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:
- England
- France
- Sweden
- Croatia
- Wales
- 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:
- France (Promoted to Challenge I in 2012)
- Wales
- Finland
- 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 |
