Division 4 news
Bristol Promoted | Bedford Surprise | RAF Celebrate ! Swindon Dominate Again | Swindon In Charge | Cambridge maintain 100% | University on Top |
BRISTOL GO UP - EALING RELEGATED
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.
BEDFORD ROB SWINDON OF PERFECT RECORD
Bedford's Adam Monico scored a goal three seconds from the end to earn his club a surprise 13-13 draw at Walsall against champions Swindon Dolphin, who therefore missed the opportunity of completing the season with a 100 per cent record.
Monico's strike followed a goal 13 seconds earlier by Rhys Tamlyn. The Bristol Central coach, who has turned out all season for the Wiltshire club, finished with five.
NWPL chairman Steve Monico, Adam's father, featured for Bedford in this match - and was also involved in Bedford's 11-10 victory over the RAF.
University of Bristol made certain of the runners-up position when Sean Taylor netted eight in a 16-10 defeat of Grantham. Later, the University beat the RAF 12-11 - after leading 11-8 early in the final period - and City of Cambridge 13-12 in what was probably the best game of the weekend. Bristol went from 11-11 to 13-11 in the last period before a Jerry Overhill goal for Cambridge 90 seconds from the end sparked a late, unsuccessful bombardment on the Bristol goal.
Grantham finished in positive fashion with an 11-8 victory over Newcastle, featuring six goals by Matt Lawtey.
The RAF, bottom of the table with just two points, were completely out of luck. After the one-goal defeat by Bedford, they fought back from 11-8 down in the final quarter against University of Bristol before being edged out once again by a single goal - 12-11.
Dean Smith, Manchester Hawks' top marksman, claimed nine more in his team's 24-11 win over Newcastle.
The Swindon players in our picture are (back row, left to right): James Farror, Darryl Pye, Andy Hicks, Steve Margetts, Ian Brewer, Rhys Tamlyn, Chris Selby, David Quinlivan. Front: Angelo Polymeris, Michael Trzeciak, Dioyo Monteirio, Rob Toolen, Matt James.
AT LAST . . . RAF LAND FIRST POINTS!
Biggest cheer of the Division Four season was reserved for the RAF. After 12 defeats, the Inter-Services champions broke their National League duck at Basingstoke with a 9-8 victory over Grantham's youngsters, precisely reversing a 9-8 Grantham success earlier in the season.
This was a remarkable match because, well before the end, there were four RAF players ruled out through triple exclusions, leaving seven to carry on the fight.
Goalkeeper Chris Jones led the way by saving a Grantham penalty at 7-7. Tony Coleby made it 8-7 to the RAF with four minutes left, but Grantham immediately equalised with a man-up strike by Alex Hall.
The winner - Matt Chapman's fourth of the match - was scored with more than three minutes to go. There were narrow misses at both ends after that and fine saves by goalkeepers Jones and Sam Pembridge before the RAF could begin their celebrations.
No one enjoyed the game more than RAF team secretary Mark Vincenti, watching for the first time this season after returning 48 hours earlier from a four-month stint in Afghanistan.
Swindon Dolphin need just one point from three remaining matches at Walsall on 29/30 November to clinch the title. They were physically much too strong for Grantham, Steve Margetts amassing 11 goals in a 28-9 success. Margetts added eight more against Weymouth & Portland, who went down 20-10.
University of Bristol and City of Cambridge remain the chief challengers for runners-up spot although both were outplayed by Manchester Hawks, who moved up to fourth place with a hat-trick of victories.
Dean Smith scored six as Cambridge were hammered 15-5. Andy McGinty (5), Joe O'Regan (3), Barry James (3) and Tom Richmond (3) led the scoring in an excellent match against the University, who went down 16-14.
Grantham fared much better against Bedford, winning 15-11. Dan Taylor and Will Betts were both on target with four goals and Hall scored three. Newcastle doubled their points tally for the season, beating the RAF 14-8 and Bedford 13-9. John Whitaker scored four in each game.
SWINDON MARCH ON
Swindon Dolphin are proving unstoppable in their drive towards the Divison Four title. Three more wins at Marlborough College, including completion of a double over one of their main challengers, University of Bristol, maintained a 100 per cent record after 11 matches.
The University were beaten 17-8. Steve Margetts and MichalTrzeciak scored four each for Swindon. There were also two goals for Rhys Tamlyn, who managed to fit in another appearance for the leaders before moving on to Cardiff and then Bath to coach Division One club Bristol Central.
Swindon defeated the RAF 22-3 and Newcastle 21-10.
Cambridge also won three matches - Newcastle (10-8), RAF (11-3) and Grantham (15-7) - to keep the pressure on Swindon. Simon Gregory's four goals accounted for spirited Newcastle, who were very much in the match until the final period. Gregory also bagged five against the RAF, who are still without a point despite the outstanding goalkeeping of Chris Jones.
Closest match of the weekend saw Weymouth & Portland and Bedford draw 10-10. Darren Heagarty's four goals helped Weymouth secure an 8-6 lead early in the last quarter. But two goals apiece from Torben Cattley and Justin Irvine gave Bedford a 10-9 advantage before Jordan Fox's third goal squared the match with just 29 seconds remaining.
Manchester Hawks outplayed Grantham 14-6 in the battle of the division's two youngest teams. Rhusarb Bidd (3), Andy McGinty (2), Joe O'Regan (2), Mike Beavis (2), Connor Dean (2), Cameron MacDonald (2) and Will Salt scored the goals.
Some players never retire . . . as proved by Newcastle's Carl Watson, scorer of two goals in his side's defeat by Swindon. The booklet which chronicled the 40-year history of the league revealed that Carl was second top marksman in Division Three for Plymouth - in 1976!
SWINDON ON TOP AS CAMBRIDGE SLIP
It all went wrong for Cambridge on the third weekend of the Division Four programme at Walsall Gala Baths.
After winning their first five fixtures to top the table, Cambridge slipped to three defeats, all by very narrow margins. The first match - against Swindon Dolphin, who have taken over first place at the halfway point of the season - could hardly have been tighter.
Having trailed 15-12, Cambridge stormed back to draw level at 16-16 three minutes from the end. There were 18 seconds remaining when a smart backhander from Nick Ludford levelled again on 17-17. Almost immediately, however, defender Jerry Overhill was excluded and, four seconds from the final hooter, Steve Margetts stole the winner - his ninth goal of a splendid game.
Cambridge's woes increased when they went down again by a single goal - 11-10 - to an improving Bedford side. Adam Monico and Justin Irvine both scored four for the winners. A 13-10 defeat by University of Bristol rounded off a weekend to forget for Cambridge.
The Swindon goal-scoring machine was in top gear in their three matches - a haul of 69 in wins over Cambridge, Bedford (25-13) and Manchester Hawks (26-18). This puts Swindon two points clear of Bristol University - with the sides set to meet at the next divisional weekend at Marlborough College on 25 October.
Dean Smith was in great shooting form for Manchester Hawks, scoring nine in a 17-11 victory over Newcastle. Smith bagged ten against Weymouth & Portland, yet still finished on the losing side. Experienced Ben Mardon inspired Weymouth's recovery from 14-19 down to snatch a late 22-20 victory over youthful opponents.
Click on the results page for scores and the latest table.
LUDFORD LEADS CAMBRIDGE CHARGE (september 2008)
Fast-improving City of Cambridge won their three matches at Ponds Forge, with Nick Ludford proving the star turn – he scored 21 goals.
Both Cambridge and Swindon Dolphin retain 100 per cent records from five matches – which means that their clash at the next Division Four weekend at Walsall on 11/12 October could be a distinctly lively affair.
Cambridge were rarely under pressure at Ponds Forge. They beat the RAF 23-6, Grantham 17-4 and Newcastle 17-9.
It was almost as comfortable for Swindon, who defeated Newcastle 17-9, previously undefeated University of Bristol 18-11 and the RAF 19-14. The experienced trio of Andy and Steve Margetts and Rhys Tamlyn shared 13 of the Swindon goals against the RAF, for whom, remarkably, Matt Chapman managed to score eight times.
Weymouth & Portland’s 20-9 defeat of Bedford featured nine goals by Darren Heagarty.
Dean Smith, of Manchester Hawks, scored five in his side’s 14-7 win over Grantham.
Grantham lost 15-13 to Weymouth & Portland despite winning the last period 6-3. Tony Bates and Dan Taylor registered hat-tricks for the losers.
The weekend proved particularly difficult for NWPL administrators due to the late withdrawal of several referees and table officials. Our thanks to those who volunteered to help out on the table and ensure the weekend was completed satisfactorily!
UNIVERSITY GRAB TOP SPOT (september 2008)
University of Bristol's "new boys" proved their worth as the team opened the Division Four programme by scoring exactly 19 goals in each of three victories at Ponds Forge - against Newcastle, Manchester Hawks and Weymouth & Portland.
Mark Taylor - not the University's coach but his namesake from Cheltenham - contributed six goals in a 19-8 defeat of newcomers Manchester Hawks.
Then it was another old hand - ex-international Peter Love - who helped himself to ten goals against Weymouth & Portland, who went down 19-10.
The Swindon club may be new to the league but their personnel have an experienced and familiar look - see below. There was no real surrprise, therefore, when they began with a 26-5 defeat of youthful Grantham.
It was much closer later on against Weymouth & Portland. Swindon led 16-13 at the start of the last period but were holding on at 16-15 at the end following late goals by Mardon and Fox.
Cambridge made a positive start to their campaign, beating Weymouth & Portland 17-9 and then overcoming spirited Manchester Hawks 11-6. The game was close until midway through the last period when two of Nick Ludford's four goals gave his side the advantage.
Grantham produced a much improved display against the RAF. An even match stood at 8-8 until Jon Korcz slotted a Grantham winner, literally in the last second.
