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 15th 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 58th 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 10th 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.
