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BAXTER LEADS CALEDONIA CHARGE

After the disappointment of losing their opening game of the season against South Derbyshire at Ponds Forge, Caledonia stormed back with a hat-trick of victories in the latest round of Division Three matches at Nottingham University.

2007 Season PLD W D L F A PTS GD
Caledonia 5 4 0 1 75 56 8 19
Warley 5 4 0 1 54 45 8 9
Invicta Marlins 5 3 1 1 61 53 7 8
Newton Abbot 5 3 0 2 80 70 6 10
South Derbyshire 5 3 0 2 49 42 6 7
Reading 5 1 1 3 48 61 3 -13
Otter 1869 5 1 0 4 50 64 2 -14
Bedford 5 0 0 5 47 73 0 -26

Warley, similarly beaten in their first match – by Invicta Marlins – also picked up a maximum six points at Nottingham. So the next Division Three weekend, which takes place at a new venue, Marlborough College, on 20/21 October, will see Caledonia and Warley at the top of the table each with eight points.

Dave Baxter scored six goals in Caledonia’s 19-12 victory over Bedford. Baxter, Laird and Fraser all contributed three in a 13-8 defeat of Otter 1869. Then Newton Abbot were surprising outplayed 20-12, with eight-goal Fraser in dominating form.

Warley’s promotion ambitions were well and truly lifted thanks to a 15-14 win against Newton Abbot.

Apart from an early Warley flourish, the Devon side were narrowly ahead for most of the game. It was 14-13 to Newton Abbot with just over three minutes remaining but then two goals in little over half a minute – by Lane and Pridden – turned the game around. The final one and a half minutes saw three time-outs – but no more goals.

Warley’s second win was against Reading – 12-9. A victory against Bedford, still without a point, should perhaps have been a formality, but Division Three is particularly competitive this season, with most teams capable of beating each other. Bedford certainly played with great spirit and trailed only 3-4 until the last four minutes, when goals by Covington (2) and Lane ensured a 7-4 success for the Midlands team.

Invicta Marlins enjoyed a successful weekend, picking up five points with wins over Bedford (16-8) – Steve Leathwood scored eight – and Otter 1869 (14-8). Against Reading, they trailed 7-9 with 90 seconds remaining. But, in the frantic last minute, goals by Leathwood and McDonald in the space of 20 seconds snatched an exciting 9-9 draw.

South Derbyshire won fairly comfortably against Reading (10-7) and Otter 1869 (8-3) but wasted an early 6-3 lead against Newton Abbot and were eventually overhauled 13-12. Andy Margetts scored six for Newton Abbot.

The meeting of Caledonia and Warley will be one of the highlights of the Marlborough weekend on 20/21 October.