NINE SECONDS . . . slightly less time than it takes Usain Bolt to run 100 metres. That's all that remained of the men's Division 2 programme before it was confirmed which five teams would progress to Championship 1 in the second half of the season!
It all came down to a winner-takes-all shoot-out for fifth place at Haberdashers between old London rivals Penguin and Sutton & Cheam. A nail-biting affair went like this:
Start of second quarter: Sutton cruising with a 4-0 lead; still 6-2 up at the halfway stage.
Period 3: Panic stations for Sutton. Penguin win the period 4-0 to draw level at 6-6; then grab an 8-6 lead.
Period 4: A Toby Hook goal brings Sutton back to 8-7. But Sutton need a minimum of a point to rob their rivals of the top five spot. With 27 seconds to go, a Penguin exclusion offers a lifeline. And just nine seconds remain when Ryan Symington nets to secure an 8-8 draw.
Sutton now move on to Championship 1 alongside Team Northumbria, who were unbeaten throughout the Division 2 campaign, Exeter, City of Bristol and Watford. Unlucky Penguin go to Championship 2 with Welsh Wanderers and Croydon.
Photo (Trevor Hyde): Devastation . . . five minutes after the finish and this Penguin player still can't work out how his team lost to Sutton.
It all came down to a winner-takes-all shoot-out for fifth place at Haberdashers between old London rivals Penguin and Sutton & Cheam. A nail-biting affair went like this:
Start of second quarter: Sutton cruising with a 4-0 lead; still 6-2 up at the halfway stage.
Period 3: Panic stations for Sutton. Penguin win the period 4-0 to draw level at 6-6; then grab an 8-6 lead.
Period 4: A Toby Hook goal brings Sutton back to 8-7. But Sutton need a minimum of a point to rob their rivals of the top five spot. With 27 seconds to go, a Penguin exclusion offers a lifeline. And just nine seconds remain when Ryan Symington nets to secure an 8-8 draw.
Sutton now move on to Championship 1 alongside Team Northumbria, who were unbeaten throughout the Division 2 campaign, Exeter, City of Bristol and Watford. Unlucky Penguin go to Championship 2 with Welsh Wanderers and Croydon.
Photo (Trevor Hyde): Devastation . . . five minutes after the finish and this Penguin player still can't work out how his team lost to Sutton.
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