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EALING LOSE OUT – CROYDON CELEBRATE

2007 Season PLD W D L F A PTS GD
Birmingham 14 11 1 2 193 120 23 73
Croydon 14 10 0 4 198 125 20 73
Ealing 14 10 0 4 209 138 19 71
University of Bristol 14 9 0 5 157 149 17 8
Cambridge 14 5 2 7 131 132 12 -1
Weymouth & Portland 14 5 1 8 130 169 10 -39
Newcastle 14 3 0 11 107 169 6 -62
Basingstoke 14 1 0 13 87 210 2 -123

Croydon’s players were so convinced they had blown a Division Four promotion chance by losing to Cambridge in their final match of the season that they left the Crowborough pool immediately afterwards to drown their sorrows in the pub.

Only coach Chris Martin stayed on – just in case. And as far as he was concerned, the miracle happened. After leading against University of Bristol until the last five minutes, play-off rivals Ealing lost their way and, to their huge disappointment, went down 15-13.

“I thought we had missed out through wasting so many chances against Cambridge,” said Chris.

“Now we can really look forward to the play-off and hope we make it to Division Three. That is an important step for us as part of a five-year plan which eventually targets a place even higher up in Division Two.”

City of Birmingham (click on the News page for more coverage) made sure of the title with victories over Cambridge (11-6) and Newcastle (17-8). They lost 12-10 to Croydon.

Back row: John Cooper, Tom Carpenter, Alex Boyle, Phil Lucas and skipper Marcus Hook.
Front: Gary Tonks, Toby Hook, Matt Foulds, Richard Baker, David Giess, Rob Cash, Ashley Hillier and Mike Foulds

University of Bristol’s victory over Ealing was all the more surprising because earlier on they had lost 10-8 to the fast-improving Weymouth & Portland side.

Ealing raced into a 5-1 lead and were still comfortably placed at 12-10 with only five minutes to play. Within another three minutes, however, Bristol, battling with great determination, had turned the match round in spectacular style by scoring four times without reply.

Dave Evans, Sean Taylor and Nick Hemmings (3 each), Dan Rhys and Ollie Gravers were the main University marksmen. Spyridon Tzamtzis (5) and Andrius Jankunas (4) led the Ealing scoring.

Cambridge’s 9-8 victory over Croydon gave them a double for the season – and it was well deserved. Ex-GB goalkeeper Andy Knight, Cambridge’s coach, set an inspirational example by saving two penalties. But, with Croydon unable to convert other chances, Cambridge built an early 4-1 lead and were still 7-4 up at the half way stage.

With just over three minutes to go, a Bren Heath goal brought Croydon level at 8-8 – only for Penfold’s exclusion shortly afterwards to result in the winning goal for Andrew Cantone.

Four goals in the third period took Croydon from 6-6 to 10-6 against Birmingham before the league leaders cut the margin to 11-10. With less than a minute to go, a Birmingham shot rebounded from the woodwork – and Croydon wrapped it up with a long shot from Heath with one second remaining.

Basingstoke’s withdrawal from the weekend meant that opponents University of Bristol, Ealing and Weymouth & Portland were awarded points from those unplayed matches.