Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Boyne’s men promoted after perfect weekend
Canterbury men’s hockey club coach Craig Boyne has hailed his team’s “perfect weekend” after winning promotion back to the indoor league Premier Division.
Canterbury won all four of their matches in Nottingham last weekend to finish top of the Jaffa Super 6s Division 1 after being relegated from the top league last year.
Boyne said the opening win against Beeston on Saturday set the tone for the weekend.
He said: “We knew if we beat Beeston in the first match we would have a good chance of winning promotion.
“We travelled the night before and did our preparation as best we could.
“It was not an easy match and we gave away a couple of disappointing goals in the first half. We maintained control throughout and frustrated them in the second half.
“It was a bit of a weight off our shoulders and knew it was up to us from there. It was the perfect weekend.”
Boyne scored four times in the opening 11-7 win over Beeston with three for Christian Schellinger and two each for Michael Nowakowski and Will Heywood.
Canterbury had a 5-4 lead at half-time before scoring six more to earn the important win.
Schellinger scored five as they eased to victory in their second match on Saturday against Harleston. Nowakowski got four and Heywood one as they secured a 10-3 win.
Canterbury were 6-0 up at half-time and despite two early goals in the second half from their opponents, they went on to score four more in their win.
It was Nowakowski’s turn to score five as he helped his team to a 9-6 win over Ipswich in their first game on the Sunday.
Two goals from Boyne and one each for Schellinger and Paddy Brookson gave Canterbury the victory.
In their final match of the weekend, Boyne scored a hat-trick on his side’s way to a 9-1 win over St Albans.
Nowakowski and Sam Barrett scored two each and there was a goal each for Brookson and Schellinger to give Canterbury the win and a topplace finish.
Boyne was delighted how his team played over the whole weekend.
He said: “Everyone’s performances were above expectations. Michael Nowakowski stepped up in the second weekend and Chris Schellinger was smashing in the goals.
“It was pretty devastating when we got relegated last year and it is now nice to go straight back up.
“It would have been pretty tough to win promotion next year with the teams that are in Division 1.”
Promoted alongside Canterbury were Hampstead & Westminster with Loughborough and fellow Kent side Sevenoaks relegated from the Premier Division.