LONDON, UK – The league title race was finally decided with one half of Essex dancing in delight by the end of the weekend. Meanwhile, there was drama at the bottom in Brixton and a rumour of an EPL team starting up in London for 2012/13.
Invicta Coach Kevin Parrish was pulling no punches in an interview with the Medway Messenger as he fired a warning to his players and put his own future in doubt.
Champions (Photo by John Scott)
“Five or six of the squad are playing for their futures with the club. If I’m here next year, there are a few who I’m 50-50 about whether to bring back” explained Parrish, who lost forward Mike Timms last week from his squad.
“My future is a bit up in the air right now. There are personal reasons – I’ve just had another baby, my second – and work reasons. It’s hard going getting up early and going to work in London all week and fitting in the training and games and travelling when you’ve got a family”
“Plus I have taken a lot of criticism this season, maybe some of it has been deserved, but it makes you wonder if you want it all”
“It’s something for after the season, really. I want to finish the season strong and then see what we can do in the play-offs”
“If we go and win the play-offs then everyone will want to be back and you won’t need to change anything.”
There is certainly no reason the Dynamos cannot win the play-offs however recent results against Milton Keynes and Streatham will worry the clubs fans.
The battle to beat the drop featured in the news during the week as Streatham Coach Barry Spours looked forward to the weekend games against Slough.
“It is huge, and one of the biggest games we have had in a long time” explained the Redskins Coach in an interview with the Streatham Guardian.
“It has been a difficult season with the change of rink and the results have been disappointing but these two games are a chance to make amends for that”
“When I took over three years ago the team was about to fold and we said we would just keep fighting for survival and keep the team going”
Parrish loses Timms
“There is a big future now with the new rink being built but we are weathering the storm of that transition period, which would be difficult for any club to go through”
“And to get through it, it is important we keep our National One status”
The fact that the two bottom teams go head to head on the last games of the season is as exciting as any relegation battle gets and there is no doubt that Streatham had far more to lose that the ENL Jets.
On a personal note I was walking with my dogs thinking about the scenario and it struck me that a similar situation of sorts happened when I played in a tournament in Fife as an under 16 (anecdote alert).
I was playing for Sunderland and we had Telford, Glasgow and Slough in our group and we were poor in our first two games. A Glasgow side featuring GB Senior internationals Colin Shields and Stephen Murphy brushed us aside and then an average Telford side did the same and I remember our coach saying ‘Don’t worry lads, we’ve got ‘Sluff’ in our last game and they aren’t very good so we should be ok’.
Slough beat us, we went home without a single win and the tournament was won by a Guildford side (wearing jerseys designed by Stevie Wonder) led by none other than former Streatham Redskins captain Joe Johnston. Funny how things turn out, especially as Redskins big summer signing Scott Moody was captain of Slough that day!
Romford youngster JJ Pitchley received great news as he was called up to the Great Britain under 18 squad in place of none other than Rod Stewart’s son Liam. The ‘Downtown Train’ crooner’s off spring saw his team Spokane Chiefs progress in the play-offs thus delaying his departure to the World Championships in Heerenveen, Holland.
In the same newspaper, Romford Manager Mick Cahill rolled out an appropriate cliché as his side looked forward to their remaining games after overcoming a difficult test in Cardiff the previous weekend.
Bristol awards night
“We need to focus on Saturday’s game before we start looking too far ahead” admitted Cahill, who is a long-time member of the Raiders organisation.
“Clearly, we realise we could have a fantastic opportunity to win the league at Rom Valley Way on Sunday and that hasn’t happened since our very first season when we beat Bournemouth to take the old Heineken Division Two title”
“Hockey is a sport filled with superstition and I’m no different so you won’t get me counting any chickens just yet”
“I’ll just say that I’m cautiously optimistic. Sunday could be a very special night indeed.”
Just up the A12 things were quiet at the Riverside as Romford’s title rivals Chelmsford could just sit and wait to hope Romford would slip up against either Slough or Wightlink.
Big Chieftains fan and Pro Hockey News editor Pete Lewis went under the knife in hospital so we all wish him a swift recovery and hopefully will see him and his suspect banter at a play-off game in the coming weeks.
For any of you who missed the Pro Hockey News ‘April Fools’ gag then congratulations on saving two minutes of your life that you would have wasted reading it, but to any of you who believed it…. Well.
Saturday
Johnston wears his lucky Skins pants
Invicta gave James Tanner a first start between the pipes for their dead rubber South East Cup game on the Isle of Wight against the Wightlink Raiders. On his day Tanner can be a top quality goalie however he couldn’t do enough to stop his side losing 7-5 to the Raiders.
Justin Noble hit a hat trick for the Mo’s with Dan Fudger also hitting a brace for the visiting side. Richard Facey, Jeremy Cornish and Arran Strawson all hit two each for the Raiders with Joe Rand completing the scoring.
Romford took on Slough for their first step towards the title at the Hangar, or as it’s now known ‘Absolute Ice’ Slough. Sadly the game was abandoned towards the end of the period as Jets goalie Ryan Bainborough was taken to hospital with concussion, with the score standing 11-2 in the Raiders favour.
Sunday
Romford knew that the task awaiting them on Sunday would be vastly different to the one that had faced them the previous night. Wightlink were in town to spoil the party but Romford held their nerve to win the league title on the last night of the regular season with a 5-2 win, and most importantly, in front of their own fans.
Long term injury case Frankie Harvey dressed for the Raiders, presumably to be part of any impending celebrations, and it proved to be prudent as the Romford version of the Raiders overcame a second period wobble to win the title.
A brace for Juraj Huska and one each for Shaun Yardley, Danny Marshall and Billy Phillips did the damage for Romford with Alex Murray and Grant Rounding on target for Wightlink.
Chelmsford fans could only watch as their near neighbours lifted their first league trophy in many a year. It’s not a shock that Romford won the title but they’ve had to do it the hard way by playing catch up for most of the season and they have held their nerve and got their reward.
Romford glory (Photo by John Scott)
Down at the other end of the table a big crowd gathered at Brixton Ice Rink to watch Streatham and Slough engage in an exciting clash, lacking in skill but full of effort.
Slough (or Sluff) iced GB Junior international Andrew Melachrino in the game and he proved a constant thorn in the Redskins side and only a magnificent display by goalie Will Sanderson kept him out on a couple of breakaways.
I have to say I thought we looked nervous and whilst we did have a lot of chances, Slough could have easily put the game out of our reach, thanks to some ill-discipline on our part.
Johan Lisspers and Daniel Rose both punished us on the power play for Slough and Norm Pinnington and Russ Stevens replied for the Redskins.
Both sides meet next Saturday in Slough with Streatham needing to win by two goals to escape relegation. Talk about drama, this relegation battle will literally go down to the wire.
Milton Keynes hosted Cardiff ENL Devils at the Thunderdome and slumped to a third consecutive defeat with an 11-5 reverse.
Tom Mboya hit a hat trick for the Thunder with Lee Featherstone and Maros Stefanco also on target. James Preece scored three for Cardiff with Chris Jones, Jamie Hayes and Jordan Powell all getting a brace. The delightfully named Giovanni Raffaelli and Kieran Latchford also got goals for the Welsh side, both their first of the season.
So congratulations must go to Danny Marshall, Anthony Leone and all the boys down at Romford for a well-deserved title win, whilst South of the river, Streatham have to wait another week to learn their fate.
The play-off fixtures have now all been finalised with some cracking encounters to look forward to:
Romford Raiders v MK Thunder, Chelmsford Chieftains v Bracknell Hornets, Wightlink Raiders v Bristol Pitbulls, Invicta Dynamos v Cardiff ENL Devils.
Results
Saturday 31st March 2012
Slough Jets 2 – 11 Romford Raiders
Wightlink Raiders 7 – 5 Invicta Dynamos (South East Cup)
Sunday 1st March 2012
Romford Raiders 5 – 2 Wightlink Raiders
Milton Keynes Thunder 5 – 11 Cardiff Devils
Streatham Redskins 2 – 2 Slough Jets
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com
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