Today’s wintery conditions had a limited effect on the England Hockey League, with only the match at Chelmsford against Clifton being postponed in the Women’s Premier Division. Three women’s Conference games were postponed, those being the match between Southgate and Reading in the East, and the matches between Doncaster and Sunderland, and University of Durham and Bradford, in the North. All the men’s Fourth Round Cup matches were completed.In the Slazenger Women’s EHL Premier Division, Bowdon extend their lead at the top of the table to eight points after travelling south to play Slough, who were in second place. Missing Jane Smith, sidelined due to a knee injury, it looked as if Slough would be easy meat for Bowdon, but the visitors made heavy weather of a game they seemed easily capable of winning. The match was decided by a single goal scored late in the first half by Bowdon’s Tina Cullen. Slough now have Canterbury breathing down their necks after the Kent side beat Olton & West Warwicks 4-2 at home. Canterbury move into third place, separated on goal difference from Slough. Ipswich’s season just seems to go from bad to worse as they suffered their sixth defeat of the season away to Poynton. Leicester, who seem to be boxing well beneath their weight, recorded a useful win at Trojans, goals coming from Abi Parker, Vanessa Hawkins and Lauren Turner.
Our picture shows Tina Cullen celebrating her first half goal in her side's 1-0 win over Slough
SLAZENGER EHL WOMEN’S PREMIER DIVISION: 1. Bowdon 24 pts (+17), 2. Slough 16 pts (+14), 3. Canterbury 16 pts (+13), 4. Olton & West Warwicks 15 pts (+12), 5. Leicester 11 pts (+3), 6. Clifton 10 pts* (-1), 7. Poynton 9 pts (-4), 8. Trojans 7 pts (-4), 9. Ipswich 4 pts (-19) , 10. Chelmsford 0 pts* (-31). *Clifton and Chelmsford have a game in hand.
In the women’s Conferences, Reading maintain their lead in the East despite not having played today. Second placed Barnes took the opportunity to close the gap with a good win against Staines. Nicola Brown scored from one penalty stroke but was not able to repeat the effort just before the break when Barnes were awarded a second. However, she made amends with a penalty corner conversion in the second half. Final score 5-1 to Barnes. Southgate, another team that did not play today, now find themselves in third place but sharing 13 points with Old Loughtonians, who beat Horsham 4-1. The postponement of University of Durham’s match means that Loughborough Students now have a seven point lead at the top of the North Conference. They beat Belper at home 3-0. Durham and Belper are now both on 13 points with Durham taking the second spot on goal difference. The West played a full fixture list today, with University of Birmingham allowing the gap between them and second placed Cannock to narrow after the students could only draw 1-1 at Bournemouth. Cannock put five passed Firebrands for no reply. Sutton Coldfield share 16 points with Cannock after the they beat Exe 2-1.
ENGLAND HOCKEY MEN’S CUP ROUND FOUR
Men’s North Conference side, Sheffield University Bankers, must have thought they had a chance against non-EHL side Fareham when their Tristan Gillbody scored in the opening seconds of the match. But, in a few see-saw minutes, Craig Peel equalised from a corner for Fareham, only to see Rob Millar repeat the trick for the Bankers. John Kinder then equalised again for Fareham and after that it was all Fareham’s, with Kinder scoring a hat-trick in their 5-3 win. Fareham’s other goal came from Geoff Abbott. Fareham remain the only non-EHL side in the competition. The other Sheffield side, Sheffield Hallam Civica faired less well, feeling Beeston’s wrath as the Nottingham side made amends for losing 4-0 in the league to Surbiton yesterday. Goals from Adam Dixon (2), Tim Whiteman, Ben Arnold, David Griffiths and Charlie Brooks gave Beeston a 6-2 win. Another side seeming to make amends for yesterday were Canterbury, who could only draw their East conference match yesterday. Star of the show there was Lloyd Norris-Jones, who scored five times in his team’s 6-1 win over Indian Gymkhana.
MEN’S CUP FOURTH ROUND:
Bowdon v Old Georgians. w/o to Bowdon
Brooklands 5 Leek 2
Cannock 2 Southgate 1
Canterbury 6 Indian Gymkhana 1
Old Loughtonians 3 Barford Tigers 2
Reading 8 Firebrands 0
Sheffield Hallam Civica 2 Beeston 6
Sheffield University Bankers 2 Fareham 5
