Whilst East Grinstead powered their way to the top spot in
the Maxinutrition Indoor Premier Division at St Georges yesterday, with two
more wins to give them a 100% record, and with Reading close on their heels
with seven wins out in eight matches, interesting things were happening lower
down the table.
The interest factor came partly from some surprise
performances from Sevenoaks, who thesedays play their outdoor hockey outside of
the England Hockey League. Having only
won one of their six matches by the time Sunday morning arrived, first they
dispatched Canterbury 6-9, before going on to beat Beeston 7-6. Whilst the damage done to Canterbury was not
fatal – they went on to win their last match and secure third place – it was
for Beeston.
Although Beeston had not had the most successful of runs in
the Premier Division, they could have secured fourth place (and a coverted
semi-final place) with a win over Sevenoaks, but they were finally sunk by two
late goals from Richard Barker and Ben Payne to lose 7-6.
Sevenoaks were within a whisker of stealing the fourth place
with their result over Beeston, but Holcombe took that with a superior goal
difference.
At the other end of the table, the once mighty Loughborough
Students could only muster two points from two draws and finished one from
bottom. For Doncaster it was just single point.
So East Grinstead, Reading, Canterbury and Holcombe will be
playing in the semi finals at Wembley on 2 February. However, the gap between the top two and the
other qualifiers is massive. It looks
like an East Grinstead v Reading final.
Men’s Premier Division final table. 1. East Grinstead, 2.
Reading, 3. Canterbury, 4. Holcombe, 5. Sevenoaks, 6. Beeston, 7. Bowdon, 8. Loughbrough Students, 9. Doncaster.
PICTURES FROM YESTERDAY’S MATCHES ARE ON OUR PICTURES SITE
AT WWW.HOCKEYIMAGES.CO.UK.
In the Women’s Premier Division there was a touch of déjà vu when it came to the front
runners. Bowdon Hightown had a 100% record over the weekend and finished the
League in top place, with 22 points from a potential 24. One of those wins was
over Slough , stopping Slough from taking the top place.
Slough are in second place followed by Reading. Reading had
a poor start to the weekend, losing to Slough and then drawing 4-4 against
Canterbury. But two wins on Sunday secured the third place for them.
The final place to qualify for next Saturday’s Semi-finals
at Kettering went to Canterbury. Their 7-4 win over East Grinstead on Sunday condemned
the Grinners to fifth place, on point behind the Kent club.
Women’s Premier Division final table. 1. Bowdon Hightown, 2.
Slough, 3. Reading, 4. Canterbury, 5. East Grinstead, 6. Sutton Coldfield, 7. Harleston Magpies, 8. Leicester, 9. Olton & West Warwicks.
