ENL South Round-up week 3

LONDON, UK – The English National League South served up another exciting weekend of hockey with all of the teams in action over the two days.
 
There was once a time when it was assumed that most hockey players were as thick as mince and would struggle to open a jam jar without voice instructions, so it was refreshing to see Cardiff forward Luke Piggott hitting the headlines during the week after making a scientific breakthrough during his PHD Studies in the fight against Breast Cancer.

 
Piggott was a feature across national news after his discovery, however none of the media asked the pertinent questions Pro Hockey News did during the interview with the Devils star back in November last year. When asked what he thought of the Welsh National anthem, the English Piggott described it as ‘a great anthem’. No one can say we don’t ask the big questions of the ENL stars we probe during the season.
 
So whilst Piggott was schmoozing with the press in his white coat, the rest of the ENL were dusting themselves off and reflecting on the opening two weekend’s worth of action. Only Invicta Dynamos, Chelmsford Chieftains and Romford Raiders remain unbeaten prior to this weekend, keeping true to pre-season predictions that they would all be challenging for the title.
 
Romford captain Anthony Leone was quoted seemingly unedited in the local Romford Recorder after his side’s win against Milton Keynes with a roaring approval of the Raiders’ performance:
 
‘MK didn’t have much to offer and it could’ve been double figures easily’ proclaimed the Raiders skipper, who then sailed against the usual bland rhetoric by describing the Raiders as ‘awesome’ and then previewing the upcoming game against Slough with ‘If you look at their squad, there’s not much depth so hopefully it isn’t going to be a big deal’.
 
In the end it wasn’t a big deal and Romford won comfortably with a 6-2 score line.
 
Leone was one of the big stories last season despite Danny Marshall and Juraj Huska grabbing most of the headlines. The twenty eight year old forward blossomed from a third line checking player with Invicta two seasons ago to a regular first line scorer for the Raiders last season, proving that given the right line mates and change of scene, players can prove their value and skill.
 
It is a point worth remembering when looking at statistics as the be all and end all of judging a hockey player, that points often do not tell the full story about the value of a player.
 
So with things looking rosy at the top of the league, naturally the teams in the bottom section of the standings were less jubilant. Bracknell Hornets, Bristol Pitbulls, Streatham Redskins and Cardiff ENL Devils were all point-less, although in Cardiff and Bristol’s case they had only played one game.
 
Bracknell sat rooted at the bottom however the mood at Streatham was dark, mainly due to the crushing opening night defeat to MK at the High Road. Commitment is clearly an issue in South London but hopefully this will change as the season progresses.
 
The bad fortune as far as player availability is concerned is not the kind of start to the season Streatham wanted, but with a lack of real budget to bring in players from elsewhere, it is a challenge that faces Coach Barry Spours for the second time, with the last similar scenario playing out in 2009/10.
 
 
Saturday
 
Romford Raiders made the trip west to face Bristol at Frogmore Street aiming to maintain their unbeaten start to the season. With the Raiders missing aggressive defenseman Billy Phillips and teenage hotshot Frankie Harvey from their line up the Pitbulls may have been quietly confident ahead of the match.
 
Despite a solid start from Richie Hargreaves men, the Essex boys soon slipped into gear and won convincingly in a chippy affair that saw referee Steven Matthews dish out a raft of minor penalties along with a ten minute misconduct call on Romford’s Tyrone Miller.
Raiders’ goals came courtesy of a brace from Matt Turner and solo efforts from Jason Buckman, AJ Smith, Grant Taylor, Juraj Huska and Anthony ‘Awesome’ Leone. Bristol scorers were former Oxford duo Nick Eden and Yousif Abu-Saada.
 
Chelmsford showed little mercy at the Hive against struggling Bracknell as they romped home 8-2 winners against the Hornets.
 
Import Jakub Klima hit a hat trick for the Chieftains and he had help from fellow scorers Alan Green, Gary Clarke, James Ayling, Darren Brown and Dwayne ‘Dog’ Newman. Bracknell’s goals came from Danny Hughes and the hard working Matt Ovenden.
 
After a promising start to the season, Milton Keynes Thunder hosted Cardiff in a game that would give the bookies a headache choosing a winner. In the end it was the Thunder who came desperately close to securing yet another win but were denied in the dying seconds by an Adam Harding goal after the Devils pulled their goalie at 3-2 down.
 
Cardiff’s other scorers were Ricky Deacon and Grant Richardson whilst MK’s goals came from Jamie Randall, Harrison Goode and Martyn Snape. MK Coach Simon Howard will be disappointed his side threw away their advantage and Cardiff coach Mark Cuddihy can’t have too many complaints after obtaining a solid point on the road in a venue the Thunder have a good record in.
 
There is no way of glossing over Streatham’s trip to the Isle of Wight to take on Wightlink. Sadly we (Streatham) travelled with what can best be described as a makeshift squad and took our punishment with a thumping 14-0 defeat which could have easily been worse had it not been for man of the match Stefan Nubert between the pipes.
 
Our fans supported us throughout what must have been a painful spectacle but the real praise has to go to Wightlink who did a professional job without resorting to the bullying and crowd baiting antics that other teams sometimes try when faced with a mismatch of ability and numbers.
 
Jeremy Cornish rolled his lines across the whole game and was rewarded with a spread of goal scorers. The men giving EIHA statto Malcolm Preen extra work were Alex Murray with a hat trick, Conor Pollard, Nathan Taylor and Joe Rand with a brace each, and solo efforts for Dan Pye, Steve Gannaway, Richard Facey and Dom Hopkins.
 
In his programme notes Cornish described the Redskins as ‘always a tough team to play against’. We can only hope that next time we face the Raiders we have our house in order and can give them a game.
 
 
Sunday
 
There is a saying that to get to the good bits of life you have to experience the hard parts and it is a proven fact. On a recent holiday I sat on a cliff top with soaring birds and beautiful waterfalls bursting out of sheer rock. To get to that beautiful setting I had to drive for four hours on dirt roads dodging donkeys, goats and other livestock whilst bouncing up and down on a barely cushioned seat.
 
So after a dismal evening on the Isle of Wight, it was back to Streatham and a must win (already in the season) game against Bracknell. Both sides struggled to put any real chances together but with only three minutes remaining the Redskins came back from 2-1 down to win 3-2 and straight away create a buzz back in the rink.
 
Relief all round in South London but the performance was still a long way short of what we wanted and Bracknell will be equally disappointed they travelled home empty handed.
 
Stevie Balmer, Michael Ranby and birthday boy Warren Rost scored for Streatham, with Danny Hughes and the impressive Alan Lack notching for the Hornets. Rost was awarded man of the match and rushed off home to blow his 21 candles out on his cake.
 
After a decent start to the season, Slough ENL Jets travelled to Cardiff missing a whole host of players and were despatched 7-1 by the Welsh side. Former Swindon player Jamie Hayes hit a hat trick for the Devils who also had Louis Lockwood, Adam Harding, Chris Jones and Robert Sedlak on the score sheet.   Slough’s scorer was Andrew Melachrino.
 
That result gives Cardiff their first win of the season and they will be a dangerous team for anyone in the league in the big blue tent.
 
An eagerly awaited clash within the ‘big four’ took place at the Riverside as Chelmsford Chieftains hosted the unbeaten Invicta Dynamos in a game where something had to give. The Mo’s welcomed back defenseman Ryan Giles who had retired through injury towards the end of last season and this was a big boost given the absence of fellow blue liner Tim Smith for this clash.
 
Despite their fourth place finish last year, the Dynamos are not a side used to losing, never mind being losing heavily so it must have been a shock to suffer an 8-2 loss and actually be 7-0 down at one stage.
 
Chelmsford fans were dancing in the stands as Danny Hammond, Jakub Klima and Gary Clarke all scored two goals each to add to an effort from Tom Long. Invicta scorers were Andy Smith and Ryan Ellis. The game ended with tempers flared after an incident between Klima and Invicta goalie Andy Moffatt but Chelmsford will only care about the result.
 
Sadly referee Joy Tottman had to be taken to hospital after taking a puck to the head and was bleeding badly at one stage. We all wish her a speedy recovery and a return to the ice as soon as possible.
 
This result will give Chelmsford a massive boost but for Invicta it will mean bouncing back next week against their friends from the island.
 
Speaking of Wightlink, they overcame a tricky hurdle at Bristol with an 8-4 win over the Pitbulls. Raiders import Joe Rand continuing his good form over the weekend with a further four goals to his name. Two home defeats in a row for Bristol is not ideal but they were probably not expecting too much from the games against Wightlink and Romford.
 
Oxford City Stars became the latest side to succumb to the 100% win record of Romford as they were comfortably beaten 7-1 at Rom Valley Way.
 
The Raiders hit penalty trouble early on and Darren Elliott actually gave the City Stars the lead early on but the Raiders hit back with two goals each for Juraj Huska and Anthony Leone and one each from AJ Smith, JJ Pitchley and Danny Marshall.
 
Raiders import Andrius ‘Bomber’ Kaminskas was ejected late on after clashing with City Stars New Zealand import Martin Lee who had made a clumsy hit on a Raiders player. Kaminskas will now miss the big clash with Chelmsford next week.
 
So with three weeks gone Romford sit at the top of the league unbeaten, with Chelmsford right behind. Bracknell and Bristol are still waiting to post a win on the board but neither side will be panicking as we have a lot of hockey still left to play.
 
To finish this week’s round up I would like to pay tribute to a hockey fan who sadly died recently. ‘Big Norman’ was a keen Haringey Greyhounds fan and would spend a fair bit of time at the rink not only at games but also at some practices. Sadly his funeral was last week and I was unable to attend but I always enjoyed speaking with him and I know that he will be sadly missed by all those that knew him. It was often hard going following the Greyhounds but Norman was always positive when he spoke with the players and you could tell he genuinely loved the sport.
 
Let’s hope that the Greyhounds (or a team of similar name) return to Alexandra Palace in the next few seasons so that those remaining fans can watch their hockey again. Rest in peace Big Norman.
 
Results
 
Saturday 17 September 2011
 
Bristol 2 Romford 7
Bracknell 2 Chelmsford 8
Wightlink 14 Streatham 0
Milton Keynes 3 Cardiff 3
 
Sunday 18 September 2011
 
Romford 7 Oxford 1
Bristol 4 Wightlink 8
Streatham 3 Bracknell 2
Cardiff 7 Slough 1
Chelmsford 8 Invicta 2
 
This column is written and produced by Streatham Redskins defenseman David Carr on a voluntary basis. Anyone wishing to reproduce any text please contact the author directly via email. I would like to thank Rob McGregor for writing the first two round-up articles of the season whilst I was in Ethiopia.
 
Contact the author: david.carr@prohockeynews.com