Slough may be able to take some comfort from the fact that both the teams that beat them in Pool A in the EuroHockey Indoor Women's Club Champions Cup in Madrid have qualified for tomorrow's final. The semi final match between Laren and Dinamo Sumchanka was 4-4 after extra time and had to be decided on penalty strokes, with Dinamo emerging the winners. The other semi final was probably the game of the tournament so far, with the home side, Club de Campo having the benefit of substantial support, and Club an der Alster having a small but very vocal band of followers. Club de Campo managed to stem the German threat until well into the second half but gradually the greater experience of Alster started to show. Final score 7-4 in favour of the Germans.
Back home, the big news of the day was that Chelmsford managed to win a match at last, Libby Knifton's 52nd minute goal being the only score in their game against Trojans. At the other end of the table it was the battle of the titans, with leaders Bowdon Hightown visiting second place Olton. Bowdon's Jo Ellis, who seems to have returned to goal scoring form, added her goal to an earlier effort by Annalisa Bishop to take the match 2-1 and widen even further the gap at the top of ther table, which now stands at 12 points. Canterbury managed to stem Cliftons onward march with a 6-2 scoreline.
In the Men's Premier Division, the re-arranged match between Loughborough Students and Beeston ended at 2-2.
Due to our travel arrangements tomorrow and the time difference, our weekend report on domestic hockey will not appear until Monday. Reports from Madrid will be posted shortly after the final hooter.
