Singer Katy Shotter came onto the pitch and as she started to sing it became apparent that her microphone wasn't working. That turned out to be one of the only dud moments in a super afternoon of hockey at the Wembley Arena. At least it proved that she was not miming, and she's actually quite a good singer.
The women's final, despite the dearth of goals, was actually a very good match, something we've not always been able to say in the past. Both goalkeepers, Sarah Ellis for Reading and Maddie Hinch for Leicester, were in fine form, and Reading's Sam Quek and Emma Thomas had cracking games. The only goal in the match came from Leicester's Lauren Turner in the 36th minute. It was a shame that there had to be a loser.
Reading gave East Grinstead a run for their money in the first of the two men's semi finals, with Reading pegging back their opponent's lead to have a 4-3 advantage midway through the second half. East Grinstead re-took the lead with goals from Barry Middleton and Ashley Jackson, but Jonty Clarke's last gasp equaliser took the match into penalty strokes. With all square after the first barrage, it went to sudden death, but after Richard Potton saved off Simon Mantell, it only remained for East Grinstead's Iain Lewers to pop in the winner.
Beeston were far too good for Bowdon in the second semi-final, with the Nottingham side emerging 11-3 winners. Out of that tally, Beeston's Paddy Schmidt accounted for five and guesting Timothy Davenport three.
With that sort of background the final was surprisingly one-sided, with most of the damage done by East Grinstead in a six minute golden spell, when they found the net six times, courtesy of Messrs De Prez (2), Koschyk (2), Jackson and Ashdown. In fact two of Beeston's five goals were not scored until the dying seconds when it was all too late. Final score, 8-5 to East Grinstead. East Grinstead are off to the European Clubs Championships in Hamburg in two weeks time and will be buoyed up by that emphatic win.
Images from the match are available to view at our pictures site at www.HockeyImages.co.uk. The February edition of our on-line magazine, HockeyTalk, has pictures and articles about the Maxifuel Finals and the European Indoor Nations Championships. This can be found at www.TalkHockeyRadio.co.uk.
