One never knows what to expect of Beeston, and their cup final match against Bowdon at home at Highfields proved no exception. Taking an early lead from a goal by David Seddon, Beeston seemed to be on cruise control when Mark Wadsley scored their second after twenty minutes. Seddon scored his second four minutes into the second half and the whole final appeared to be done and dusted. All that was left to do was to engrave Beeston’s name on the cup. But a few minutes later Pakistan international Ali Ghazanfar found the net from a penalty corner. If anyone thought this was just a consolation goal they were mistaken. Ghazanfar repeated the trick shortly afterwards and suddenly Beeston were on the ropes. It was Ghazanfar’s hat-trick, this time from open play, that put the two sides on even terms. Beeston looked badly rattled as they saw victory slip through their fingers but with six minutes left on the clock their skipper, David Griffiths, was the saviour of the day with a goal in open play. Bowdon kept pressing forward and with less than a minute left forced a penalty corner, which went just wide of Beeston’s near post. Final score 4-3 to Beeston. Our picture shows Beeston’s David Griffiths receiving the EH Cup from England Hockey president Martin Gotheridge
The women’s final between Leicester and Slough was a disappointing affair. Those who had witnessed the final game of the season between these two sides were expecting something better. A single goal from Leicester’s Anne Panter gave Leicester the cup.
