Planet Field Hockey

By Cathy Harris

OLTON seized the chance to move three points clear at the top of the women’s premier division after the games involving their close rivals, Ipswich and Slough, were postponed because of the adverse weather conditions.
The Birmingham club, who qualified for the European club championship after surprisingly beating Slough in last season’s premiership play-off, followed Saturday’s 6-1 win against Sutton Coldfield with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Canterbury yesterday.

“We set our sights on earning 16 points before the Christmas break,” Mandy Gatherer, the veteran forward who has played such an influential role in their route to the top and who scored one of the goals against Canterbury, said. “Now we’ve achieved that, anything extra will be a bonus and it will be an interesting match against Slough on Saturday.”

Goals by Vanessa Hawkins, Jo Reddy and Gatherer gave the home side a 3-0 cushion at the break but they had to work hard to preserve their lead in the second half as Canterbury hit back. Nikki Litchfield reduced the deficit in the 54th minute, but therafter the visiting team were restricted to only a handful of half-chances against a determined defence.

After holding Chelmsford to a creditable 2-2 draw on Saturday, Trojans, bottom of the table, had every reason to believe they had turned the corner. But with Martin Gallivan, a league delegate, pressed in to action as an umpire after Jane Nockolds failed to arrive, they slumped to a heavy 6-1 defeat against Leicester. Six different players scored to help the Midlands club to move into third place behind Ipswich.

Wimbledon, Doncaster and Reading are locked in pole position in division one with unbeaten records. Wimbledon lead on goal difference after a 5-0 win away to Hounslow and Ealing.

In the Cup, Ben Rhydding hammered Darlington 17-1.



Mike Corby, the president of the English Hockey Association, narrowly failed in his attempt to become president of the World Squash Federation. Jahangir Khan, 38, from Pakistan, who won a record ten British Open titles, was elected at Saturday’s annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

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