LEICESTER AND EAST GRINSTEAD TAKE INDOOR TITLES by Peter Savage at the National Indoor Championships

East Grinstead took the indoor title for the second year running when they played Surbiton in the final here in Nottingham this afternoon.

'Grinstead started the ball rolling with a penalty corner conversion by Ashley Jackon (Jackson is in the UK playing indoors for his old club) and within the space of five minutes Mark Pearn and Dave De Prez had added to the tally with no reply, Tim Pinnock pulled one back for Surbiton but on the stroke of half time Jackson scored his second.

Towards the end of the second half Surbiton staged a bit of a rally but two more goals from Jackson, a brace from skipper Scott Ashdown and a goal from Mike Holland made the margin too big to close within the remaining time and matched ended 9-5 in East Grinstead's favour.

Earlier in the day East Grinstead had found themselves 2-0 behind against Reading in the semi-final, courtesy of two super goals from Simon Mantell. However, EG gradually piled on the pressure and the match ended 7-5 to them.,

The other semi final, between Loughborough Students and Surbiton,ended 7-5 to Surbiton, with the students scoring four of their goals in the last ten minutes.

There was a touch of déjà vu in the women's final, when twenty minutes of play between Slough and Leicester ended at 2-2, with Becky Herbert scoring twice for Leicester. Slough's goals came from Jane Smith and Alex Scott. Fortunately there was not a repeat of yesterday's semi-final between Slough and Bowdon Hightown, and the penalty barrage was relatively short, ending 2-1 in Leicester's favour.

SEMI FINAL ENDS IN NEAR FARCE by Peter Savage in Nottingham

Picture: Slough's Becky Duggan stops an easy shot at goal during the penalty corner shoot-out.

The venue was new although the faces mostly weren't.

The annual National Indoor Championships kicked off this afternoon at its new home, the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham This year the event has been spread over two days, with the schools finals and the women's semi finals played today.

The familiar faces were Slough and the holders Bowdon Hightown, who both managed to embarrass themselves in a near farcical penalty corner shoot-out in which a total of 18 strokes resulted in only five goals. Bowdon - whose line-up included Sally Walton, who only two weeks ago was in a French hospital having her appendix removed – got off to a promising start in the match with a 6^th minutes goal from Tina Cullen. Slough drew level just before the break with a goal from Alex Scott and briefly took the lead in the second half when Jane Smith found the net. As if to prove that the old 'uns are the best, Cullen scored her second shortly after.

At 2-2 at the final hooter, the match went to penalty strokes. Both sides could only manage a goal apiece in the first barrage, so it was into sudden death territory. Alex Scott scored for Slough and Michelle Liptrot for Bowdon – but we then witnessed no less than nine penalty strokes that were either saved or went wide. It was finally Slough's Chloe Strong who broke the deadlock and gave Slough a place in tomorrow's final.

Earlier, Leicester had grabbed a place in the final in a reasonably comfortable win over Canterbury, despite an early goal from Canterbury's Lucy Barnes. Chloe Rogers, who is proving to be a real asset to any team indoors, popped in two second half goals for Leicester, adding to Becky Herbert's 17^th minute equaliser. Final score 3-1 to Leicester.

The new venue, which is constructed as an ice hockey rink, looks as if it will be a huge success. It is debatable whether the hall is bigger or smaller than the NIA, but it feels more compact and a little more intimate. We look forward to some decent crowds tomorrow.

SLOUGH TRIUMPHANT INDOORS

Picture: Tournament Director Jo Pennycook hands the Premier League winners' trophy to Slough skipper Mandy Nicholson.

The Women's Indoor England Hockey League played its final matches this weekend after snow had caused the postponement of it's post-Christmas matches two weeks ago.

As of this morning (Sunday) the top spot was being shared by Slough and Canterbury, separated by goal difference, with Leicester three points behind them. Playing their final matches today, it seemed that the fate of several teams lay in the hands of Chelmsford who, despite their Conference status outdoors, seem more than capable of holding their own indoors. Leicester were to discover this when they went down 1-3 to the Essex side in the first game of the morning.

Chelmsford had less luck against the leaders, Slough, with three goals by Jane Smith stopping them from creeping into the top four. Had they won they would have displaced Bowdon Hightown from fourth place, following Hightown's 4-3 defeat at the hands of Canterbury.

Slough take the indoor league title, with Canterbury in second place. They qualify for next weekend's National Indoor Championships in Nottingham, together with Leicester (3^rd place) and Bowdon Hightown (4^th place).

WOMEN'S PREMIER DIVISION FINAL TABLE:

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Slough	8	7	0	1	44	16	28	21
Canterbury	8	7	0	1	35	21	14	21
Leicester	8	5	0	3	36	22	14	15
Bowdon Hightown	8	4	0	4	31	29	2	12
Chelmsford	8	4	0	4	18	27	-9	12
Ipswich	8	2	1	5	18	27	-9	7
Trojans	8	2	1	5	22	36	-14	7
Clifton	8	2	0	6	26	36	-10	6
Olton & West Warwicks	8	2	0	6	28	44	-16	6

In Division One, a poor showing by Reading against Bradford Wakefield, which finished 2-2, did not stop them from winning the division with a six point margin.

WOMEN'S DIVISION ONE FINAL TABLE:

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Reading	8	7	1	0	34	12	22	22
Sutton Coldfield	8	5	1	2	33	16	17	16
Harleston Magpies	8	4	2	2	13	11	2	14
Old Loughtonians	8	3	2	3	22	19	3	11
Barnes Hounslow Ealing	8	3	2	3	16	17	-1	11
Sevenoaks	8	3	1	4	17	20	-3	10
Bradford Wakefield	8	2	1	5	10	13	-3	7
Liverpool Sefton	8	2	1	5	14	24	-10	7
Aldridge	8	1	1	6	9	36	-27	4

MEN'S DIVISION ONE FINAL TABLE:

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Canterbury	8	7	0	1	57	33	24	21
Bowdon	8	5	1	2	34	23	11	16
Bournville	8	5	1	2	34	28	6	16
Barford Tigers	8	3	2	3	30	31	-1	11
Stourport	8	2	3	3	27	37	-10	9
Doncaster	8	2	2	4	35	37	-2	8
Team Bath Buccaneers	8	2	2	4	41	44	-3	8
Holcombe	8	2	2	4	34	37	-3	8
Maidstone	8	1	1	6	27	49	-22	4

DOUBLE EURO PROMOTION FOR ENGLAND INDOORS

We left a chilly England under several inches of snow on Thursday and arrived home in England this morning to almost spring like conditions. What a difference a weekend makes and what a difference it can make in hockey.

TalkHockeyRadio was in Rouen for the Women's EuroHockey Indoor Nations Challenge. This is a competition which England dominated last time around when it was held in Sheffield two years ago, but mysteriously failed to win the final against the Danes. The Challenge is the bottom tier of a three tier tournament (the men's competition has four) and it has been a bit of a national embarrassment that a leading hockey nation like England failed to progress higher when it returned to international indoor hockey in 1998.

It is fair to say that England dominated all the matches bar one, and the final game yesterday, against Turkey, was another free scoring match with England very much in the driving seat. Although showing immense improvement over the three days, Turkey were no match for England and England secured the top spot and promotion with a 10-0 win. It was a game which allowed six members of the team to get on the score sheet, namely Chloe Rogers (PS), Becky Herbert (3), Georgie Twigg, Susie Gilbert, Kerry Williams and Natalie Seymour (3).

Summary of England results:

England 6 Wales 0
England 7 France 0
England 1 Sweden 1
England 8 Croatia 2
England 10 Turkey 0

Final places:

1. England
   
2. France
   
3. Sweden
   
4. Croatia
   
5. Wales
   
6. Turkey
   

Becky Duggan of England won the best goalkeeper award.

England and France are promoted to the Trophy in 2012.

THE MEN'S EUROHOCKEY INDOOR NATIONS CHALLENGE II was also being held in Rouen, the final places for which were as follows:

1. France (Promoted to Challenge I in 2012)
   
2. Wales
   
3. Finland
   
4. Norway
   

Whilst TalkHockeyRadio was in Rouen we were forced to neglect event across Europe in Poznan, Poland, where England's men were taking part in the MEN'S EUROPEAN NATIONS INDOOR TROPHY, which is the second tier of men's competition. The prize for winning this tournament was promotion to the top tier and qualification for the 2011 Indoor World Cup, which is also being held in Poznan.

Unfortunately the European Hockey Federation's web site has been down all morning, but we are able to confirm that England won their last match against Sweden 6 -2, with goals from Jonty Clarke (2), Richard Smith (3) and Richard Mantell. This result, and the 4-2 win by Switzerland against Poland, means that England have won the tournament.

IN THE ENGLAND INDOOR LEAGUE, the men's Premier Division was able to play its delayed matches, with East Grinstead winning the division with a margin of six points over second placed Loughborough Students. They and Surbiton go through the National Finals at the end of the month.

Somewhat disrupted by the need to rearrange the Premier Divisions due to weather conditions a week earlier, men's and women's Division One got under way this weekend, with only two matches being played in the men's division, but six shortened matches being played in the women's. Both conclude next weekend, together with the women's Premier Division.

Men's Premier Division

	FT	HT		FT
East Grinstead	4	(2-0)		0	Loughborough Students
David De Prez 4 12 F F Scott Ashdown 17 F Mats Grambusch 22 F
Harleston Magpies	4	(3-0)		0	St Albans
Matt Riches 1 F Tristan Baynes 2 20 F PC Leigh Stitch 14 F
Havant	1	(1-3)		7	Beeston
Nathan Palmer 8 F					James McBlane 12 17 PC PC Stephen Wood 13 26 F F Chris Seddon 15 26 F F Phillip Studt 30 PC
Reading	5	(2-7)		12	East Grinstead
Harry Jawanda 1 F Andy Watts 4 24 27 F F F Ian McKay 24 F					David De Prez 2 8 9 19 20 30 F F F F F F Niall Scott 8 PC Mark Pearn 10 12 17 26 F F F F Simon Ogden 14 F

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
East Grinstead	8	8	0	0	79	20	59	24
Loughborough Students	8	6	0	2	44	28	16	18
Surbiton	8	5	0	3	57	43	14	15
Reading	8	4	0	4	55	42	13	12
Beeston	8	3	1	4	37	36	1	10
Old Loughtonians	8	3	0	5	36	43	-7	9
St Albans	8	3	0	5	28	54	-26	9
Harleston Magpies	8	2	2	4	25	40	-15	8
Havant	8	0	1	7	25	80	-55	1

Men's Division One

	FT	HT		FT
Stourport	2	(1-2)		2	Bournville
Holcombe	1	(1-2)		6	Bowdon
Doncaster	3	(3-1)		3	Barford Tigers
Canterbury	9	(4-1)		6	Maidstone
Team Bath Buccaneers	8	(4-4)		4	Stourport
Bournville	7	(3-1)		5	Holcombe
Bowdon	4	(2-0)		1	Doncaster
Barford Tigers	5	(1-3)		8	Canterbury
Maidstone	5	(2-3)		5	Team Bath Buccaneers

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Bowdon	2	2	0	0	10	2	8	6
Canterbury	2	2	0	0	17	11	6	6
Team Bath Buccaneers	2	1	1	0	13	9	4	4
Bournville	2	1	1	0	9	7	2	4
Maidstone	2	0	1	1	11	14	-3	1
Barford Tigers	2	0	1	1	8	11	-3	1
Doncaster	2	0	1	1	4	7	-3	1
Stourport	2	0	1	1	6	10	-4	1
Holcombe	2	0	0	2	6	13	-7	0

Women's Division One

	FT	HT		FT
Sutton Coldfield	2	(0-1)		2	Harleston Magpies
Aldridge	2	(1-1)		2	Liverpool Sefton
Old Loughtonians	1	(0-0)		2	Reading
Barnes Hounslow Ealing	2	(0-0)		3	Bradford Wakefield
Liverpool Sefton	1	(1-3)		6	Sutton Coldfield
Old Loughtonians	2	(1-0)		1	Harleston Magpies
Aldridge	3	(2-1)		2	Sevenoaks
Sutton Coldfield	2	(1-2)		4	Barnes Hounslow Ealing
Bradford Wakefield	1	(1-2)		2	Old Loughtonians
Reading	9	(3-0)		2	Aldridge
Barnes Hounslow Ealing	1	(0-0)		0	Liverpool Sefton
Harleston Magpies	1	(1-0)		0	Bradford Wakefield
Sevenoaks	0	(0-1)		2	Reading

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
Reading	6	6	0	0	26	9	17	18
Sutton Coldfield	6	3	1	2	23	15	8	10
Barnes Hounslow Ealing	6	3	1	2	10	9	1	10
Harleston Magpies	6	2	2	2	8	9	-1	8
Liverpool Sefton	6	2	1	3	12	15	-3	7
Sevenoaks	6	2	1	3	12	16	-4	7
Old Loughtonians	6	2	1	3	11	15	-4	7
Bradford Wakefield	6	2	0	4	8	8	0	6
Aldridge	6	1	1	4	8	22	-14	4