OTTER 1869’S TITLE IN THRILLING FINALE

Otter completed a unique National League double when their second string – officially Otter 1869 – clinched the Division Four title at Crawley. The famous old London club’s senior squad had already won the Division Two championship.
 

2006 Season PLD W D L F A PTS GD
Otter 1869 12 8 1 3 153 135 17 18
Invicta Marlins 12 7 2 3 154 124 16 30
Birmingham 12 7 1 4 136 124 15 12
University of Bristol 12 7 1 4 139 128 15 11
Ealing 12 5 0 7 176 187 10 -11
Croydon 12 4 0 8 137 164 8 -27
Cambridge 12 1 1 10 127 160 3 -33

Invicta Marlins took second place in Division Four and will meet Basingstoke in a promotion play-off at Aldershot on Saturday, 9 December.

 
NWPL Chairman Steve Monico presents the Div 4 trophy to Otter Captain Paul McCann

The Crawley weekend began with Birmingham and University of Bristol in first and second places – but with both having completed their programmes.

Otter kicked off with an 11-8 defeat of Croydon Amphibians but then faced a crunch match against the Marlins, who looked in the clear when they took a 12-9 lead early in the final quarter with Richard Hooper’s fourth goal. Otter immediately hit back with two goals by Ustunnel and another with two minutes left by Tucay. The teams called three time-outs in the last 90 seconds without producing a winning goal – which meant a point each from a 12-12 draw.


Back : Grey Pienaar, Pierre Cerri, Alfonso Tucay, Jason Eckert, Ed Buckley (Keeper)
Middle : Juan Aldana, Yannick Gaudio, Ollie Holman, Greg Moore, Chris Eden, Sarpal Ustunnel, Leon Estrella
Kneeling : Paul McCann (Captain)

Appropriately, the title was decided in the very last, nail-biting game of the season – which saw Otter 1869 edge out Ealing 14-13.

Otter led 5-4 after the first period and 8-5 at the halfway stage. However, Ealing, inevitably supported from the gallery by the Invicta Marlins players, recovered superbly in the third period, edging into a 10-9 lead. But Otter eventually won through, with Tucay (4), Gaudio (3) and Estrella (3) leading the scorers. Van der Flier netted five for Ealing.

Earlier, seven goals by Hooper earned Marlins a 17-10 victory over Ealing. Marlins also defeated Croydon 13-8.

MARLINS MOTOR INTO DIVISION THREE

Impressive Invicta Marlins outplayed Basingstoke, who finished ninth in Division Three, to win their play-off match 19-6 at Aldershot and clinch promotion to Division Three.

The victorious Invicta Marlins team. Back row (left to right): Spud Murphy (assistant coach), Nick Jackson, Mark Cheetham, Ben Alcorn, Andy Peterson, Clive Donaldson, Dave Waller (coach). Middle:  Richard Hooper, Alan Chambers, Greg Jackson, Matt Spurr, Alex Tollefson. Front:  Stuart Collins, Greg Candy-Wallace.

Marlins never looked back after scoring five times without reply in the first period. Richard Hooper led their scorers with six. Other goals went to Collins (5), Cheetham (3), Tollefson (2), Jackson, Donaldson and Chambers. Williams scored three for Basingstoke.