There were a number of interesting fixtures in today’s
Investec Women’s League today, but we decided to head for Upton Court Road to
watch Slough play visiting Buckingham in the Conference West.
We sort of owe an apology to Slough because at the end of
last season (with their relegation from the Premier Division) we were certain
that they were heading for oblivion. But they have had a good season, and they
have some talent in the side. They have
shared the top spot with Buckingham, often only being separated by goal
difference, but as of this morning they were two points ahead.
Curiously, some of the conversation in the club house before
the match centred on how entertaining some recent goalless draws had been. This match seemed to be heading in the same
direction. Buckingham had marginally the upper hand, but Asha Tranquille-Day in
the Slough goal was hardly troubled during the first half. When a goal came it was from a penalty corner
in the 33rd minute, off the stick of Buckingham’s Alyson Billington.
The second half made us start to think there must be a slope
on the pitch which had favoured Buckingham in the first half and Slough in the
second. The home side launched several
promising attacks which seemed to fizzle out when they reached the Buckingham ‘D’.
The final score, 0-1 to Buckingham, probably fairly reflects
the game, but we must express some disappointment at Slough’s performance. It
showed a lot of promise but simply failed to deliver. Buckingham leap-frog
Slough into first place, and have a game in hand against Oxford Hawks which
they will be playing tomorrow. The West Conference remains a two horse race
(third place Hawks are nine points at Slough) but Slough are looking just a
little too lame in attack to recapture their place.
At the basement end of the West Conference , Barnes have
made a late bid to escape from the play-off spot with a 3-1 win over Isca. With
only nine more points available until the end of the season, Exe are
relegated. They lost 0-4 to Trojans and
have only one point, 10 behind Barnes.
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE SLOUGH v BUCKINGHAM MATCH WILL BE ON
OUR PICTURES WEB SITE AT WWW.HOCKEYIMAGES.CO.UK
FROM TOMORROW MORNING.
There were no changes in the Premier Division, with the top four clubs winning their
matches. It was a bad day for the bottom
sides, with Olton suffering a 9-0 defeat away at Beeston. Olton are as good as
relegated. Although nine points were bring them alongside Sutton Coldfield,
their -94 goal difference means they will certainly finish in bottom
place. Sutton Coldfield was beaten 3-5
at home to Reading.
In the East
Conference, Holcombe have almost certainly qualified for the promotion
play-offs. Today’s 4-0 win over Horsham
puts them at the top of the table, nine points ahead of East Grinstead.
However, there +44 goal difference makes them uncatchable.
At the bottom end of the East Conference there are three
clubs in the danger zone. Having seen
Ipswich play last week, we were surprised that they came a cropper at home to
fellow strugglers, Chelmsford. Their 0-3
defeat means that they drop into bottom place with 12 points. Chelmsford are in ninth with 13, and Old
Loughtonians in eighth with 14. The Loughts lost 3-2 away at St Albans.
There was no change in the North Conference today. Like
in the East, all four top clubs won their matches. The race for a promotion play-off spot is
between Brooklands Poynton and Wakefield, with Brooklands having a two point
advantage. The bottom of the table could
prove interesting as the season comes to a conclusion. 11 points separate sixth
placed Loughborough Students and the three clubs below them – Kendall (11), Ben
Rhydding (9), Boots (8) and Doncaster (4).
It could prove an interesting conclusion to the North Conference season.
FULL RESULTS AND TABLES ARE ON OUR WEB SITE AT
WWW.TALKHOCKEYRADIO.CO.UK.
