake Sewell scoring to clinch victory for the 6ths at the end of a well contested game. On the other pitch theLadies’ 7ths were recording their second successive victory by beating Norwich Dragons 6ths with goals by skipper Shirley McAllen (2), Lucy Freeman (2), Eve Barnes and very welcome new member Sarah Ahrens. Next into action on the sand-based were the Ladies’ 5ths playing Norwich Dragons 4ths and they took the lead with a first half goal by Victoria Findlay who scored again near the end to maintain the team’s impressive run of form which has taken them to the top of their league on goal difference from Diss whom they play away this Saturday (12.00). I apologise for giving the team’s knowledgeable and keen band of supporters a light shower as I watered for the next game on the other pitch!
This was between the Ladies’ 2nds and second placed Bromley & Beckenhamand the home team’s cause was not helped when the visitors converted a penalty corner in the opening seconds of the game.
B & B continued to have the upper hand in the first half in which Katie Ogden was outstanding in the home defence. But Magpies shaded the second half with Mel Ludlam in sparkling form in a really good squad performance. But the equaliser would not come leaving the squad and their enthusiastic supporters to rue the start to the game. This coming Saturday skipper Frances Taylor and her team will be hoping to complete the double over Chelmsford 2nds at Chelmer Park (2.00).
Other teams in home action were the Ladies’ 6ths, Men’s 5ths and Men’s 4thsand all suffered defeats by narrowish margins against opponents who are enjoying impressive seasons to-date. The Ladies’ 6ths went down 4-2 (Laura Schultheiss and Katharine Thistlethwayte) to Thetford; the Men’s 5ths lost to Watton 4-1 (Mitchell Tompkins) while in the last game of the day the Men’s 4ths lost 3-1 (Jonathan Aldridge) to table topping Dereham 2nds.
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QUIZ EVENING Saturday 1 February 7.30pm, clubhouse Tickets £5 on the door (including nibbles) Please come! |
Away from home the Men’s 3rds beat Sudbury 2nds 7-2 with goals from Gavin Cole (4), skipper Matt Brand, Andy Johnson and Nick Whitehead. Gavin obviously likes playing this Suffolk team as he posted eight goals against them in the home match in early October! Meanwhile the Ladies’ 3rds returned to winning ways beating Dereham 3rds 4-0 (Catherine Kilbourn (2), Kara Kilbourn and Rachel Herod); theGirls’ Development drew 3-3 (Maja Barnes, Millie Preece and Anna Kilbourn) with Watton and the Ladies’ 4ths secured a morale boosting 2-1 (Vicky Blackmore and Caz Aldous) victory over UEA 2nds but unfortunately the same could not be said of theMen’s 2nds who went down 4-1 (Jimmy Wheeler) to fellow strugglers Cambridge University 2nds. Despite their run of defeats the Men’s 2nds have played some attractive hockey and it is to be hoped they bounce back to secure three vital points when they entertain league leaders Felixstowe on Saturday (2.15).
Good luck to all our teams this weekend including on Sunday at Weybread the Mixed team which opens its EHB Trophy campaign against Spalding (1.00) and the U18 Boys who are playing Dereham (2.30) in round 2 of the EHB Plate. Please see the website for a full list of the fixtures.
The Men’s Vets returned to EHB O50s Cup action last Sunday with a hard earned away win over Chelmsford. Philip Cobbald (back from Down Under just in time) scored a brace of goals to put them
2-0 up at half time but a strong Chelmsford team hit back after the break to force the game into penalties. It was 4-4 after the first barrage of five apiece before Magpies sneaked home 2-1 in sudden death with goalkeeper/club chairman Murray Graham displaying his leadership qualities once again by making the vital save! Well done to manager Peter Dolton and skipper Jonathan Aldridge and their squad. In the quarter finals to be played on Sunday 23 February Magpies have a home draw against Chester (2.00) who beat Bowdon 6-3 on Sunday so another tough encounter is in prospect.
It is also congratulations to the England Men’s team which beat Australia 2-1 to clinch the bronze medal in the inaugural World League Final played in New Delhi and congratulations to George Pinner (ex-Ipswich HC) on being selected as the goalkeeper of the event. But I couldn’t help being surprised at the format used for the event in which all the eight teams still had a chance of winning despite where they finished in their pool. England’s ‘reward’ for finishing top of their pool was to play Belgium who came last in the other pool – the Belgium side which had thumped England in last summer’s EuroNations championship. However, the real importance of the World League is not the actual Final event but as the vital qualifying competition for future World Cups and Olympics.
Finally, it is back to the indoor game where unfortunately England Men’s hopes of retaining their top-flight status – and qualifying for the World Cup – disappeared after they suffered a string of narrow defeats at the EuroHockey Indoor Championships in Vienna last weekend. Their bid to avoid dropping out of the top flight went right down to the wire, but a 3-2 defeat to the Czech Republic on Sunday ended their hopes and was just the latest in a string of very close matches. “Although bitterly disappointed not to have achieved a better final placing, I am nevertheless proud of the effort and the progress from this squad of players,” said Head Coach Andy Halliday who added “Indoor hockey at this level is uncompromising, so I hope we are able to learn from this tournament and continue to build for the future.”
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With kind regards
Mike Denham
21/1/14
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