It was a cold and miserable day at Polo Farm this afternoon, with a few wisps of snow adding to the bitterly cold wind. It was a particularly cold afternoon for the hosts, Canterbury, who entertained Reading in a double header. In both cases the hosts enjoyed a lead over the visitors in their respective Premier Divisions, which Reading was keen to peg back.
First to take the pitch were the women. The chilly wind seemed to have an impact on the performances on the pitch, for whilst Canterbury enjoyed more than their fair share of the possession, they singularly failed to capitalise on it. Both goalkeepers had relatively quiet matches, but there were a couple of times when Sarah Ellis in the Reading goal was called on to save the day.
The extraordinary thing about this match was that after Elizabeth Hunt's first minute goal, we had just over an hour to wait before the ball found the net again. Rather appropriately, the ball seemed frozen in midfield. The scorer of the second goal, Elspeth Cockburn, gave Reading a 0-2 win, and put Reading in contention to get up with the leaders. Canterbury are on 31 points, Leicester on 30, and Reading now on 27, but Leicester have a game in hand.
If things went badly for Canterbury's women, they were about to get a whole lot worse for the men. Canterbury have been in second place since week three, but Reading proved unstoppable with goals from Craig Peel (3), Chris Newman (2), Jonny Colding, Richard Mantell and Jonty Clarke in an 8-1 win. Reading now move up into second place, displacing Canterbury, who drop to third with Cannock and Surbiton breathing down their necks, and both with a game in hand.
The shock result of the day came in the Men's Premier Division where East Grinstead, fresh from their promotion in the European Indoor Clubs Trophy last weekend, suffered a not dissimilar fate to Canterbury. Their tormentors were visiting Beeston. Goals from Simon Egerton, Alistair Wilson, Martin Jones (2), Stuart Pilgrim and Adam Dixon, gave the Nottingham side a 6-1 win, and their lead in the Premier Division is currently 12 points, with five matches left to play.
The bulk of men's matches this weekend will be played tomorrow, but this afternoon there was a 10 goal encounter between Teddington and Oxted which ended in a draw.
The other Women's Premier League matches today saw the bottom clubs in action, with Slough losing their 13th game of the season 2-5 at home to Sutton Coldfield. Ninth place Olton & West Warwicks were leading at home to Bowdon Hightown at half time, but the visitors scored three times in the second half to take the match 2-4. Birmingham University are just outside the drop zone but managed to avoid picking up any points by losing 2-4 at home to Clifton.
In the women's Conference, the most notable result was North leaders Beeston losing 3-7 at home to Loughborough Students. Second placed University of Durham had their match at Whitley Bay postponed because of snow, which leaves them with a game in hand and only three points behind Beeston.
Playing in the European Women's Indoor Clubs Cup in Vienna, Leicester have had a difficult time, losing all three preliminary pool matches and their first relegation pool match. Leicester are relegated to the Trophy Tournament next year and will be playing tomorrow final match to try and maintain some prestige.
FULL RESULTS AND LEAGUE TABLES CAN BE FOUND ON OUR MAIN WEB SITE. PICTURES FROM THE CANTERBURY V READING DOUBLE HEADER WILL BE AVAILABLE TO VIEW SOMETIME ON SUNDAY.
