AFTER BRONZE AND SILVER CAN THE U14 GIRLS MAKE IT GOLD?
The 2013-2014 season lives on and so far the club has won bronze (U18 Girls outdoor) and silver (Men’s O50s) in national finals. Can the U14 Girls make it gold on Sunday when in Wakefield they play the other top teams in the country? Only time will tell, of course, but they go into the finals encouraged by a string of fine performances which have seen them top their regional league with five wins out of five followed by another three wins when they won their winner-takes-all divisional final. But with national finals there is always a sense of going into the unknown when up against teams from further afield and that certainly applies on Sunday when in pool B our girls take on Surbiton (10.20), Kirkby Lonsdale (12.25) and Worcester (2.05) with, hopefully, the final at 4.30. In the other pool are Beeston, Bournemouth, City of York and Old Loughtonians. Good luck to our squad which is as follows:
Georgina Warren (Joint Captain), Lauren Rowe (Joint Captain), Abigail Page, Ismay Whitaker, Sophie Child, Rose Winter, Martha Lawrence, Abigail Rapkin, Eve Barnes, Anna Tighe, Amelia Preece, Alice Woollatt, Victoria Findlay, Abby Gooderham, Lottie Summers, Matilda Warde-Aldam with
Sarah Findlay (Manager), Nick McAllen (Coach) and Will Findlay (Assistant Coach).
NOW: Pensions MEN’S Over 50’s Cup Final (Beeston HC)
Ben Rhydding 2 Harleston Magpies 0
From the start Magpies and their enthusiastic band of supporters knew they were up against a very competent, well organised and, crucially, younger Ben Rhydding team last Sunday with several of their players just over the 50 mark. But despite this Magpies were always competitive and it was good to see Bob Skinner playing as well as ever in defence on his return from injury. In fact the defence was in splendid form all through the game with David and Jerry Blackmore outstanding alongside Bob. After being forced on the defensive in the opening minutes Magpies came into the game with Jim Stather and Jon Wells looking lively in attack and with Jon Aldridge, who sportingly played despite carrying an injury, flashing a shot narrowly wide following a pass from Phil Cobbald. Ben Rhydding took a deserved lead on 29 minutes through David Cutter.
Magpies had their best spell of the game early in the second half but as earlier were unable to exert sufficient pressure on the BR defence. With a few minutes to go Bob Skinner, who bravely carried on despite another knock early in the second half, combined with Tony Elston to pull off a remarkable double save before Cutter made the game safe for Ben Rhydding who I rate as a better team than Richmond which beat Magpies in the final two years ago.
While being disappointed to have lost the squad have the consolation of knowing that they did the club proud by reaching the final once more and by giving their Yorkshire opponents a testing game on the day. Finally, our thanks go to skipper Jon Aldridge for his leadership of the squad and to player-manager Peter Dolton for all his hard and enthusiastic work both on and off the field of play over the past exciting few months.
Harleston Magpies May Day Hockey Festival
With Kirstin Cumming, James Smith has been organising this annual event for what must seem to them to have been for ever and I am very grateful to James for his 2014 report as follows.
The hockey league season seemed to end far too early this year and I was worried that popularity for our tournament would wane as sticks were put up in the attic for another year but this was not the case with 39 teams battling it out, with no gimmicks, mentors or public vote for the titles of – East Anglia’s finest Mixed XI, the most promising Ladies’ Club XI and the undisputed Kings of the Men’s Club XI’s.
On Saturday the club played host to 19 Mixed teams from across Norfolk and Suffolk. After the initial round-robin stage the tournament split into Plate and Cup knock out rounds. Sadly, debutants Dissappointments found the going too strong and left the Plate competition in the last 16 round whereas Cranehoppers fared much better and started to put together a promising run of results which saw them in the knock out rounds overcome Bury St Edmunds, UEA 1st team and, finally, UEA 2nds to win the Plate tournament. James Stevenson of Cranehoppers was named Player of the Final.
In the Cup teams made up by Harleston Magpies were producing some sterling performances. At the semi-final stage three of the four teams involved had strong Magpies’ links and the final was an all-club affair with Pink Panthers taking on The Slutty Farmers. Pink Panthers scored first but failed to hold onto their lead following a late equaliser by the Farmers. With the Farmers’ confidence high and with the added benefit of the Magpies’ Men’s 1st team keeper in goal they edged the penalty flick contest to win this year’s Cup competition. Harry Blandy a returning Pink Panther picked up the Player of the Final accolade.
On Monday the serious business of best Club XI, men’s and ladies, took centre stage. 10 Ladies and 10 Men’s teams battled away under the sun for 6 hours. With sunlight fading and energy levels collapsing the last teams standing in the Ladies’ Cup competition were Grasshoppers from Ipswich and Totes Amaze with Grasshoppers emerging as narrow 1-0 winners with Julia Sheppard of Grasshoppers named Player of the Final. Meanwhile in the Ladies’ Plate competition Loddon overcame a strong Norwich City team to win the title with Evie Wills of Norwich City being named Player of the Final.
In the Men’s section Norfolk Pies and Norwich Dragons needed penalty flicks to be separated in the final. Norfolk Pies lifted the title thanks in no small part to two saves by their goalkeeper and Player of the Final Tom Franks. Meanwhile Harleston Magpies, a team consisting of players from the 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths and 7ths, had co-incidentally, found their form following the departure of their captain Andy Johnson to A&E with a hand injury, and had progressed to the final of the Plate tournament. However, their luck finally ran out in the final going down 1-0 to Marvel Loss a team of experienced players from across Lincolnshire. Tom Everton of Marvel Loss was voted Player of the Final.
Over the two days 116 games of hockey were played and the event needed an army of umpires, a kitchen staff of hundreds and a dedicated barman! There are too many of you to thank by name but you all know who you are – whatever part you played ‘thank you’ for your help.
And behind the scenes as always the event would not come together if a) Nigel Bedingfield had not ensured the invitations were circulated, b) George Hunter had not prepared the grass pitches, c) Tim Allen had not marked the pitches, d) Daphne Beckett had not organised the food, e) Iain Cumming had not organised the bar and e) Kirstin had not covered everything I had forgotten! My thanks to them all.
James Smith
(Thank you James on behalf of everyone for what you did once again, alongside Kirstin, to make the two days so enjoyable and successful. You can now turn your attention to the Fireworks Evening to be held on Friday 7 November!)
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY PLEASE:
Friday 16 May – End of Season Youth Presentation Evening for Girls and Boys (6.00 – 9.00)
(Please see the Home Page of the website for more details) Sunday 18 May – Mixed v Cannock (QF EHB Trophy) – Weybread (1.00)
Thursday 19 June – Annual General Meeting (7.30)
Sunday 29 June – Strawberry Luncheon (details to follow)
Friday 7 November – Fireworks Evening
Mini Musings to follow on an occasional basis in the weeks ahead.
IceniPost.com – sponsors of www.magpies-hockey.co.uk
With kind regards and best wishes
Mike Denham
6/5/14
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