Division 3 news
Ealing Relegated | Leeds Go Up | Ealing Anguish | Amphibs Close to Glory | Croydon On Top | 12-goal Keszthelvi | Croydon/Leeds On Top |
EALING DROP DOWN
Bristol University came from behind to defeat Ealing in the end-of-season play-off at Walsall (14 December), earning promotion to Division Three for the first time.
Ealing looked the more confident side in the early stages and, by the end of the third period, had built a 7-5 lead.
With two and half minutes remaining, however, Bristol had recovered to 8-8. In a frantic finish, they took the lead when Sean Taylor converted a man-up and then made certain of victory with a Fergus Allerton goal. Ealing drop down to Division Four just a year after earning promotion.
Bristol scorers: Mark Taylor (4), Allerton (2), Sean Taylor (2), Jon Burkill, Nick Hemmings. Ealing: Vincente Torres (3), Roman Koritis (2), Paolo Benavides, Johan van der Flier, Jakob Iwanowski.
LEEDS PROMOTED
Division Three runners-up City of Leeds won promotion to Division Two when they defeated Hucknall 12-10 in the play-off at Loughborough University (6 December).
The match was closely fought throughout - period scores (Hucknall first) were 3-3, 2-4, 1-1 and 4-4. Hucknall recovered to trail 10-11 in the final quarter before Lewis Young took Leeds through with a goal just over two minutes from the end.
Leeds' Hungarian duo of Balzs Keszthelyi and Piotr Cichy played major roles. They both scored three goals and Andy Marshall also netted three. For Hucknall, Dan Siddons and Adam Ellis claimed hat-tricks.
Success for Leeds means the club regains Division Two status after a one-year absence.
TONKS TAKES BIRMINGHAM TO SAFETY
No sooner had Ealing celebrated their best win of the season - 11-10 against Caledonia - than they were facing up to the prospect of battling for their Division Three future in a play-off against the Division Four runners-up.
Ealing's win put them up to sixth - for just over an hour. The next match saw City of Birmingham, inspired by ex-international Gary Tonks' nine-goal virtuoso display, shrug off recent poor form to beat already-relegated Otter 1869 15-11. That meant Birmingham and Ealing finished level on points, the Midlanders claiming the advantage thanks to winning both their matches against Ealing earlier in the season.
Croydon were confident enough to tackle their last two matches without top goal scorers Darren de Bruyn, Ivan Drinkwater and Brendon Heath. They soon picked up the single point required to ensure the title, beating Birmingham 13-9. Nat Snook (4), Kevin Steele (2) and Jon Cannon (2) were the main scorers. Later, Snook's late goal earned a 14-13 victory over divisional runners-up Leeds.
Our picture shows Amphibians with the trophy. Back row, left to right: Tim Keating, Barry Danielson, Kevin Steele, Dragan Jotic, Nat Snook, Iain McLeod, Johnny Cannon, Jose Cruz, Hadley Potter. Front: Jack Sheppard, Alan Stitt, coach Chris Martin, Tom Pearce.
Warley's Adam Whitehall finished as Division Three's top scorer with a splendid total of 71 goals.
He notched six in an 11-8 defeat of Ealing - a game that also featured an unlikely goal by Warley goalkeeper John Halstead - and seven more against South Derbyshire, who went down 15-10. Promising youngster Graham Harrington netted three for Warley.
Late goals by Andrew Woodall and Steve Adams gave Caledonia an 11-9 win over South Derbyshire. Against Ealing, Caledonia trailed for much of the match until a late rally brought them to 10-10 with three minutes to go. Then Ealing's Johan van der Flier struck the winner, his fourth goal of the game.
Otter departed Division Three with a spirited performance against Leeds, who were constantly thwarted by 19-year-old goalkeeper Rob Padden, a product of the Basildon club who is now studying at Birmingham Unviersity. Otter led 4-3 after two periods and again 8-7 in the final quarter. But goals by Balzs Keszthelyi and newcomer Samuel Hoeksema eventually gave Leeds the points at 9-8. Four of Otter's goals were scored by Nishino Wataru.
See division 3 results for the weekend's scores.
CROYDON prepare to celebrate
Croydon Amphibians, promoted from Division Four last season as runners-up to City of Birmingham, can anticipate life in Division Two next year after coming within an ace of the Third Division title at Marlborough.
Three more wins at the splendid College pool - including a 20-15 success in the crunch match with second-placed City of Leeds - means they need just one point from two remaining matches at Walsall on 22/23 November to be certain of the title.
Croydon led Leeds from the start. They were 13-5 up early in the third before Leeds closed the gap to 15-12 at the start of the fourth. Once again, the firepower of Ivan Drinkwater (5) and Darren de Bruyn (4) proved decisive for Amphibs. Dragan Jotic and Jack Shepherd also scored hat-tricks and there was another outstanding display by young goalkeeper Hadley Potter, who saved a penalty from Leeds' five-goal Hungarian forward Balzs Keszthelyi.
At the other end of the table, Otter 1869 finally celebrated their first win of the campaign - 8-5 against Birmingham. They played with spirit, too, against Croydon before going down 14-10. Brendon Heath scored seven for the winners.
Ealing amassed 41 goals during the weekend - but still went away without a point.
They were edged out 16-14 by South Derbyshire, 18-16 by Warley - for whom Adam Whitehall bagged nine - and then lost 16-11 to Caledonia.
South Derbyshire collected maximum points from their three matches. Remarkably, they went 6-0 up in the opening four and half minutes against Caledonia before the Scots fought back to twice claim a one-goal lead in the third. Eventually, Neil Bird's five goals and four from Rob Williams gave South Derby an exciting 12-11 win.
Birmingham goalkeeper Tom Carpenter made numerous fine saves - including two penalties - but couldn't prevent an 8-6 Leeds victory.
CROYDON'S GOAL SPREE
High-scoring Croydon Amphibians racked up another 74 goals in three victories at Crowborough to build a powerful position at the top of the Division Three table after three weekends.
Ivan Drinkwater scored eight in a 30-3 stroll against lowly Otter 1869 and another eight in a more competitive 18-15 defeat of Caledonia. Then it was Ealing's turn to be put to the sword - no Drinkwater in action this time but still six goals for Darren de Bruyn and five for Kevin Steele in a 26-3 win.
Croydon's joy was complete when promotion rivals City of Leeds lost for the first time this season - 8-7 in an exciting clash with Caledonia.
Key to Caledonia's victory was their ability to close down Hungarian dangerman Balzs Keszthelyi, the division's top marksman. He managed just one goal - and that not until 17 seconds from the end. The Scots raced into a 5-1 lead but were gradually pegged back until the advantage was just 6-5 at the beginning of the last period. Andrew Woodall and David Baxter then settled Caledonian nerves with goals that made the margin a more comfortable 8-5. But Leeds were still battling right to the end.
Caledonia always trailed in-form Croydon, but, with Callum MacGregor contributing five goals, they were never overwhelmed.
Croydon will have been surprised at the ease of their victory over Ealing. It was the rival goalies who impressed in different ways - Croydon's Hadley Potter managed to score a goal in live play with a shot from his own tw-metres while his rival, Iranian Amir Movahedpour, repeatedly saved his side from an even worse drubbing.
Ealing's consolation was a 14-11 win over South Derbyshire, who lost momentum when one of their players was excluded for brutality in the final period with the score at 10-10. Two of the late Ealing goals were scored by Linas Liudzius, who finished with five.
Warley eased their relegation worries with a 16-8 derby win over Birmingham - including eight goals by Adam Whitehall - and a narrow 10-8 success against Otter 1869. Otter tried so hard for their first points of the season, pulling up from 3-1 down early on to 6-6 before Nick Covington and Gareth Cheadle, with four goals apiece, saw the Midlanders home. Damien Nogaledo scored three for Otter.
BALZS BLITZ TOO GOOD FOR EALING (October 2008)
Undefeated Croydon Amphibians and City of Leeds will know that their two meetings later in the Division Three season could well decide the destiny of this year's title.
Both chalked up three more victories at Basingstoke. So goal difference still separates the two at the top of the table after six games - with Caledonia slipping further behind in third place after crashing 15-6 to Amphibs.
Leeds' opening 19-10 victory over Ealing looks straightforward enough. But in fact it was one of the more competitive games of the weekend. The difference? Hungarian forward Balzs Keszthelvi, who bagged no less than 12 goals.
Keszthelivi went on to collect six in a 16-11 defeat of South Derbyshire and eight against Warley, who went down 21-12.
In addition to their success against Caledonia, Croydon beat Warley 21-11 and South Derbyshire 21-10. South African Darren de Bruyn scored five in each match, with Brendon Heath also among the goals.
Ealing left it late to beat bottom club Otter 1869. Otter must have hoped their first points of the season were on the way when they led 5-4 at the end of the third period. But Ealing's Vanderflier then transformed the match, scoring all three in the final period to secure a 7-5 win.
Birmingham and Ealing produced a real thriller. Goals by Vincente Torres, who produced long-distance shooting of pinpoint accuracy, and Paolo Benavides enabled Ealing to recover from 12-10 down to 12-12 with just 18 seconds remaining. Even then, there was still time for Matt Foulds to claim his fifth goal for Birmingham - with two seconds left on the clock.
South Derbyshire produced their best performance so far to defeat Birmingham 20-9. The game featured excellent performances by both goalkeepers - Paul Reader (South Derby) and Tom Carpenter - and six goals by Rob Williams for the winners.
In fact, quality goalkeeping was very much a feature of the weekend, with Caledonia's Simon Metcalf and 17-year-old Shaun Greatorex, of Leeds, both catching the eye.
A word too for the league's youngest referees. Vicki Hawkins and Jason Quiterio, both 23, teamed up for the South Derby v Birmingham match and both performed excellently.
BRIGHT START FOR LEEDS AND CROYDON (september 2008)
City of Leeds, relegated from Division Two at the end of the 2007 season, and Croydon Amphibians, promoted from Division Four, made the early running in a weekend of close Division Three matches at Walsall.
Both clubs won their three fixtures - with Leeds twice leaving it very late to clinch victories over Warley and South Derbyshire.
Warley were 3-0 to the good early in the first period, 7-5 ahead at half time, and then began the final period 10-7 up. That sparked Leeds into life and immediately, in the space of two of a half minutes, they drew level. The sides were locked at 11-11 until just 48 seconds from the end when Lewis Young grabbed the winner.
South Derbyshire actually led Leeds four times before slipping to a 9-8 defeat. Andy Marshall, adding considerable firepower to his side after returning from a one-match suspension, struck twice late in the final period to settle a match in which young Leeds goalkeeper Shaun Greatorex excelled. Later, Marshall bagged seven in a more comfortable 19-14 Leeds defeat of Caledonia.
Croydon have recruited well recently, welcoming South African Darren de Bruyn from Oxford and his friend Ian McLeod, who plays his local league polo for Worcester. Add ex-GB international Ivan Drinkwater to the mix and there is no shortage of goal-scoring potential.
de Bruyn contributed five goals and Drinkwater four in a 13-11 defeat of South Derbyshire, who led 7-6 at the halfway stage. Croydon's 14-10 victory over Ealing produced four more goals by de Bryn as well as hat-tricks for Drinkwater and Brennan Heath. Croydon 's Hadley Potter was another young goalie to demonstrate particular promise.
Defences were definitely not on top in Croydon's third match - a rather bizarre 24-20 win against Warley in which the period scores read 4-4, 8-4, 7-7 and 5-5. Drinkwater (8 goals) and de Bruyn (6) again enjoyed themselves, while Adam Whitehall claimed eight for the Midlanders.
Caledonia are beginning to give members of Dunfermline's outstanding ASA junior title-winning team a taste of senior polo. Twins Darren (he's the one on the left in our picture) and Chris Campbell, just 14, appeared alongside GB junior Andrew Woodall and Robert Tate, both 17, in wins over Birmingham (14-9) and Otter 1869 (16-6).
Ealing beat Otter 13-6 in the London derby while, in the all-Midlands clash, Birmingham edged out Warley 11-10.
