National League title joy for Charnwood Warriors
CHARNWOOD Rutland Warriors are celebrating promotion to the National Premier League Division Two with two games to spare.
Sam Griffin’s side eased to a 62-23 win over Essex Open on Sunday to secure the Division Three crown and a spot in Division Two for the 2020/21 season, after finishing third on their return to the National League last season.
With some of their young players involved in Loughborough Lightning U19 action it was key for player-coach Sam Griffin to use her senior players players as much as possible against Essex.
Warriors got off to a great start with Melissa Oakman, Michelle Magee and Jaydene Robinson working hard in defence to set the tone of the match, creating numerous turnovers to see Warriors finishing the quarter 16-8 up.
The speed of the game quickened in the second quarter with Georgie Brock-Taylor and Lucy Alexandar working tirelessly in the mid-court and Ellie Gallacher in fine form in the shooting circle, Warriors pushed on leading 37-11 at half time.
With the two younger players Brock-Taylor and Gallacher having played their role they moved to the bench with Katie Welsh coming on to centre, Rachel Duyckers to Goal Attack and Griffin moving to goal shooter. The changes didn’t take long to settle in with Warriors being ruthless in defence and clinical in attack completing another strong quarter to take the score to 49-19 with 15 minutes remaining.
In the final quarter there was no let up with vocal encouragement from the bench Warriors ran out 62-23 winners and now look to end their season on a high with two more matches before they begin to prepare for life in National Premier Division Two.
The win came on the same day that Warriors’ regional side secured a dominant 60-45 win over Sleaford Barge to cement their place in the top half of Regional Division One.
Player-head coach Sam Griffin paid tribute to everyone involved at the club and said the blend of talented youth and experience in their squad had paved the way for a campagn which has so far seen them win 13 of their 15 matches to date on their way to the Division Three title.
“I am extremely pleased with both the National Premier League team and Regional teams’ performances this season. Our aim was to gain promotion in the Premier League whilst also stamping our authority in the East Midlands Regional league.
“But with two games to go the team want to remain focused until the last match of the season.
“We have shown this season that we have strength and depth and that we are developing our players with six players in the England Academy. We have been able to develop younger players in the regional league as well as keep players fit within that league so they can step up to Premier action when needed.
“All of the players have trained extremely hard this season and worked as a team to gain such fantastic results and everyone has played their part even if they haven’t been on court.”