Men's Phase 2 news
UNSTOPPABLE CURWEN INSPIRES CHAMPIONS LANCASTER
City of Manchester must have felt that a first British League title was within their grasp when they ended day one at MAC (21-22 January) with a crucial advantage over rivals Lancaster.
By then, it was clear that the team finishing with the superior goal difference (assuming victories in their final games against Cheltenham and Penguin respectively) would be crowned champions. And Manchester were in poll position – three goals better off than their rivals, which equated to a sizeable margin bearing in mind the number of close Super 5s matches this season.
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ancaster – and Tom Curwen, in particular – changed all that. They were first on against Penguin and demolished the London side 22-7. Penguin’s cause wasn’t helped with the dismissal of Hungarian star Attila Banhidy early on for misconduct.
But, despite several superb one-on-one saves by Penguin goalkeeper Chris Hodgkinson, the goals just kept coming – much to the dismay of Manchester. Curwen scored eight and Declan Ellwood five, leaving Manchester with the almost impossible task of beating Cheltenham by 13 goals in the very last game of the season. Manchester won – but only 16-10.
At the start of the weekend, Lancaster knew that a point in their crunch match with Manchester would make them champions.
However, Manchester triumphed in a thriller, 10-9, Craig Hammond scoring the winner with 52 seconds remaining.
This avenged a 12-11 Lancaster victory early in the season and so meant an equal record in matches between the sides (same points, equal goals) – hence the all-important issue of goal difference in the Super 5s season as a whole.
It will be no consolation now to Manchester that just one more goal against Lancaster would have given them the title. It was as close as that! They can only reflect on missed chances – not least, a penalty saved by Lancaster goalkeeper Dave Bush with the game tied at 7-7.
Lancaster coach Rysz Detko was delighted with his side’s success. “We had a very poor first half of the season and, to be honest, were lucky to qualify as one of the top five,” he declared.
“Since then, our performances have shown a significant improvement, even though we are still erratic at times. To give the other teams credit, they have made this a very tight contest. There are certainly no easy games in the Super 5s.”
After losing their first six matches in the Super 5s, Portobello bounced back superbly to beat Penguin 14-6, including four goals by Dan de Vecchis, and Cheltenham 13-7.
Our picture shows the victorious Lancaster squad with the Super 5s trophy.
Back row (left to right): Duncan Holmes (team manager), Colin Burgess, Tom Curwen, Mike Brown, Sam Smith, Hamish Crichton, Dave Bush. Middle: Rysz Detko (coach), Zak Sly, Decland Ellwood, Marc Robinson, Giannis Paraskevopoulos, Fotis Paraskevopoulos, Jeff Parker (team manager). Front: Skipper Chris Hartley, James Wannop.
INVICTA EARN TOP THREE SPOT IN DRAMATIC FINALE
In a pulsating conclusion to the men’s Championship 1 campaign at Guildford (8 January), Invicta edged out Rotherham by the finest of margins to clinch a top three spot and promotion to Division One for the 2012 season.
The title went to Bristol Central, with Polytechnic celebrating a return to the top flight in second position.
Rotherham had looked well placed to rejoin the league’s leading eight clubs after beating Croydon 16-12. But crucially they dropped a point in a 13-13 draw with Invicta, missing a penalty late on after a seventh goal of the match by Callum Bailey had brought Invicta level with two minutes remaining.
Even an 11-11 draw with Bristol on day two in an end-to-end thriller seemed likely to ensure safety for the Yorkshire club, who knew they could only be overhauled by Invicta if Invicta defeated Welsh Wanderers by a minimum four goals.
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nvicta won 15-11! This left Rotherham and Invicta level on points and with an identical “goals difference” record of plus six! Because the teams had drawn their Championship match, the issue could only be settled by taking their overall Championship goals records into account. And here Invicta held a minute advantage – 74 compared with Rotherham’s 70.
Rotherham will count themselves unfortunate. For Invicta, it will be a matter of reflecting on a weekend when they played with great spirit and when their luck held at key moments. With 22 seconds remaining against Welsh Wanderers, for example, their lead was 14-11. At that point Tom Brown notched an all-important goal to increase the gap to 15-11. And that made all the difference.
Polytechnic, National League champions on so many occasions in years gone by, took five points from their last three matches to win promotion and earn a return to the top division after a lengthy gap.
They were 9-5 down against Invicta before snatching an 11-11 draw with a last minute goal by Giannis Panopoulos. It was close, too, against Croydon, who were in contention until seven different Poly players each scored a goal in the final quarter to give their side a 12-7 victory. Poly rounded off with a 13-7 defeat of Sutton & Cheam.
Jon Hutchings and Sean Coles both claimed hat-tricks in Bristol’s hard-fought 10-9 victory over Welsh Wanderers. Bristol also beat Sheffield 12-7.
Sutton chalked up their first win of the Championship season – 13-12 against Welsh Wanderers – with ex-international Chris Evans scoring seven.
Top: Mark Taylor (blue cap) in action for Welsh Wanderers against Bristol Central. Below: Bristol goalkeeper Andy Crawford makes a fine save. Pictures by Trevor Hyde.
WATFORD TAKE CHAMPIONSHIP 4 TITLE
Watford claimed the men’s Championship 4 title when they beat the previous leaders Grantham 15-14 in a stunning finale to the season at Walsall (8 January).
Grantham’s struggles to convert man-up situations proved particularly expensive as Watford prevailed despite conceding 17 majors and ending the match with four players excluded on three. Paul Skerm led the Watford scoring with four. The third quarter provided the turning point – Watford won it 8-2 after trailing 8-4 at the halfway stage.
Earlier, Watford earned what turned out to be a vital 12-12 draw with Ealing.
Jon Hilliger and Jamie Bailey both scored four in Invicta Marlins’ 14-12 victory over 2nd City Birmingham.
LANCASTER’S FIRST DEFEAT
Last quarter dramas are nothing new to Cheltenham. Five times this season, they have won matches by a single goal – the latest, ending Lancaster’s 100 per cent record in the Super 5s at Loughborough University (10/11 December).
Cheltenham began the final period with a 6-4 lead but were then stung by a quickfire hat-trick from Tom Curwen. It was not until the last two minutes that man-up opportunities gave Cheltenham the chance to steal an 8-7 victory with goals by Novak and Mark Banwell.
The last four minutes proved Cheltenham’s undoing against Penguin. A match that had been close all the way saw Cheltenham take an 8-7 lead with a Joel Thomas goal early in the last, but then slump to a 10-8 defeat as Kevin O’Brien (2) and Attila Banhidy responded for the London side.
Penguin almost pulled off a shock result against Manchester. Midway through the second period, Manchester appeared to be cruising with a 6-1 lead. But Penguin battled back to trail only 9-7 at the end of the third – and equalised at 9-9 with four minutes remaining. Manchester eventually won 10-9 when 1.47 from the end Craig Hammond claimed his sixth goal. The picture above (by Trevor Hyde) shows Hammond scoring one of his goals past Penguin goalkeeper Chris Hodgkinson.
Portobello have not been outplayed in any match so far, but are still seeking their first points after losing 11-8 to Lancaster – who remain top of the table – and then 13-10 to Manchester.
TITLE FOR TEAM NORTHUMBRIA
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fter qualifying in fourth place from Division Four, Team Northumbria (pictured) took men's Championship 3 by storm and made sure of the title at Blackpool on 10/11 December by drawing 7-7 with near rivals Manchester Hawks.
Although Cambridge, Otter, Swindon Dolphin and Bedford still have matches to play, the promotion issue is already settled, with the Hawks and Carlisle joining Team Northumbria in Division 3 at the start of next season.
Team Northumbria led Manchester Hawks 4-2 and, with little over three minutes remaining, 7-5. But Manchester claimed a point as Sammy Badawy notched his fourth goal and then Gareth Potts equalised 1.22 from the end. Northumbria team - Back row (left to right): Richard MacAlister, Josh Brown, James Paterson, Patrick Bennett, James Kirkham, Paul Renforth, Alexis Georgiou. Middle: Rob Holland, Joe Reed, Stuart MacManus, Neil Bowers. On ground: Sebastian Reichel.
The Hawks also left it late to claim both points against Carlisle. The score was 8-8 midway through the last period. Then goals by Jason Salt and – with 20 seconds remaining – Potts clinched a 10-8 win.
Carlisle‘s 19-9 defeat of University of Bristol included five goals by Dan Barker. Team Northumbria also defeated the Bristol side – 11-4.
HUCKNALL STEAL TITLE FROM BATTLING CALEDONIA
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he Championship 2 title was settled at Watford (3 December) in the final quarter of the very last game when a goal by Brett Perkins gave Hucknall a 7-6 victory over Caledonia.
Caledonia began the match needing one more point to take top spot – and they led 4-1 after two quarters. But Hucknall, who knew they had to win to sneak past the Scots, staged a determined fightback, drawing level in the third and then, thanks to Dan Siddons’ third goal, level again at 6-6 with less than four minutes remaining.
Perkins’ winner came a minute later. After that, there was goalmouth drama at each end and unproductive time-outs by both teams before Hucknall were able to celebrate. The trophy was presented by delegate David Bathurst (far right, above), the former international referee. The Hucknall players are (left to right): Brett Perkins, Danny Evans, Daniel Siddons, Jason Hawksworth, Joe Cooper, Stafanos Christophides, James Hadlow, Tom Wall, Gregg Oldham, Sam Joyce and Adrian Taylor.
Consolation for Caledonia is that, along with Hucknall and third-placed Tyldesley, they earn promotion to Division Two at the start of next season. Exeter lost out to Tyldesley when they went down 14-10 to Caledonia on day one. Caledonia produced the stronger finish, winning the last quarter of an otherwise evenly contested match 4-1.
Tyldesley’s forward Mike Cowburn once again proved too hot to handle in Championship 2. He scored 13 goals in the 27-8 defeat of South Derbyshire and 
12 more against Birmingham, who were beaten 24-13. In all, Cowburn’s haul in six appearances was a remarkable 60 goals!
South Derbyshire rounded off their season with a first Championship victory – 11-8 over Worthing. This included four goals by John Dyer.
The action pictures above show Tyldesley's 60-goal Mike Cowburn; and Birmingham goalkeeper Tom Carpenter in action against Worthing. Photos: Trevor Hyde
DOUBLE BLOW FOR MANCHESTER
Two last-gasp defeats undermined City of Manchester’s title ambitions in a weekend of spectacular men’s Super 5s action at Crystal Palace (26/27 November).
Manchester went down 7-6 to Cheltenham when, with the game all square and six seconds remaining, one of their players was excluded for a brutality offence. It was left to Mark Banwell to coolly slot the penalty and give Cheltenham their first Super 5s win.
Against Lancaster, Manchester led 3-2, 5-4 and then 9-7 after the first three quarters – and were then ambushed by Tom Curwen. He scored four of his six goals in a thrilling final period. The last, with 47 seconds remaining clinched a 12-11 Lancaster victory. Declan Ellwood was also on target for Lancaster with four, while Alex Murphy contributed five for Manchester.
These nerve-racking finales were by no means the only drama in the division. West London Penguin cruised into a 9-3 lead after three quarters against Portobello, including five goals by Gergo Szabo, and then saw the Scots recover to 9-8 – before conceding a further goal to lose 10-8.
Five goals by the outstanding Nuno Oliveira kept Portobello in contention all the way through their match against Cheltenham. The score was 12-12 with three and half minutes left when Maxim Gerasimov claimed the goal that gave Cheltenham a 13-12 victory.
TZAMTIS’S LATE, LATE SHOW
Welsh Wanderers’ prospects of taking maximum points from their two Championship 1 games at Crystal Palace (26/27 November) were thwarted when Polytechnic’s Spyridon Tzamtis scored three times in the last three and a half minutes to take his side from 10-7 down to a 10-10 draw. Two of the goals were scored in the last minute.
Wanderers remain the division’s only unbeaten side, Chris Taylor scoring six in the 10-7 defeat of Sheffield.
Bristol Central are top of the table on goal difference, however. They beat Sutton & Cheam 9-6. Then a close match against Invicta was settled in the final quarter when Bristol went from 7-7 to a 10-8 win with goals by John Sissons, Jon Hutchings and Sean Coles.
Poly rounded off a good weekend when Danny Davis’s goal 30 seconds from the end clinched a 9-8 victory over Rotherham, for whom Jerome Gabarretta scored four. Gabarretta notched four more to give his team a 6-4 victory in the Yorkshire derby against Sheffield.
A brilliant goal by Callum Bailey with just three seconds remaining edged Invicta to a 10-9 win over Croydon.
Picture: Rotherham goalkeeper Matt Birch. Photo by Trevor Hyde.
BADAWY HITS NINE FOR HAWKS
Team Northumbria, Carlisle and Manchester Hawks are leading the charge for top three places in men’s Championship 3 after the latest matches at the splendid Newport International Sports Village pool (26/27 November).
The experience of five-goal Neil Bowers was evident in Team Northumbria’s 17-7 defeat of bottom club Bedford. Then Stuart McManus (5), Josh Brown (3) and Bowers (3) were on target against Cambridge, who were beaten 13-7.
Carlisle defeated Cambridge 11-7, including six goals by Matt Little, and then slammed luckless Bedford 26-8.
Sam Badawy’s nine goals spearheaded the Hawks’ 16-14 victory over Swindon. But the Manchester team then narrowly lost for the first time – 13-12 to Otter.
For Otter, it was an excellent weekend. Goals in the last two minutes by Tom Gaunt and Toshio Tachikawa earned an 11-9 win against University of Bristol. The University were then happy to settle for a 10-9 win over Swindon – after leading 10-5 towards the end of the third period.
TOP THREE PLACES UP FOR GRABS
The battle for the three top “promotion” places in men’s Championship 2 will be decided at the final weekend at Watford on 3 December. And, after the latest matches at Walsall (19/20 November), the likely scenario is that one of four main contenders will be disappointed.
Who will miss out? Caledonia, with a 100 per cent record so far from five matches, are obviously strongly placed, but even they will be taking nothing for granted because their last two fixtures are against two of the challengers – Exeter and Hucknall.
The dark horses are Tyldesley, who jumped into contention with wins over Worthing and Exeter – games, incidentally, in which Tyldesley’s Mike Cowburn once again proved unstoppable, scoring a total of 18 goals.
Under this season’s new league structure, the top three from Championship 2 will join the bottom five in Championship 1 to form Division Two in the first phase of the 2012 season.
Exeter’s hopes suffered a setback at Walsall when they picked up just one point from two pulsating matches. Against Hucknall, they led 8-5 and then 11-9 before their opponents staged a strong finish to scramble a 12-12 draw when Brett Perkins bagged his sixth goal with 13 seconds remaining.
Against Tyldesley, the score stood at 9-9 towards the end of the third period. Then two goals apiece for Chris Gilbertson and Mike Cowburn in double quick time without an Exeter response settled the match and Tyldesley eventually won 16-13.
Earlier, Tyldesley outplayed Worthing 20-10, with Mike Cowburn scoring no less than 12.
Caledonia beat a youthful Leeds team 10-5 and then cruised through 20-10 against South Derbyshire.
Birmingham led early on against Hucknall, but paid eventually for missing two last quarter penalties – one saved by Tom Wall, the other hitting a post – and went down 15-13.
South Derbyshire led Birmingham 10-8 after three periods but lost the last 7-1 for a final score of 15-11. Worthing’s weekend finished on a more positive note when four goals each for Matt White and Richard Hooper featured in a 14-11 win against Leeds.
GRANTHAM ON TOP
Grantham hold the only 100 per cent record in men’s Championship 4 after a narrow 13-11 victory over closest rivals Ealing at Walsall (19/20 November).
Four goals for Grantham by Ben Cocksworth eventually made the difference in a match that had been closely contested all the way through. Ealing’s Keith Considine, Radostaw Puton and John van der Flier each scored three.
Bridgefield beat 2nd City Birmingham 13-9 and then walloped Invicta Marlins 30-5.
Tightest game of the weekend saw Watford recover from 13-10 down at the end of the third period to draw 14-14 with Scottish Students thanks to late goals by Ciaran Walshe (3) and Matt Chapman.
CHELTENHAM struggle in super fives
After storming through the divisional programme with seven wins from seven matches, Cheltenham came unstuck when the BWPL’s first-ever Super 5s weekend took place at Lancaster (12/13 November).
Cheltenham crashed 8-6 to Lancaster on day one and then lost a remarkable match against West London Penguin, 16-14. Penguin, inspired by seven-goal Attila Banhidy and Gergo Szabo, who scored five, somehow managed to hang on for victory despite conceding 18 majors and, crucially, having to play a man down for four minutes in the final period following a brutality offence.
The score was 12-10 to Penguin when the brutality happened – yet only 14-12 when the team returned to full strength with two minutes remaining.
Lancaster completed a second win – 8-6 against Portobello after building a 6-2 lead in the first two quarters.
But it could be Manchester, demonstrating real all-round firepower this season, that prove to be the team to beat as the battle for the league title develops.
They never looked back against Portobello after racing into an early 4-0 lead and, with Alex Murphy scoring four and new recruit Nikola Kocic three, they eventually won 13-9. James Scobie scored five for the Scots.
Manchester followed up with a 14-6 defeat of Penguin, including hat-tricks by Robert Rae, Kocic and Craig Hammond.
CROYDON STUN CHAMPIONS BRISTOL
It’s an indication of how competitive the new Championship 1 will be this season that none of the eight teams managed to win both their games during the opening weekend at Lancaster (12/13 November). The three sides that dropped from Division One – Bristol, Rotherham and Invicta – all lost to teams from Division Two.
Perhaps the most notable result was Croydon Amphibians’ 11-9 defeat of 2010 BWPL champions, Bristol. After three periods, Bristol seemed to be cruising with a 9-6 lead. Then, a hat-trick by Brendon Heath inspired a remarkable turn-around in which Croydon scored five goals without reply in the final quarter to grab the points.
There was more late drama in Croydon’s clash with Welsh Wanderers. The Wanderers were well placed with a 10-8 lead at the end of the third period but, once again, Croydon refused to lie down. It was still 11-9 to Wanderers as the last minute began. But Heath scored with 30 seconds remaining; then Wanderers conceded a penalty and, with five seconds left, it was converted by Csaba Rekasi.
Sheffield were also involved in two close games. They drew 5-5 with Polytechnic thanks to a late goal by Chris Howard. They were 4-0 up against Invicta but in the end were relieved to settle for a 6-5 victory as Callum Bailey led an Invicta recovery.
Invicta’s 12-8 defeat of Sutton & Cheam included six goals by Bailey, including three in a decisive third quarter.
Bristol were in no mood to make a mess of the final period against Polytechnic. They scored four without reply – two each by Matt Thresher and Carl Wyatt – to secure a 10-4 win.
TEAM NORTHUMBRIA’S EMPHATIC START
Top five teams from Division Four fared much better than sides on their way down from Division Three when Championship 2 began at Grantham (12/13 November).
Team Northumbria defeated Swindon Dolphin 17-4 and Otter 11-10 before gaining emphatic revenge for defeat by Carlisle earlier in the season with a 12-3 victory, including three goals by Neil Bowers and two apiece for Josh Brown, Santiago Marques, Richard MacAlister and Pat Bennett.
Manchester Hawks also won their three matches, making a remarkable recovery from 7-1 down early in the second quarter against Bedford to win 13-10. The fightback featured hat-tricks by Stephan Walsh and Gareth Potts. Justin Irvine contributed five of the Bedford goals.
Matches between Cambridge and Manchester Hawks are always tight affairs and their latest clash was no exception. Cambridge lost their grip on the game when the Hawks recovered from 6-2 down to 6-6 in the second quarter. Eventually, the Manchester side won 10-9, with Sammy Badawy netting six of their goals.
Dan Barker scored eight for Carlisle in a 20-12 defeat of Swindon, who then beat Otter 12-9. Simon Pemberton (4) and Dave Lambie (3) were their main scorers.
Nick Ludford was on target five times in Cambridge’s 11-8 defeat of University of Bristol.
STRONG START BY EXETER AND CALEDONIA
The first weekend of the British League’s new divisional structure saw Exeter and Caledonia emerge as the only teams with 100 per cent records in Championship 2 at Leeds University (5/6 November).
Of the three teams that dropped from Division 2 after the opening phase of the season, Hucknall came out best, beating Tyldesley 11-10 and South Derbyshire 13-7 – including four goals each for Adam Ellis and Brett Perkins – before being held to a 13-13 draw by Worthing, whose final equaliser came 12 seconds from the end by Sam Abbott.
Five goals apiece by Andy Barry and Andy Margetts ensured Exeter’s opening 16-11 victory over Worthing. A 14-9 defeat of City of Birmingham was followed by a 20-9 success against South Derbyshire, featuring six goals by Darren Heagarty and five more from Barry.
Caledonia were level with Birmingham at the halfway stage but then three goals from Callum Fraser in the third period set up a 12-8 win.
Fraser scored six in a 15-9 victory over Worthing, who recovered to some extent after trailing 7-0 midway through the second period. Against Tyldesley, Caledonia’s main challenge was containing Mike Cowburn. He scored ten – yet still ended up on the losing side, 17-13.
Leeds were cruising at 13-7 and 17-12 against South Derbyshire before their opponents rallied with four goals in the last three minutes – even then, not quite enough to avoid a 17-16 defeat. Later, Leeds avoided another late scare, beating Birmingham 14-8 after the match stood at 7-7 after two periods. Gary Tonks scored five of the early Birmingham goals.
CLARKE GIVES GRANTHAM THE EDGE
Five goals by Max Clarke made the difference as Grantham edged out newcomers Bridgefield 12-11 in men’s Championship 4 at Walsall (5/6 November).
Grantham, Ealing and Watford were the only teams to win both their opening matches, Ealing triumphing 15-13 in a close affair with Scottish Students. Four Ealing players notched hat-tricks – Radostaw Puton, Marcin Przybylski, Johan van der Flier and Rumen Kurtev – while Radcliffe-Trenner contributed five for the Scots.
Jason Attwood scored four in Watford’s 11-8 defeat of Bridgefield. Watford followed up with a 13-6 victory over 2nd City Birmingham.
