“Play-offs don’t faze us” says Birrell

CHELMSFORD, UK – The Chieftains head coach Dean Birrell is looking forwards to the end of season play-off tournament without any fears of who the Chieftains may get in their groupings. “You’ve got the likes of Bracknell, Cardiff and Invicta that are strong and with us, Wightlink and Oxford not as strong at present, you would say that avoiding the first three would be desirable, but if we want to win the play-offs we have to beat the best teams at some point”. With the play-off groups of the teams finishing in 1st, 3rd and 5th going into one group and 2nd, 4th and 6th in the other, it really is a mixed bag at present. Invicta look strong favourites to win the league title as they have a 4 point cushion with 3 games in hand over second place Bracknell Hornets. Looking further down the league, Cardiff are just 2 points off Bracknell but have 2 games in hand and Wightlink Raiders are 3 points off Oxford with 2 games extra to play.

As it stands then the groups would be Invicta Dynamos, Cardiff Devils and Oxford City Stars in one group, with the Chieftains, Bracknell Hornets and Wightlink Raiders in the other. However, taking in present form and the extra games to be played, the groups may well end up looking more like Dynamos, Hornets, Raiders in group A and Chieftains, ENL Devils and City Stars in the other. Previous results between the sides over the season so far would suggest that the Chieftains would be happier in the same group as Invicta and Oxford, but as Birrell says “To win the play-offs we have to beat the best teams at some point”. Birrell also mentioned that every team is coming into play-off form now “All the teams around us are picking up points off eachother and we’re starting to do that too with the result we got tonight (The Chieftains beat the Hornets 3-0 to end the Hornets run of 10 straight wins). We’ll take anyone and we have the confidence about us to pick up wins against all these sides. We’ve not been hammered by any of these sides at all this season and the biggest defeat was a 5-1 against the Raiders on the Island when we were short-benched anyway. We have as much right to be considered contenders as anyone else. We’re not going to start getting particular results to juggle the groups around as I’m not a believer of that. As I say, we’ve got to beat the best at some point and if that’s in the final or the groups we’re not fussed. We’ll go out and do our best as we always do and see where that takes us”. Contact the author Pete.Lewis@Prohockeynews.co.uk