ENGLAND WIN - OLTON DON'T. A round up of today's matches including England's World League match and matches in the Investec Women's League.

It did not look like an auspicious start for England as they opened their World League Finals campaign in Argentina. 20 minutes into their first pool match they were 0-2 behind after Korea’s Ki Ju Park and Seung A Park had both scored. Alex Danson raised England’s spirits just before half time, and Lily Owsley scored from a penalty corner two minutes into the second half to even the score. 

England took the lead after a penalty corner award was converted by Georgie Twigg, followed a few minutes later by a second goal from Owsley.  It was left to Kate Walsh to put the match beyond doubt with two penalty corner conversions, the second of which was in the final seconds of the match.  Final score 6-2 to England.

The Dutch put out a warning as to their form in the Finals with a 6-0 win over Germany. The Dutch play their Pool A match against England tomorrow.

Today’s Investec Women’s League matches:

Are they as bad as their league position suggest?  Bottom of the Investec Premier League with zero points and a goal difference of -74, Olton & West Warwickshire are having a nightmare season. They were at Reading this afternoon, so TalkHockeyRadio went along to Sonning Lane to see what they’re made of.  

The fact that Reading are missing their England internationals, who are on duty in the World League Finals in Argentina, might just have given Olton the chance of picking up at least one point.  And although Reading spent most of the first half parked in Olton’s end of the pitch, it was the visitors that sprung a surprise on us by opening the scoring. A 15^th minute penalty corner was neatly tucked away by their Julie Stowe.  That’s only Olton’s seventh goal of the season. But Olton’s evident joy was shorted lived. Two minutes later a penalty corner to Reading saw Leah Wilkinson score the first of her three goals in the match.  

You could say this was a game of two halves, with the match going into the second half with a relatively respectable score of 2-1 to Reading.  But in the second half tired legs started to show, and as Reading racked up the goals you could see Olton’s self belief evaporate. Dirkie Chamberlain’s 58^th minute goal for Reading was their eighth, and that is how the game ended, 8-1 to Reading. Surprisingly, Olton never looked like an 8-1 team. But when the Gods of hockey are against you, nothing ever seems to go right.  

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THIS MATCH WILL APPEAR ON OUR www.HockeyImages.co.uk WEB SITE TOMORROW.

Canterbury’s 1-2 win away at University of Birmingham means that Reading remain in second place behind Canterbury, whilst Olton & West Warwicks stay bottom. 

The rest of the Premiership table also remains static, except for the outcome of the match between Bowdon Hightown and Leicester.  Bowdon move back up the table to fourth after Tina Cullen’s 10^th minute goal gave them a 1-0 win against Leicester. Leicester drop one place to fifth.

Beeston and Clifton drew 2-2, thanks in no small part to Beeston’s Sophie Robinson, whose two second half goals rescued a point for the Nottingham side.  Surbiton managed to keep in touch with the leaders with a 3-2 win at home to Sutton Coldfield.  They are two points behind Reading in third place.

Speaking to Olton’s Mandy Gatherer after the Reading v Olton match*, we cited the example of Slough, who dropped like a stone last season but were leading the Conference West this morning. We spoke too soon. They drew 0-0 away at Gloucester City today, whilst a hat-trick by Buckingham’s Zoe Shipperley gave them a 3-1 win over Barnes, and moves them back into top place. 

*This interview will be available at www.TalkHockeyRadio soon.

Holcombe continue a comfortable lead at the top of the East Conference but a 1-0 win by St Albans over Sevenoaks means that Sevenoaks slip into second, two points behind East Grinstead. The Grinners won their home match against Ipswich 3-1. Ipswich fall into the relegation play-off spot, five points above Chelmsford.

In the North Conference, Boots won their first match of the season last weekend, and have now gone on to win their second, beating fellow new-girls Kendal 2-3 away. This elevates them to eighth  place. At the top end of the table, Wakefield has re-taken their lead after Brooklands Poynton could only draw their match against University of Durham 2-2. Wakefield beat bottom placed Doncaster 0-5 away.

FULL RESULTS AND TABLES ARE ON OUR MAIN WEB SITE AT www.TalkHockeyRadio.co.uk.

BEESTON SUFFER SEAON'S FIRST DEFEAT. A round-up of matches in the England Hockey League.

Before looking at the NOW:Pensions Men’s League, a quick glance at the single Investec Women’s League Premier Division match played this afternoon.  It was the vital top of the table clash between Reading and Canterbury. The issue was settled by a single goal – a penalty corner converted in the 21^st minute by Canterbury’s Mel Clewlow.  The win gives back leadership of the Premier Division to Canterbury, which they had surrendered to Reading following their defeat against Beeston back on 12 October. 

In contrast, there has been little in the way of change in the NOW:Pensions Men’s League. That is not to say there has not been plenty of games of interest. The most notable of these was the 2-3 defeat at home of Premier Division leaders Beeston to mid-table Wimbledon - revenge for Wimbledon’s 1-3 defeat on the opening game of the season.  In common with all the other matches in the division, the positions of the sides remains unchanged.  Beeston still lead, although on a reduced margin of four points, with Wimbledon remaining in fifth.

Wimbledon was deprived of overtaking fourth placed Surbiton by virtue of Surbiton’s 0-2 win away at Hampstead & Westminster.

East Grinstead and Reading remain neck and neck in second and third places respectively, both on 23 points, with EG enjoying the better goal difference by the slimmest of margins – two goals! East Grinstead was at Sheffield Hallam, where the Yorkshire side put up a stiff fight to eventually lose 3-5.  Reading’s game at Canterbury must have been a cracker, finishing 4-5 in Reading’s favour, and with the visitors scoring all four goals in the second half to come back from 3-0 down. Four goals?  The match was the penultimate league game before Christma,s and Canterbury gave Reading an early Christmas present in the shape of an own goal.

It was clearly not the season of goodwill at Cannock, where they were entertaining bottom of the table Loughborough Students.  The Students only points of the season were won against Cannock back on 14 September, and it looked as if they were well on the way to adding one point to the three they already had. Having come back from 2-0 down with two second-half goals, Nicholas Bandurak scored the winner for Cannock with four minutes left on the clock. Their 3-2 win is only Cannock’s second of the season.

TalkHockeyRadio was at Havant to see them play Conference West leaders, Bath Buccaneers. For some reason we always seem to land up at this match (this is the third time in three seasons) and it has always been a competitive and entertaining match. Five of the Buccaneers are former Havant players, including prolific goal scorer Tim Davenport, which adds a bit of extra spice to the match.

Havant got off to a cracking start, with a ninth minute penalty corner conversion by James Speke, and for a while it looked as if the match could be all Havant’s.  But a stick tackle in the circle led to the award of a penalty stroke, which Tim Davenport confidently put away to put the sides on equal terms.  Three minutes later Buccaneers’ Jack Betenson scored from open play, giving his side a 1-2 half-time lead.  The second half saw Havant applying a lot of pressure and they were eventually rewarded with a Craig Duffy goal in the last ten minutes. The match looked set to end in a 2-2 draw, but with three minutes left, Betenson scored his second to give the Buccaneers a 2-3 win.

A slightly bizarre incident during the match was when the Havant coach came onto the pitch to speak to umpire Sean Edwards. We don’t know what he said, and he was not invited onto the pitch, but it earned himself a yellow card, which meant that Havant had to take a player off the pitch.  We were left feeling sorry for the player that Havant felt they could most do without!

PICTURES FROM THIS MATCH ARE AT WWW.HOCKEYIMAGES.CO.UK. 

Elsewhere in the West Conference, Cardiff & Met stay close on the tail of Bath Buccaneers after a 3-1 win at home to Isca.  Indian Gymkhana stay within striking distance of the top with a 5-0 win at home to Fareham.

In the Conference East the top three clubs, Southgate, Holcombe and Teddington, all won their matches this afternoon and the table remains unchanged.

The Conference North is another table which remains unchanged but Brooklands MU has opened up a four point gap between themselves and University of Durham. The Manchester side recorded a 0-3 win against Wakefield, whilst the University could only draw 1-1 at Olton & West Warwicks. West Bridgford at the bottom of the table, nearly recorded their first win of the season.  They were 3-4 ahead at Khalsa, having scored all of their goals in the space of 17 minutes late in the match.  Their joy was brought to an abrupt end when Khalsa’s Aaron Nagra scored from a penalty corner in the dying seconds of the match.   Final score 4-4. 

FULL RESULTS AND TABLES CAN BE FOUND ON OUR MAIN WEB SITE

SUTTON COLDFIELD RECORD THEIR SECOND VICTORY. A round-up of today's matches in the Investec Women's League.

The big Investec Women’s League match of the weekend is tomorrow, when Reading and Canterbury meet. They are both at the top of the Premiership table on 22 points, but with Reading having the better goal difference.

Elsewhere in the Premiership table Sutton Coldfield won only their second game of the season with a surprise win against Beeston this afternoon. Jane Sixsmith, Sarah Mills and Emma McCabe all scored from penalty corners to give their side the 3-0 victory.  With six points they remain in the relegation play-off spot, but it puts them is striking distance of making an escape.

If Sutton Coldfield do make an escape it is likely to be at the expense of University of Birmingham, who went down 1-0 at Leicester. Jo Hunter was the home side’s scorer.

There was good news of sorts for Olton & West Warwicks today, with what was their most modest defeat of the season so far.  Playing Bowdon Hightown at home, their Ami Hone scored an 18^th minute equaliser, but Bowdon struck three times in the second half for the match to end 1-4. Olton have no points after ten matches, with a goal difference of -67. 

East Grinstead, who had been chasing Holcombe hard for the lead in the Conference East, suffered a surprise result at bottom placed Chelmsford.  The Essex side came back from a 0-2 deficit to draw the match 2-2. This is Chelmsford’s fifth draw this season, but it still leaves them propping up the table. Holcombe’s 1-2 win at Wimbledon keeps them five points ahead of second placed Sevenoaks. Sevenoaks took over second place from East Grinstead with a 5-1 win over Old Loughtonians.

The North Conference table remained static last weekend, but both the bottom and top changed as a result of today’s matches. Boots won their first match of the season, recording a 2-1 win over Doncaster. Boots move off the bottom spot to be replaced by Doncaster. At the top of the table Wakefield could only draw 3-3 at home to Ben Rhydding, whilst Brooklands Poynton won their match away at Stourport 1-2. As a result Brooklands Poynton move into the top place, one point ahead of Wakefield. University of Durham, who were early contenders for the lead earlier in the season, lost  0-1 to Loughborough Students and are now four points adrift of Wakefield in third place.

The race for the top of the Conference West is still neck and neck, with Slough one point ahead of Buckingham. Slough’s goal difference took a boost with a 4-0 win at home to Trojans.  In comparison, Buckingham’s win at Bristol Firebrands was relatively modest, 1-2. Exe seem to be relegation bound, six points behind Barnes in ninth place.  They lost 1-6 at home to Gloucester City, whilst Barnes edged further away with a 1-1 win at home to Swansea City.

FULL RESULTS AND TABLES CAN BE FOUND ON OUR MAIN WEB SITE.

NOW:Pensions Cup Round 3 Results

Bromley & Beckenham 2   University of Birmingham 1

Brooklands MU 4   Cambridge City 1

Cannock 3    Reading 3 [Cannock win on penalty strokes]

Hampstead & Westminster 3   Fareham 1

Lewes 1   Old Loughtonians 2

Oxted 3   Holcombe 3 [Oxted win on penalty strokes]

Sevenoaks 4   Bowdon 2

Teddington 3  Beeston 6*

*There will be pictures from this match at www.HockeyImages.co.uk later.

NO CHANGE AT THE TOP OF THE PREMIER DIVISION. A round-up of today's matches in the Investec Women's League.

Matches this afternoon at the midway point of this season’s Investec Women’s League resulted in some re-shuffling of the Premier Division table.

The big winners in terms of a climb up the table were Leicester. An almost predictably high scoring match against bottom placed Olton & West Warwicks saw the game finish at 8-1, with Katie Brough scoring only Olton’s fifth goal of the season.  Leicester move up from seventh to fourth.

Surbiton also had a profitable afternoon with a climb up the table from fourth to third  They had a good away win over Beeston, which saw the score at 0-4 and the break. The final score, 2-6. Beeston drop one place to seventh. 

Sutton Coldfield look in trouble after they played host to University of Birmingham.  The University’s 1-2 win means that a six point gap has opened up between the two sides, with Sutton occupying the relegation play-off spot and only three points ahead of Olton.

The top of the table remains unchanged with the leaders both on 22 points. Reading’s Alex Danson scored an early second half goal and Rebecca Halle orchestrated a second to give their side a 0-2 win at Bowdon Hightown.  Canterbury stay in second place with an inferior goal difference.  They beat Clifton 3-2 this afternoon, with Clifton contributing an own goal to the tally. Clifton move down from third to fifth.

In the East Conference leaders Holcombe lost their second match of the season 1-2 at home to St Albans.  Chasing them is East Grinstead who won their match at home to Harleston Magpies 2-1. 

The North Conference table remains unchanged. However, struggling Boots recorded only their second point of the season when they came back from 0-2 down against Loughborough Students, with Sharon Mcgucken and Sophie Aspinal giving them the 2-2 draw.

In the Conference West, Slough allowed Buckingham to close the gap at the top when they could only draw at home to Swansea City. Buckingham won their match away against Swansea City 0-3 and are now only one point behind the leaders

FULL RESULTS AND TABLES CAN BE FOUND ON OUR MAIN WEB SITE.

We hope to have the results from today’s Men’s Cup matches. Pictures of the Men’s Cup game between Teddington and Beeston will be posted to our www.HockeyImages.co.uk site later.