With only three more games to finish the season the fixture list has contrived to give some of the clubs in the basement end of the Men’s Premier Division a lifeline by pitting them against each other. If points are to be found this is where to find them. This afternoon bottom placed Guildford played hosts to their nearest rivals for the wooden spoon, Canterbury. To watch the first few minutes of the match you would not have thought that Guildford were the team with one foot over the edge of the precipice. They played with confidence and verve, and it was very much against the run of play that Greg Nicol opened the scoring for the visitors with a goal from open play in the eleventh minute. Most of the home crowd were hoping not just for a win but to see skipper Danny Hall (pictured here in the maroon shirt) to score his 200th league goal. Hall duly obliged by netting the ball after a fine solo run and then followed up with his 201st minutes later. But it was a transformed Canterbury side that came out after the break. Matthews converted a penalty corner a few minutes after the re-start and in the last few minutes of the match he scored a second followed by Nicols’ second just before the whistle. Guildford meet Belper, who lost 7-1 to East Grinstead today, in two weeks time, but in the meantime they have to play top-placed Cannock who beat Surbiton 4-1. Belper play Canterbury next weekend and Canterbury’s last match is against out-of form Beeston. I’m not a betting man but my money would be on surviving and Guildford and Canterbury being in the relegation / play-off zone.
The Women’s Premier has become a bit predictable these days, something which is evidenced by the eight point gap between the top four clubs and the rest of the pack. It is only the scorelines which raise eyebrows. 2-0 is a modest score by Leicester standards but their win against Olton was enough to maintain a four point lead at the head of the table. Bowdon Hightown have kept up their high scoring ways with a 6-1 victory over Ipswich, the most remarkable feature of this game being that there were six different scorers on the score sheet. Canterbury beat bottom placed Doncaster 3-0, whilst Slough beat Chelmsford 3-2.
Last Wednesday TalkHockeyRadio was posted to our web site with an piece about the front runners in Division 1. Today, both clubs featured have lost their top spot. In the women’s league Barnes last by a single goal at Sunderland and have been replaced by Poynton, whose Cath Linaker scored all four goals against Trojans. Bowdon met second placed Havant in the men’s league and came off the worse through goals by Ahmed Ezz Mohamed, Calum Giles, and Ben Allbery. Bowdon recorded one goal courtesy of David Egerton. Bowdon and Havant are now only separated by a goal difference of six, with Havant having a game in hand, and the nearest chasing club cannot now catch them.
Full EHL league tables will appear on our main website at www.talkhockeyradio.co.uk tomorrow.
