There is plenty of news today from the NOW:Pensions Men’s
League, with one or two interesting changes in league positions.
Possibly the most significant change is the loss of Beeston’s
four point lead at the head of the table. The reason is that East Grinstead had
a game in hand and has played twice over the weekend, yesterday against
Hampstead & Westminster, and this afternoon against Wimbledon. Over those two matches East Grinstead has
clocked up an astonishing 16 goals, with a 9-3 win on Saturday and a 7-0 win
today. Ashley Jackson, recently returned from the Hockey India League,
contributed two goals in each match. Meanwhile, Beeston’s 2-2 draw away at
Canterbury has only added one point to their points total, as against The
Grinners six.
East Grinstead has overtaken both Reading and Beeston to go
top. EG and Beeston are separated only on goal difference. Reading added to Hampstead & Westminster’s
woes by beating them 0-5 at Paddington Rec. Reading are only two points behind
the leaders.
There was movement at the bottom end of the Premier Division
too. Surbiton handed out an 8-2 pasting
to Loughborough Students, with four goals coming from their Alan Forsyth. The
Students recently climbed out of the bottom spot after a win against Hampstead
and a draw against Canterbury, but they are propping up the table again.
Sheffield Hallam vacated the automatic relegation spot thanks to a 2-2 draw at
Cannock. They are now in ninth place, one point ahead of Loughborough.
The Conference East
match of the day was actually the match of yesterday, with an evening start in
the game between Holcombe and Southgate. There is a huge gap in the East
between second and third place (currently 14 points), so they are the only
contenders for a promotion play-off place.
Yesterday morning it was Holcombe that led the table on goal different.
Today it is Southgate, with a three point advantage after their 3-4 win. Rick
Gay’s 60th minute penalty corner conversion was the decider, his
second goal of the match.
With only nine points left to play for, the bottom two clubs
in the East are either relegated or face the relegation play-offs. Brighton
& Hove lost 0-5 to visiting Cambridge City this afternoon and are now on
seven points, whilst St Albans are on six after their 1-2 defeat at the hands
of Richmond.
Things in the Conference
West look interesting, with only two points separating the sixth and tenth
sides. And there are some big names in
there too. Guildford slipped back into the bottom place after a meet with
top-of-the-tale Cardiff & Met which ended 0-2. Isca came off the bottom after beating
Cheltenham 4-1, but only as far as
ninth. Ironically, Havant move up one
place to sixth despite losing 3-2 away at University of Birmingham. They have a superior goal difference to
Fareham, who lost 1-6 at home to Team Bath Buccaneers. Fareham drop one place
to seventh. The Buccaneers win moves
them into second place, ahead of Indian Gymkhana.
The North Conference
sees Brooklands MU still leading the
pack, three points ahead of second placed Bowdon. Brooklands took a 4-2 lead into the second
half in their match against Olton & West Warwicks, and must have been
worried when Olton’s Tom Mallet scored the third of a hat-trick to bring the
score to 5-4. But that is how the match finished and Brooklands maintain keep their
top place. Bowdon were in scoring mode at Leek, with three goals each side of
half-time to win the match 0-6. Bottom
placed West Bridgford saw a four-goal solo effort by their Todd Mills to take
the points at home to Belper. It was the Nottingham side’s first win of the
season and gives them a sliver of hope of avoiding relegation. They are on five points, three points below
Deeside Ramblers, who lost 3-0 at Wakefield. Above them is Belper on 10 points.
Readers may recall that TalkHockeyRadio was at Slough yesterday
to see them beaten by Buckingham in the Investec Women’s Conference West. Buckingham
had a game in hand and they have now increased their lead over Slough to four
points. They played their re-arranged
match against Oxford Hawks this afternoon, a game that they won 4-0.
FULL RESULTS AND TABLE ARE AVAILABLE ON OUR MAIN WEB SITE AT
WWW.TALKHOCKEYRADIO.CO.UK.
