harleston magpies
Another eventful season for Harleston Magpies Hockey Club will soon be over and it has delivered its usual quota of successes and disappointments.

The biggest success so far has been the winning of Division Two of the men’s national indoor league. Over two weekends in January the team played ten matches in Loughborough and Fareham winning eight with just one draw and one defeat. The reward for the team coached by Martin Fields and captained by Tom Sumner is promotion to Division One next season and the chance to play against some of the top clubs in the country.

More indoor success followed with the Girls’ Under 16 and Under 18 teams reaching the national finals of their events without going on to finish as overall winners.

In the outdoor game the Men’s 1sts, sponsored by Durrants, played well to put themselves in with a good chance to win the East Premier A Division and with it a return to the national league. A win over Cambridge University would have put them back on top with seven games to play. However, the students equalised in the last few seconds of a top class game to retain their narrow lead and with Magpies dropping points in two other games of an otherwise successful season the team, which has been boosted by the excellent form of England Under 18 international Carl Sitch, has had to settle for second place once again.

Meantime the Ladies’ 1sts, sponsored by NEG Technologies, have also had a frustrating second half of the season in Division One of the Slazenger English Hockey League conceding some late goals in several games with the result that the team has slipped uncomfortably near to the relegation play-off spot with just two games to play. The defence has usually played well and while the forwards have created a good number of chances not enough have been taken to maintain the team’s promising start to the season.

At the time of writing four of our other teams are still going strong in their national outdoor competitions. The Girls’ and Boys’ Under 18 teams have reached the quarter-finals of their respective events, the Men’s Veterans are through to the semi-finals of their competition and the mixed hockey team have progressed to the third round of their cup. The highlight for the girls was equalising against Canterbury in the last seconds of the game before winning on penalty strokes and they now play Olton in another home game. For the boys the highlight was their 2-1 win away to Belper after conceding an early goal and they now entertain, by coincidence, Canterbury while the veterans are at home to Bournville after their splendid quarter-final win away to Stourport. The mixed team are at home to Tulse Hill & Dulwich Dragons.

The above gives a flavour of the season to-date. In addition to being an eventful season it has also been a very busy one for the club during which we have fielded 28 teams in all competitions ranging from the Girls and Boys Under 11 minis up to the men’s veterans.

Mike Denham

www.magpies-hockey.co.uk

12/3/07