PLENTY OF QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED
Now the club’s generally disappointing indoor season is over attention switches back to the outdoor game for the vital weeks ahead during which some important questions will be answered. Will the Men’s 1sts overtake league leaders Wapping and also hold off the challenge of other teams to clinch East Premier A and promotion back to the national league? Will the Ladies’ 1sts, after an excellent 18 points from their first eleven games, be able to post a quick win or two on their resumption in early February to ensure no repeat of last season’s relegation fears? Will the Men’s 2nds continue their good recent form to escape relegation from East Premier B and will the Ladies’ 2nds be able to maintain their excellent form to retain their place in the East Premier from which four teams are relegated. Will the Men’s 3rds and Men’s 6ths be strong enough to avoid relegation? Will the Ladies’ 5ths be able to overcome league leaders Evergreens in Norfolk Division 1? Will the Boys’ Development be able to maintain their table-topping form until the end of the season? I could go on but I won’t!
After last Saturday’s almost total loss of our outdoor fixtures to the weather, only the Men’s 6ths got a game, it so happens that the outcome of this coming weekend’s fixtures will give us a useful guide in answering at least some of the above questions with the Men’s 1sts, 3rds, 4ths and 6ths having double-headers in view of recent postponements.
The Men’s 1sts will need to get back to outdoor mood and form as they are away to Wapping on Saturday (12.30) and away to Cambridge City 2nds (1.10) on Sunday. Wapping looked very impressive at Weybread in early October when they came from 2-1 down at half time to clinch a 2-2 draw and Magpies needed a very late Ben Wright goal to beat Cambridge City 2nds 3-2 two weeks earlier. Meanwhile the Men’s 2nds will have been heartened to learn that fellow-strugglers City of Peterborough 3rds and Waltham Forest both lost last Saturday and this Saturday they entertain Waltham Forest (2.00) who beat them 9-4 (!) earlier in the season. This thumping came when the 2nds were going through a very bad spell but with three wins from their last four games the team will go into this game with something to prove. Meanwhile, and as chance would have it, the Ladies’ 2nds are also up against Wapping (12.00) with whom they drew 0-0 away back in early October so hopefully a win is on the cards after three successive 1-1 draws.
The Men’s 3rds are ‘away’ to Magpies 4ths on Saturday (3.30) and despite my forecast of a tight game between the teams when they met early in the season the 3rds came out on top 4-0 although the score line was a little flattering to the 3rds. I’m confident that the 3rds, who have a tough game away to UEA on Sunday (1.00), will escape relegation but the 4ths are facing the drop due to their lack of goals despite creating chances week after week with their attractive play. On Sunday they entertain Ipswich Cranes (12.15). The Ladies’ 5ths, who have ‘lost’ three games to the weather, are away to Evergreens (10.15) who lead them by five points with Magpies having a game in hand. Evergreens have dropped just four points all season but the 5ths felt they were unlucky to lose 1-0 in their clash early in the season when Evergreens packed their defence before breaking away to get the winner: a well-tried sporting tactic!
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BINGO EVENING – a reminder that this event has been rescheduled for Saturday 28 February in place of the Family Fortunes Quiz. Please note your diary. The last Bingo Evening was very enjoyable if a little on the noisy side! Further details will follow in due course.
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The Men’s 6ths have given themselves a really good chance of avoiding relegation with two successive 3-2 wins. Last Saturday they went to Lowestoft to escape the frost and to play Lowestoft Railway 2nds in a game in which they three times took the lead. Alfie Fawkner put them ahead from a penalty corner only for Railway to equalise in like manner before vice-captain Jo Walker put them back in the lead only for the home team to make it 2-2 with a penalty stroke conversion close on half time. The 6ths missed a stroke early in the second half but as he did the previous week Jon Wells popped up with the vital third from a penalty corner with ten minutes to go. This weekend the team has two home games starting with Ipswich 3rds on Saturday (12.15) – hopefully the team will have forgotten the result of the game earlier in the season (!) – and on Sunday they play *Pelicans 4ths (1.45). Skipper Eric Davy has been sidelined during the past two games due to injury but hopefully he will back for the weekend. You’ve been missed Eric despite the two wins! *NB. At the time of writing this game had not been confirmed. Please see the website for developments.
The weather forecast looks a little more promising for the coming weekend in which on Saturday in other games the Ladies’ 3rds, 4ths and 7ths are at home to, respectively, Loddon (1.45), UEA 2nds (10.15) and Carrow 3rds (3.15) while the Men’s 5ths will be looking to get back to winning ways when they travel to play Dereham 4ths (2.15). In other away games the Ladies’ 6ths play Reepham (5.30), the Girls’ Development travel to Yarmouth (10.00) while the Boys’ Development play Norwich Dragons (5.00); the only team to take points off them this season when they drew 1-1 at Weybread in late November.
Good luck as always to all our teams including our U10 & U12 Boys and Girls in the Watton Minis on Sunday. Please see the Latest News page of the website for the complete list of this weekend’s fixtures.
The Men’s 1sts went into the second weekend of their national Hockey 5s division one indoor league campaign knowing they had to win two of their remaining four matches to retain their status after just one win from four the previous weekend at the UWE in Bristol. But it was not to be against strong opposition as they suffered defeat in all four games. On Saturday they went down 8-4 (Toby Price, Carl Sitch, Tristan Baynes, Simon Hipwell) to Wimbledon and 8-2 (Carl Sitch, Toby Price) to Brooklands MU and on Sunday when there was still some hope they lost 6-2 (Richard Larkin, Toby Price) to Old Loughtonians and 7-3 (Sam Rowe, Mark Wheelhouse, Tristan Baynes) to Cannock. So it is back to division two. Congratulations to Wimbledon (champions) and Loughborough Students on gaining promotion to the premier division at the expense of Surbiton and Bath Buccaneers.
Meanwhile the Girls’ U16s were representing the club and the East in the national indoor finals in Wolverhampton hoping to make it three times lucky for the club. They had a difficult start on Saturday in Pool A going down 6-1 (Lauren Rowe) to Surbiton before securing a good 5-2 (Abby Gooderham 3, Tor Findlay, Anna Tighe) win over Cheltenham. On Sunday they were next up against Leicester knowing a win was essential if they were to retain a hope of a semi-final place. In the event they went down narrowly 5-3 (Abby, Anna, Lauren) after creating plenty of chances before beating Wakefield 4-1 (Abby 2, Tor, Lauren) to finish a creditable third in their pool. It is to be hoped that the experience gained in this event will stand the team in good stead in the future. Congratulations to Beeston (from Pool B) who beat Surbiton 2-1 in the final.
The national indoor premier division season reaches its climax at the The SSE Arena, Wembley this coming Sunday with the Hockey 5s Finals. Please see the England Hockey website for tickets. The programme is as follows –
11.00 – Doors open to the venue. 11.30 access to seats.
12.30 – Men’s Semi-Final 1 – East Grinstead v Reading
1.45 – Men’s Semi-Final 2 – Sevenoaks v Canterbury
3.15 – Women’s Final – East Grinstead v Bowdon Hightown
4.45 – Men’s Championship Final
East Grinstead men (who won seven and drew their other premier division game leading up to the semis) will be seeking their seventh successive title while Bowdon Hightown, who were not at their best leading up to their 5-4 semi-final win over Canterbury, will be firm favourites to beat EG in the women’s final and to win the event they last won in 2010/11. It is worth repeating (in my view at least) that Magpies beat EG Ladies 4-3 earlier in the competition. I may have mentioned this before!
With kind regards
Mike Denham
20/1/15
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