An exciting finish is in prospect for the Men’s Premier
Division, with the leaders neck-and-neck and only one match left to play.
East Grinstead, who lead Beeston on a much better goal
difference, stay top of the table after a win at home to Reading. Grinstead
seemed to have this afternoon’s game wrapped up after goals from Ashley Jackson,
Mark Pearn and Mark Gleghorn gave them a 3-0 lead. Tom Carson’s 42 minute goal for Reading was
soon wiped out by a Luke Taylor penalty corner, but Reading scored twice more, courtesy
of Ben Boon and John Jackson, to finish the match 4-3 in Grinstead’s favour.
Meanwhile, up the M1 in Nottingham, Beeston were beating
Loughborough Students 1-4. Both the
Students and bottom placed Sheffield Hallam, have the chance of avoiding relegation,
mainly thanks to yesterdays match between Cannock and Surbiton, which Surbiton
won 4-6. This leaves Cannock only one
point ahead of Loughborough, who are in ninth place.
Bottom of the pile Sheffield Hallam narrowly lost to
Canterbury after Mickel Pierre scored a 70th minute winner to push
the score to 3-4 in Canterbury’s favour.
Hallam could conceivably win three points next weekend to put them above
Loughborough Students. Two of the three
clubs in the danger zone, Cannock and Loughborough, play top sides next weekend
(Cannock play Beeston and the Students play Reading). If anyone has a chance of a win it is Hallam,
who play Wimbledon.
Wimbledon had the misfortune of being the side who ended
Hampstead & Westminsters run of bad form, losing 3-2 at Paddington
Rec. The result means that Wimbledon
drop to sixth place.
Although there are issues still to be decided, the Premier
Division has divided itself up neatly into three parts. There are four clubs (EG, Beeston, Reading
and Surbiton) who have qualified for the Championship play-offs, three clubs
safe from relegation (Canterbury, Wimbledon and H&W), leaving the bottom
three to fight it out for Premier Division survival.
For the second week running, TalkHockeyRadio was at an East Conference match. Our editor used
to play for both the clubs in question, namely Brighton & Hove and Bromley
& Beckenham, so he had a particular interest in the match. The possibility of
Brighton being automatically related was eliminated last night when bottom
placed St Albans was beaten 7-0 at Holcombe. Unfortunately, the gap between
Brighton in ninth place and Oxted in eighth is too great for them to avoid the
relegation play-offs, but at least the match might be a guide to their chances.
We were surprised to see the familiar face of former GB
Women’s and Surbiton men’s coach Jon Royce at Brighton. Apparently he has been
retained in an advisory capacity to help Brighton. However, in the first few
minutes the match seemed to be going in a predictable direction, with what
appeared to be a considerable skills deficit by Brighton compared with their
opponents. But Sam Chivers’ 16th
minute goal for the South Coast side took us all by surprise. Somehow (and rather appropriately, as you can
see the sea from Brighton’s ground) the home side suddenly got the wind in
their sails and Chivers scored a second nine minutes later, to be followed just
before the break by a goal from their Rupert Ashdown.
A revival by BromBeck was much anticipated but it never
came. Four minutes into the second half Ashdown scored again. Bromley & Beckenham seemed to be getting
back into the game, but their scant reward was a penalty stroke conversion
which gave a final score of 4-1 to Brighton.
If Brighton play like that in the relegation play-offs, they will
survive another season in the England Hockey League.
At the other end of the Conference East, Southgate maintain
their three point lead over Holcombe after a 5-0 win over Old Loughtonians
yesterday afternoon. Both Holcombe and Southgate face middle-of-the-table
opposition next weekend, so the qualifier for the promotion play-offs is still wide
open. Holcombe have a much better goal
difference, so a win by them and a defeat to Southgate could reverse their
positions.
It is amazing, with only one match to play, that promotion
and relegation issues in the Conference
West are still wide open. Cardiff and Met stay top after a 2-0 win over
Isca, with Bath Buccaneers three points behind them. The Buccaneers won 0-3
away at Cheltenham this afternoon. Realistically, the promotion play-off spot
is Cardiff’s, as the Buccaneers goal difference is 12 behind the Welsh side’s.
However, the race to the bottom is still tense with the remarkable situation
that there are five clubs within three points of each other. Today’s results made no difference to the
bottom of the table, other than maintain the narrow margins. Top of the five clubs in the danger zone is
Cheltenham on 17 points, followed by Guildford on 16. Guildford’s 1-1 draw at
home to Indian Gym helped cement them into the seventh place. Below them is
Isca with 14 points, ahead of Havant on goal difference. Havant lost 5-3 to
University of Exeter this afternoon.
Fareham lost at home to Birmingham University 1-2 and remain in bottom place.
The top of the table clash in the Conference North took
place yesterday when leaders Brooklands MU opened the gap between them and
second place Bowdon to six points by beating Bowdon 3-2. Consequently
Brooklands qualify for the promotion play-offs.
West Bridgford’s chances of survival in the England Hockey League
evaporated when they lost 4-3 to Olton & West Warwicks and ninth placed
Deeside Ramblers won 2-3 at University of Durham. This leaves three possible contenders for the
relegation play-offs: Khalsa, who drew 0-0 at home to Leek and are in seventh
place with 16 points, Belper who won their match against Wakefield 2-4 and are
in eighth place on 14 points, and Deeside Ramblers in ninth place with 14
points but with an inferior goal difference.
PICTURES FROM THE EAST CONFERENCE MATCH BETWEEN BRIGHTON
& HOVE AND BROMLEY & BECKENHAM ARE ON OUR WEB SITE AT www.HockeyImages.co.uk. FULL TABLES AND RESULTS ARE ON OUR MAIN WEB
SITE AT www.TalkHockeyRadio.co.uk.
