SURBITON IN CLOSE SCRAPE AT OXTED IN CUP

The second round of the Men’s Cup was played today. The upset of the day was First Division Old Georgians beating Hampstead & Westminster 4-3 and it was a close run thing at Oxted where Premier Division visitors Surbiton were held to a 1-1 draw in ordinary time. Surbiton eventually managed to win 3-1 on penalty strokes. Other Premier Division sides won overwhelming victories against opposition from lower leagues. Beeston’s David Griffith put seven passed Harborne in their 14-0 win and Bowdon put twelve passed Timperley for no reply. Simon Ramsden scored a hat-trick in Cannock’s 6-1 win over Leek, and former GB internationals Danny Hall and Mark Pearn also scored hat tricks when East Grinstead entertained Spencer. There were also two hat-tricks at Havant where Ben Allbery and Tim Davenport added to Teddington’s problems, and at Reading where Austin Smith and Andy Watts split six goals between them in their 11-0 win over Banbury.

In addition to the above, the following clubs progress through to the next round: Holcombe, Bournville, Mansfield, Broxbourne, Cambridge City, Cambridge University, Chelmsford, Robinsons, Guildford, Indian Gymkhana, City of Peterborough, Old Loughtonians, Canterbury, Oxton, Sheffield Hallam Civica, Southgate, Doncaster, Sikh Union, University of Birmingham, Khalsa, Chichester, and Jersey. Gloucester City and Preston had byes through the second round.

Late result

The Men's Premier League match between Reading and Hampstead and Westminster was a late start. Final score; Reading 4 - 2 Hampstead & Westminster.

As a result of today's matches there are three teams on maximum points (6 pts), each separated by goal different or goals for. 1. Cannock (GF 9 GD +4), 2. Surbiton (GF 4 GD +4), 3. Reading (GD +3).

In the Women's Premier the top of the table looks like this; 1. Bowdon (6pts +6), 2. Slough (6pts +5), Canterbury (6Pts +2).

Full Slazenger EHL tables will appear on our main web site (www.talkhockeyradio.co.uk) later tomorrow (Sunday), together with photographs of the Old Loughtonians v Leicester match.

LEICESTER IN GOAL SPREE AT OLD LOUGHTS

If you want to see goals, go and watch Leicester – at least that was the wise hockey watchers choice last season. But would it be the same this season? Playing against Old Loughtonians at Luxborough Lane, and with an almost full compliment of their England players in the side, the early exchanges looked as if they were going to disappoint. The visitors looked disjointed and played without their usual rhythm in the first half, It took all of 23 minutes for them to find the net via the stick of Vanessa Hawkins (pictured). Just before the break Gemma Darrington converted a penalty corner to make it two but it hardly looked as if a goal feast was on the cards, particularly when Louise Jukes pulled one back for Old Loughts. Then, almost out of the blue, Leicester went through a golden patch halfway through the second half. A penalty corner conversion by Ann Panter was followed two minutes later by a Becky Herbert field goal two minutes later. A minute after that Darrington scored her second from a penalty corner. Just as the final whistle approached, Helen Richardson scored from the penalty spot to make the final score 6-1. Although this result leaves Old Loughtonians planted at the bottom of the table, they will not meet many sides stronger than this one, and on to todays performance they should have a reasonable season. However, they need to urgently look at the state of their pitch which is almost unplayable in places due to algae. England and GB Head Coach, Danny Kerry, who was watching the match, must have had nervous moments watching members of his squad playing on this potentially dangerous surface.

The Tina Cullen show visited Olton and West Warwickshire this afternoon and came away 4-2 winners, with Cullen scoring a hat-trick. The other scorer for Bowdon was Liz Chaffey. The two newly promoted teams had a bad day. Clifton were hosts to Canterbury and went down 3-2, whilst Poynton’s visit to Ipswich resulted in a 2-1 defeat.

Women’s Premier Division:
Chelmsford 1 – 5 Slough
Clifton 2 – 3 Canterbury
Ipswich 2 – 1 Poynton
Old Loughtonians 1 – 6 Leicester
Olton & West Warwickshire 2 – 4 Bowdon

In the Men’s Premier Division Cannock consolidated their lead at the top by beating visitors Havant 5-4. Bowdon are finding life in the top division difficult with some hard opening matches. They don’t come much harder than Loughborough Students who won the match 2-1. Surprisingly, East Grinstead found themselves in bottom place this afternoon after going down 3-0 at home to a revitalised Surbiton.

Men’s Premier Division
Cannock 5 – 4 Havant
East Grinstead 0 – 3 Surbiton
Loughborough Students 2 – 1 Bowdon
Reading L – L Hampstead & Westminster
Canterbury 2 – 5 Beeston

RESULTS AND LEAGUE POSITIONS WILL BE UPDATED LATER THIS EVENING

GB GET LATE CHAMPIONS TROPHY CALL UP by Pat Rowley

Great Britain have received a late call-up to compete in the 2007 Champions Trophy. The event has been switched at short notice to Kuala Lumpur (Nov 29-Dec 9) after several countries indicated they were not prepared to play in the original venue of Lahore because of the Pakistani political situation. Traditionally the event is for the world’s top six countries but it will, on this occasion, be an eight nation round robin. The original six countries, Australia, Germany, Holland, Korea, Pakistan and Spain will compete. Pakistan were not eligible except as hosts but the International Hockey Federation have decided to include them as some compensation for them no longer being hosts. Britain would have replaced them on the strength of England’s 5^th place at the 2006 World Cup, while lowly ranked Malaysia come in as the new hosts. Britain, Germany and Malaysia have yet to qualify for the Beijing Olympics and will consider themselves very lucky to get the opportunity of match practice against the world’s best sides before their respective final qualifiers.

HARROGATE WITHDRAW FROM EHL AFTER THREE MATCHES

After only three matches, Slazenger EHL North Division side Harrogate has decided to disband its 1^st Xl and withdraw from the league. The decision was made by the club committee due to a lack of available players. Harrogate was unable to raise a team for their first match of the season and was fined £100 by the league committee as a result. At the time of their withdrawal they had recorded zero points from the three matches played and had a goal difference of minus 25 after a devastating 13-0 defeat at the hands of Birmingham University.

Harrogate’s current second team, playing in North Men’s Division Two East, will now become the club’s first X1. The Slazenger North Division will now be played as an eleven team league. The eleventh placed team at the end of the season will be relegated and the tenth team will be entered into the play-offs.

INJURED HAWES UNDERGOES FACIAL RECONSTRUCTION by Pat Rowley

Ben Hawes, the former England captain who was surprisingly dropped for the recent European Cup, has had to have major facial reconstruction after being hit in the face by a ball during a pre-season warm-up game for Surbiton. The 27 year old who returned to this country after playing in Holland in a bid to make the Great Britain Olympic team, was, at first, expected to miss a whole winter’s hockey. After a successful operation on Saturday, his surgeon said, while he will have to wear a special mask, he may be able to resume hockey in six weeks. George Bretten, the man who replaced Hawes in the Surbiton line-up yesterday, scored the only goal to give his new club a 1-0 win over Loughborough Students on the first day of the premier division.

THE USUAL SUSPECTS WIN DESPITE DEPLETED SQUADS

It was the men’s turn today to kick off the Premier and First Divisions of the Slazenger England Hockey League this afternoon. With members of the England squad unavailable and resting after Manchester, there was some pre-season speculation about how robust some of last season’s front runners’ squads would be. East Grinstead and Reading both fielded depleted sides at Saint Hill but both were bolstered by former England and GB players. Reading had the double problem of having to re-integrate some of their Welsh internationals back into the side, newly returned from duties in Portugal. One wag was heard to comment that the Reading side had to be introduced to one another before the match. Simon Mason had been lured out of retirement to keep goal for Reading, whilst Grinstead had the benefit of their new signing from Guildford, Danny Hall (Pictured). In the opening exchanges EG looked marginally the stronger side and it came as no surprise when David De Prez found the net after eight minutes. But midway through the half Austin Smith converted a penalty corner to put the sides on even terms. In the second half, Reading came out a better organised side and had the lion’s share of the play. Reading’s Iain MacKay added two more to the tally from open play, and Reading could easily have gone three ahead when Dominic Male tripped MacKay in the Grinstead circle, earning Reading a penalty stroke and Male a yellow card. Having survived that scare, thanks to a very weak flick at goal, East Grinstead began to re-assert themselves using Hall as their target man. It was a last gasp penalty corner that earned East Grinstead their second goal and Hall’s first league goal for his new club. Before the season started we predicted that Bowdon would lose to Cannock and Beeston would lose to Havant. We got the Bowdon part of the prediction right but at Beeston we seemed to be completely wrong with the half-time score 4-2 in Beeston’s favour. But Havant came back strongly in the second half with goals from Ahmed Ezz Mohamed and Calum Giles (2) to end the match on a draw.

Premier Division results:
Beeston 5 – 5 Havant
Bowdon 1 – 4 Cannock
East Grinstead 2 – 3 Reading
Hampstead & Westminster 2 – 1 Canterbury
Surbiton 1 – 0 Loughborough Students

In Division One, Danny Hall’s old club earned themselves three points at Sheffield University Bankers. Southgate’s trip to Chelmsford proved profitable, with the North Londoners scoring six for a reply of one.

Division One results:
Belper 1 – 3 Bournville
Brooklands 2 – 4 Bath Buccaneers
Chelmsford 1 – 6 Southgate
Old Georgians 2 – 3 Old Loughtonians
Sheffield University Bankers 0 – Guildford 1.

In the South Divison, Firebrands go top after three games. Holcombe’s visit to Exeter Uni was marked by two David Matthews penalty strokes, both of which were saved. Final score there, 3-3. In the North Division, University of Birmingham beat Harrogate 13-0, leaving them as the only team in the division on maximum points and a very healthy goal difference.

FULL LEAGUE TABLES WILL BE UPLOADED TO OUR MAIN WEB SITE TOMORROW TOGETHER WITH PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE EAST GRINSTEAD v READING MATCH. Go to www.talkhockeyradio.co.uk

FREE SCORING BOWDON GO TOP ON DAY ONE

The Premier and First Divisions of the Slazenger EHL kick off this weekend and today (Saturday) saw the opening exchanges in the women’s divisions. It was a disappointing start for the debutantes in the Premier Division, with Clifton suffering at the hands of a Bowdon side who look set to continue their free-scoring ways of last season. Poynton could have sent their visitors from Canterbury home with only one point but their Cath Linaker failed to convert a 23^rd minute penalty stroke and the match finished 3-2 in Canterbury’s favour, with the winner coming off the stick of one Sarah Kerly. It was a similar story at Slough where the home side were entertaining Olton & West Warwickshire. In a match that finished 2-1 to Slough, the visitors must regret the 27^th minute penalty stroke that they were unable to convert. After one match Bowdon go top on superior goal difference. With the availability of Great Britain players being in doubt, this just could be Bowdon’s season.

Women’s Premier Division:
Bowdon 5 – 1 Clifton
Chelmsford 3 – 2 Old Loughtonians
Leicester 2 – Ipswich 2
Poynton 2 – Canterbury 3
Slough 2 – 1 Olton & West Warwicks

The first day in Women’s Division One saw some high scores. Lisa Garbutt found the net four times in her side’s 7-0 defeat of Harleston Magpies. Newly promoted Reading put six passed Doncaster with Jenna Woolven scoring a hat-trick, and in the clash of the universities at Durham, Birmingham came away with three points after beating the home side 6-1. Relegated Sutton Coldfield beat one of last season’s promotion prospects, Barnes, 3-1, with Sutton’s Vicky Woolford scoring all her side’s goals.

Women’s Division One:
University of Durham 1 – 6 University of Birmingham
Harleston Magpies 0 – 7 Sunderland
Reading 6 – 1 Doncaster
Sutton Coldfield 3 – 1 Barnes
Trojans 2 – 2 Loughborough Students

In other divisions, the men’s EHL North and South played today. David Matthews arrival at Holcombe reminds one of the old Holcombe of a few seasons back – free scoring but with a leaky defence. Matthews scored four times in Holcombe’s 6-3 defeat of Whitchurch. For a high scoring match you could not have done much better than a visit to the University of Exeter, where Robinsons were on the losing end of a 8-4 scoreline. Teddington’s woes continue after last week’s debacle when they could not raise a team. They went down 2-1 at Firebrands. In the North there were more high scores, where the menfolk from the University of Birmingham came close to emulating their women by beating Barford Tigers 5-3. Kingston-upon-Hull beat Harrogate 5-0, Leek beat Formby 5-3, and Stourport beat Telford & Wrekin 6-3 with four of Stourport’s goals coming from penalty corner’s by Imran Yousaf.

In the Women’s North Division only Cannock and Ben Rhydding are on maximum points afer two matches, with Cannock beating Whitley Bay 3-0 and Ben Rhydding overcoming Liverpool Sefton 3-1. Staines are the only South Division team on maximum points after their 4-1 defeat of St Austell. We featured the match between Horsham and Taunton Vale last week and this week it was Horsham’s turn to go on the road with a visit to Exe, a match which ended in a goalless draw. Taunton Vale are finding promotion to the EHL difficult. They entertained Woking today, with all the goals in the first half. Having briefly taken a 2-1 lead in the 24^th minute, they then conceded a penalty stroke and a goal just before the break, to lose 2-3.

SHOWDOWN WITH INDIA FOR OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION by Pat Rowley

Great Britain’s men’s team face a probable showdown against India for a place at the Beijing Olympics after England’s failure to qualify for them at the European Cup. As expected Britain have to go to Santiago in Chile for their 6-team qualifier at which only the winner makes the 2008 Games. Apart from India, the recent winners of the Asia Cup, Britain will face Egypt, Bangladesh, Chile and Austria at Santiago.

2008 OLYMPIC QUALIFYING TOURNAMENTS.
MEN. (at Auckland, New Zealand, 02-10 February): Argentina, Cuba, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Trinidad & T. (at Santiago, Chile, 1-9 Mar): Austria, Bangladesh, Chile, Egypt, Great Britain, India. (at Kakamigahara, Japan, 5-13 Apl): Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, Switzerland.

WOMEN. (at Baku, Azerbaijan, 12/20 Apl): Azerbaijan, Belarus, Chile, Kenya, Spain, Ukraine. (at Kazan, Russia, 19/27 Apl): Belgium, Chinese Taipei, India, Netherlands Antilles, Russia, USA. (at Victoria, Canada, 26 Apl-4 May): Canada, Cuba, Ireland, Italy, Korea (S), Malaysia

Reserve nations: Men. 1 Netherlands Antilles, 2 USA, 3 Mexico. Women: 1 France, 2 Uruguay, 3 Barbados

[Our picture shows England's Simon Mantell in action against India in this summer's Champions Challenge]

TEDDINGTON CONTINUE TO SLIDE

Teddington’s woes continued today on the first day of the Slazenger EHL South Division. Having been relegated in successive seasons, the world’s oldest hockey club were forced to concede their opening match to visiting University of Exeter through a shortage of registered players. Elsewhere in the Division there were two high scoring draws. Indian Gymkhana took an early lead against Holcombe with goals from Jagdeep Gill and Tejinder Hanspal. South African international Denzil Dolley scored a hat-trick for Holcombe and the match ended on level terms at 4-4. Whitchurch and Bromley & Beckenham went one better with a 5-5 draw. There were also wins for Sevenoaks, Firebrands and Ipswich.

In the North Division Harrogate also had to concede their match against Sikh Union. Doncaster drew against Stourport and there were wins for City of Peterborough, Leek, Telford & Wrekin, and University of Birmingham.

Today also saw the First Round of the Men’s Cup, with some high scoring matches in evidence. Chichester put sixteen passed Camberley and Farnborough for no reply, as did Staines against Bournemouth. Cheshunt managed to find the net once against St Albans but their visitors’ reply was fifteen. Dereham, Broxbourne, Cheltenham, Oxton, Gloucester City, Harborne, Isca, Jersey, Khalsa, Preston, West Bridgford Monarchs, Long Sutton, Spencer, Mansfield, Oxford Hawks, Timperley, Urmston, Harleston Magpies, Winchester, and Woking, also won today and progress through to the next round.

FULL SLAZENGER EHL TABLES WILL BE AVAILABLE ON OUR MAIN WEB SITE SOON. www.talkhockeyradio.co.uk

RELEGATED HORSHAM START NEW SLAZENGER SEASON IN STYLE by Peter Savage

The Slazenger England Hockey League started the 2007-2008 season today with a full programme in the Women’s South and North Divisions.

Intriguing amongst the pairings was the match between newly promoted Taunton Vale and relegated Horsham in the South. Last season Horsham hardly had a sniff at any points, whilst Taunton Vale’s promotion is evidence of a successfully fought campaign. The Horsham line-up look very different to last year’s, although still with some familiar faces, and Taunton Vale opened the season without the pick of their first choice eleven.

The newcomers come into the EHL with a reputation for a fairly robust defence, and so it proved in the opening encounters of the two sides. Some very confident passing of the ball at the back under pressure showed that the West Country team were going to be a difficult nut to crack. But cracked they were after 33 minutes, with Kate Kaye opening Horsham’s account from open play. Horsham settled down to some spirited play in the second half, with Erica Rogers (pictured) causing the Taunton defence a number of problems on the left and Fran Crossley harrying the defence on the right. It was Crossley who was the beneficiary of an inspired advantage played by umpire David Adams four minutes into the restart, netting the ball to give Horsham a two goal lead. Seven minutes later Rogers had a fine solo run to see her shot from the edge of the circle find the goal. Final score 3-0 to Horsham. Despite defeat, Taunton Vale did not seem overawed by the experience and they may well prosper at this level. Horsham will be relieved to open their 2007-2008 campaign in fine style. They have already amassed almost half as many points as they achieved last season and a win on the opening day of the season will boost their confidence for the campaign ahead.

Elsewhere in the South Division, Staines made a profitable visit to Swansea and came away with three points and a goal advantage of plus four. This puts them at the top of the table. Other clubs that recorded wins were Exe, Sevenoaks, Bournemouth, and Maidstone.

In the North Division, Liverpool Sefton started their season in fine style with goals from Natalie Wray (2), Fiona Harland, Debbie Mills, and Laura Brown in their 5-1 win over Sheffield Hallam. Whitley Bay and Tynemouth’s Kath Smith scored a hat-trick in her side’s 4-3 win over Nottingham Highfields, and South club Rover Oxford, recently promoted to the North Division, found the visit of Ben Rhydding not to their liking. Having gone into the second half with a 2-0 lead they were pegged back by first a penalty stroke and then two penalty corner conversions to leave the final score at 3-2 to the visitors. Cannock and Bradford Ladies also recorded wins, whilst the match between Cambridge City and Aldridge ended in a draw.

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE HORSHAM v TAUNTON VALE MATCH WILL APPEAR ON OUR MAIN WEB SITE SOON - www.talkhockeyradio.co.uk

LAHORE TO LOSE CHAMPIONS TROPHY by Pat Rowley

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has decided to move the men’s Champions Trophy from Lahore in Pakistan “due to circumstances not related to sport”. A new venue has yet to be named. FIH have revealed that several countries, including first reserves England, declined to play in Lahore in December.

A world record score was set for the second day running at the Oceanic Olympic Qualifier at Buderim in Queensland. New Zealand eclipsed Australia’s record 35-0 win over Papua and New Guinea on Tuesday by defeating the same opponents 39-0. New Zealand forward Simon Child equalled the world individual record for a game by scoring 11 goals.

HALLIDAY AND PARNHAM TAKE CHARGE INDOORS by Pat Rowley

Andy Halliday and Craig Parnham will be head coaches when England return to international indoor hockey this winter. Halliday (St Albans), the former England indoor team captain, will have David Ralph (Loughborough and Scotland) as assistant men’s coach while Richard Organ (East Grinstead) will assist Parnham (Cannock). England’s first indoor matches for many years will be against Scotland just before Christmas. They will also play in the Burlington Cup in Vienna before taking part in the lowest European Division, the Challenge, at Sheffield in mid-January.

BOWDON GET CONFIDENCE BOOST by Pat Rowley

New Premier League side Bowdon had an enormous confidence boost two weeks before the English League season starts by winning the annual PLUM tournament at Chelmsford, ahead of five other premier clubs. The Cheshire club beat title holders East Grinstead 2-1 in the final after taking a 2-0 lead with goals by Simon Egerton (stroke) and Ali Ghazanfar, their Pakistani international (pictured).

Ghazanfar was no doubt missed by Pakistan who finished sixth, an all-time low, in the Asia Cup at Chennai. Hosts India handed Korea, the 2006 Asian Games champions, a 7-2 hiding in the final.

HALL DOES PLUM JOB FOR GRINSTEAD by Pat Rowley

Danny Hall, the former Great Britain centre forward, scored a hat-trick for East Grinstead in his first competitive game for his new club. Hall (pictured here playing for his former club) has made the switch from Guildford and was playing for Sussex club Grinstead in the annual pre-season PLUM tournament at Chelmsford. His goals helped them to beat Havant 4-3. East Grinstead are attempting to win the event for the third successive year. Hall (2) and David Du Prez gave the Sussex club a 3-0 lead but they started to give the ball away too easily and let Havant back into the game. Later Grinstead were held to a 2-2 draw by host club Chelmsford in their second match.

English champions Reading, another of six English Premier League sides in the event, failed to impress in their opening game and scraped a 1-0 win with a second half goal by Simon Pinks, another former Guildford player.

Wales gained promotion to the European Women’s Trophy by defeating Slovakia 4-1 in their European Challenge semi-final at Zagreb.

THR News Blog plans for 2007-2008 season

The new Slazenger EHL season is just over a week away and we are making plans for in depth coverage for you. Most weekends will see a featured match, with photographs and a report from a men's or women's game. There will also be a weekend summary, with details of how the leaders in the Premier Divisions are doing.

Next weekend we will be reporting on one of the newcomers to the EHL. How will they find their first match since promotion? Visit us next weekend to find out.

Our all-on-one-page league tables can be found on our main website at www.talkhockeyradio.co.uk

SCOTLAND JOIN THE CHAMPIONS by Pat Rowley

Scotland won promotion to the 2009 European Championship when they beat Belgium 2-0 in the semi-finals of the European Trophy at Siauliai. Their fourth straight victory in the event came courtesy of corner goals by Holly Cram and Vikki Bunce.

Champions Reading and five other English men’s premier league clubs compete in the 22^nd annual Plum tournament which this year takes place at Chelmsford and Chigwell.

Preliminary Round of Men's Cup

We have the following results from the Preliminary Round of the England Hockey Cup, which were played today.

Ashford (Mddx) 2 Spencer 4
Cheltenham 3 Devizes 2
Leicester Westleigh 3 Olton & West Warwicks 1
Lewes 6 Eastcote 1
Norwich City 0 Cambridge City 6
Old Midwhitgiftians 2 Camberley & Farnborough 4
Preston 3 Alderley Edge 0
St Neots 2 Blueharts 4