Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
City club well primed for play-off campaign
Canterbury hockey
Canterbury must be confident but not take anything for granted when their relegation play-off campaign begins on Saturday, according to team manager Chris Wyver.
The city club finished secondbottom in the National Premier Division and must battle the winners of the North, West and East Conferences for the two available places in next season’s top-flight.
First up are North champions the University of Durham at Nottingham on Sunday (3.30pm), with Sevenoaks and the University of Bath to follow at the Olympic Park on April 22 and 23.
Wyver said: “Our priorities this week are to get everyone fit and coaches David Mathews and David Bunyan will be doing their research on Durham.
“They are a bit of an unknown quantity but have a number of England under-21 players and have won every one of their games in the league this season so they will be no pushover.”
Canterbury have come through the play-offs in the past two seasons and Wyver claimed their experience will benefit them.
He said: “Winning the first game is so important as you go to play-off weekend in a good position, knowing a little more what is required.
“We play Bath, who we hope to watch before us this weekend and then finally Sevenoaks who we know pretty well from having played pre-season friendlies against them.”
He added: “It is difficult to tell what the strength of the other sides will be like as the standard in the conference divisions can differ, although all these teams have won their divisions and all have decent players in their squads. Our players need to be confident but not take anything for granted.”
The city club could welcome back Josh Pollard, Tom Bean, James Oates and Michael Farrer – who all missed the national cup semi-final 2-0 win against BromBecks on Sunday – but Craig Boyne is still away.
Wyver added: “It was good to get the win in the semi-final but it wasn’t one of our better games.
“We were without a number of key players and only two on the bench but those that came in did a good job.
“Credit to the way we defended, Diccon Stubbings made a couple of outstanding saves and our defence soaked up a lot of pressure to sneak the win with two goals from Will Heywood.”
The win set up a final against Reading back at Lee Valley on Saturday, April 29 and Wyver added: “It will be great, Reading are a team we know well and if our league games against them are anything to go by, we would be confident of getting a result.
“Our final is followed later in the day by the Canterbury men’s over-40s in their own final so it should be a good day out for the club.”
Canterbury Ladies might have completed their Investec Premier Division campaign but they have begun their preparations for their European adventure with friendlies against East Grinstead, Wimbledon and Holcombe.
The 3rds’ season finished on a low note after they were edgedout 3-2 at Gravesend in the Kent League, Premier Division finale.
The hosts started well and broke the deadlock but Canterbury replied with Alice Dunn firing her 11th goal of the season.
Gravesend restored their lead before the break and added a third after half-time, although Charlotte Young reduced the deficit late-on.
The 3As drew 1-1 draw at second-placed King’s & Alleyn’s in their penultimate game of the Division 1 season.
King’s took the lead inside 20 minutes but Canterbury rallied and equalised before the break and withstood prolonged pressure after half-time to ensure a creditable point ahead of their season finale at Edenbridge.
Canterbury’s under-16 girls swept aside Surbiton in the quarter-final of the Home Counties League. It took just four minutes for Harriet Williams to turn in a cross by Paris Gasson to open the scoring and it was 3-0 at the break.
Surbiton piled on the pressure after the break but Canterbury defended well and added five further goals with Williams completing her hat-trick and Gasson also getting on the scoresheet as the city club progressed to finals day on April 30.
The under-14 girls hosted their regional finals at Polo Farm on Sunday.
Canterbury drew 1-1 in their opening game against Bishop’s Stortford and beat Hertford 6-0 before losing their final game 5-0 to Surbiton who went through to the national finals with Canterbury having to settle for second place.
Canterbury under-8s took two full teams to Herne Bay on Sunday for a triangular tournament against Bay and Cliftonville. The nationwide decline of club cricket, especially in the villages, is in sharp contrast to the days when there were at least 40 clubs in the Canterbury area. That is how many were listed 20 years ago in the handbook published by the Association of Kent Cricket Clubs, the body responsible for the welfare of clubs across the county – before its absorption within the Kent Cricket Board. At the time, the district development officer for the Canterbury District was Mike Pearson who has died in the Pilgrims’ Hospice at Canterbury aged 80. Mike lived in Canterbury and leaves a widow and son, a keen cricketer. His funeral will take place at Barham Crematorium on Tuesday, April 11, at 3.20pm. Family flowers only, donations to the Pilgrims’ Hospice.