After today there are only six points available before the
season ends, so some of today’s results were important in deciding the final league
positions in the Investec Women’s Hockey League.
The top spot in the Premier Division remains wide open after
leaders Canterbury lost 4-1 away at Surbiton.
Although Sarah Page scored early for Surbiton, most of the goal action
did not take place until late in the second half. Sophie Fisher-Norton started the ball rolling
to increase the home side’s lead to 2-0, but Canterbury’s player-coach Jen
Wilson pulled one back. In the last five minutes Abi Robinson scored twice to
give Surbiton the win,
Reading, in second place, closed the gap to one point, with
a 3-1 win against Clifton at home.
At the bottom end of the table, Olton & West Warwicks
lost their 16th game the season with a 1-4 defeat to visiting
Birmingham University. Sutton Coldfield’s
last ditch attempt to avoid the play-off spot looked hopeful when Emma McCabe
equalised away at Bowdon Hightown.
Unfortunately, Tina Cullen dashed their hopes with a 53rd
minute goal to give Bowdon the 2-1 win.
Although University of Birmingham are only six points ahead of the,
Sutton have a negative goal difference of -19, as opposed to the University’s +1.
In the remaining match in the Premiership, Leicester beat
Beeston 2-1.
Surprisingly, today’s results leave the table unchanged, the
third week in a row that this has happened.
In the Conference
North the top is also closely contested, with the three leading sides all
winning their matches today. Top placed Brooklands Poynton came away with the
points at Whitley Bay & Tynemouth with a 0-2 win. They are two points ahead of Wakefield, who
were in free scoring mode this afternoon with a 0-11 win over luckless Boots. A
second half goal by third placed Durham University’s Camilla McWhirter keeps
alive Kendal’s relegation worries after they went down to the students 3-4 at
home. A massive gap of 12 points has opened up between the fourth and fifth
place clubs, with candidates for the drop being Kendall (11 pts), Ben Rhydding
(9 pts), Boots (8 pts) and Doncaster (5 pts).
The Conference East has one of the few known outcomes in the
Investec League. Holcombe’s match against East Grinstead, effectively a six-pointer,
ended 0-2 to Holcombe, leaving a 12 point gap between the two sides. As a
result, Holcombe qualify for the promotion play-offs. At the other end of the table you have to
feel sorry for Ipswich. Their match
ended earlier than the other relegation candidates, and they briefly rose to
eighth place after they beat Sevenoaks 2-3 away. Unfortunately, Chelmsford beat
St Albans 3-0 and Old Loughtonians beat Harleston Magpies 4-2. As a result, Ipswich return to bottom place.
However, the bottom place in the table is only separated from the fourth place
by five points, so even with only two games left it is bit premature guessing
who is going to be relegated.
There are only two candidates for the promotion play-offs in
the Conference West, with leaders Buckingham winning 2-1 at home to Swansea,
and second placed Slough winning 1-4
away at Oxford Hawks. At the other end of the table Exe’s fate has been sealed
for some time. They lost today 1-2 to Isca. They are 10 points behind Barnes,
whose fate is also sealed. They must go into the relegation play offs after
they lost 3-1 at Bristol Firebrands in eighth place. This leaves a seven point
gap between the clubs.
FULL SCORES AND TABLES CAN BE FOUND ON OUR MAIN WEB SITE AT
WWW.TALKHOCKEYRADIO.CO.UK.
