Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Defeats end finals day bid
Hockey
Canterbury women’s indoor hockey team missed out on qualification for the Jaffa Super 6s finals day after losing three of their last four matches at the weekend.
The team lost to Clifton, Slough and Bowdon Hightown in the final weekend of games in Telford.
Joint captain Sarah Kerly said it was a good experience for the young side with many playing in the competition for the first time.
She said: “We had a lot of under-18 players in the side and they played well but we were undone by slightly better teams.
“It was a good experience for our players. Some of the people we were playing against have been around for a long time and were experienced.
“Next year we will go into it with a similar team and go into the tournament confident.”
Canterbury lost their opening match to Clifton 3-2 despite going 2-0 up with goals from Nicki Ball and Kerly.
They gave themselves a good chance of reaching the top four after beating Reading 6-0 – goals coming from Paris Gasson (2), Hannah Griggs, Alisa Naylor, Lucy Hyams and Aimee Plumb.
Their final two matches saw an end to their hopes of qualification after they lost 3-1 to Slough and 4-0 to Bowdon Hightown. Kerly said: “We were a little bit slow getting into our first game, possibly because we travelled up late on Friday and were a bit nervy. Everyone was great in the Reading game.
“Even after day one our coach said we could make the top four.
“Against Slough we were unlucky with a few decisions and it was 0-0 for a while. We were 0-0 with Bowdon Hightown at half-time against their team full of all-stars. I’m proud of everyone.”
East Grinstead, Bowdon Hightown, Holcombe and Leicester qualified for the finals day while Reading were relegated to the division below.
Canterbury men’s player-coach Craig Boyne is confident his side can win promotion back to the top division of the Jaffa Super 6s.
They got their promotion bid off to a good start in the opening weekend in Nottingham and sit third in the table.
The final round of fixtures, where two teams will go up, takes place this weekend.
Boyne said: “The key is the first game this weekend. If we can get a result against Beeston I’m confident we can get promoted. We will be tidying up a few areas but I’m reasonably confident we can go up.”
The first weekend started off with an impressive 10-1 win over West Herts with doubles from Boyne, Adam Price, Will Heywood and Christian Schellinger and one each for Connor Annand and Michael Nowakowski.
Their second match was a tougher test against Hampstead & Westminster, which they lost 8-4.
Five goals from Schellinger against Southgate gave them a 13-4 win.
In their final match of the weekend, Canterbury put six past Bowdon with a hat-trick for Nowakowski in the 6-3 win.
Boyne was pleased with how his side played and is looking forward to the next round of games, again in Nottingham.
He added: “It was a good overall performance. It is not ideal having to travel up to Nottingham two weekends in a row when some of the other teams don’t have to travel as far but if we want to be a top team, we have to be prepared to travel.”
This weekend’s fixtures will see Canterbury face Beeston, Harleston, Ipswich and St Albans.