02 May
English hockey’s flagship event came to a close today, with the England Hockey League promotion playoffs in Cannock. The annual 3-day hockey tournament to determine which teams are relegated from – and promoted to – the country’s top-flight league.
There was heartache for Canterbury as their relegation misery was compounded by poor results.
Canterbury, who finished 9th in the 10-team EHL, were fighting to stay up (with 10th-place Brooklands MU automatically relegated). They were joined by the winners from the East, North, and West conference leagues, Southgate, Durham, and Exeter.
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| Christchurch student Huw Stephens |
The format was a round-robin tournament with each team playing each other once, with the top two qualifying for next season’s EHL with the bottom two relegated back to the conference.
Canterbury went into the tournament with momentum, having already pulled off the great escape to get themselves out of bottom spot in the league. Our boys needed to win their final two games, against Loughborough and second-bottom Brooklands. Having beaten Loughborough, Canterbury completed their impossible turnaround thanks to a Michael Farrer penalty corner conversion with the final touch of the game.
Player/coach Kwan Browne has seen it all, and was once considered the best player on the planet. He had this to say: “It was an unbelievable finish,” he said “to do it when it was all-or-nothing was incredible ... you can never replicate the pressure.”
Canterbury now have the playoff tournament to contend with.
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| Leader ... Kwan Browne |
“It is going to be even tougher this year than it was last year,” he said, referring to last season’s tournament which saw Canterbury into the EHL, “we faced Exeter and Southgate last year and we beat them, they are tough games but confidence is high.”
HardingSport was there to follow local city side Canterbury as they looked to stay at the top level of club hockey. Their unforgiving schedule saw them play 3 games in 3 days to defend their EHL status.
Game 1 versus Exeter was a closer game than the scoreline suggests, and a game of two distinct halves. Exeter were 2-0 up at half time and looking supremely dominant, going on to make it 3-0 early in the second half. Canterbury rallied after this, Michael Farrer scoring a consolation penalty corner on 52 minutes. The Devon side withstood the Canterbury barrage that followed, but ultimately held on to the 3 points. Canterbury were left frustrated, and unable to find a way past the impressive Tom Millington in the Exeter goal.
Game 2 was a must-win for the Kent side against local rivals Southgate, as 2 opening defeats would spell disaster and all but end their hopes of retaining their EHL status. Canterbury opened the scoring with a second penalty corner goal, this time from Mickell Pierre after 8 minutes. The green-and-whites were left shell-shocked, however, as Southgate came back to score 3 goals with less than 17 minutes played. Michael Farrer scored his second of the tournament just before the half-hour mark to reduce the deficit to one goal. This was short-lived as Southgate scored again to make it 4-2 at half time to set up a dramatic second half. Ten minutes after the interval, Farrer converted two more PCs to complete his hat-trick and level the scores at 4-4, with Canterbury in the ascendency. Despite Southgate’s 7 yellow cards in the match, Canterbury couldn’t hold on for the point and Southgate stole the game in the dying minutes to leave Canterbury at the bottom of the pile.
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| Dejected ... Ferrer looks on |
Canterbury’s final game against Durham was just as eventful. Canterbury University student Liam Foster opened to scoring, before Durham found an equaliser. Tom Butt restored Canterbury’s advantage at 2-1. The second half saw something of a Canterbury collapse, with Southgate finding renewed energy to score 4 goals without reply. Both teams had a player red-carded in the feisty few minutes. The game finished 5-2, but this wasn’t enough for Durham who missed out on second place by a goal difference of 2.
It was a thrilling end to a terrific weekend that the top 3 teams were separated only on goal difference. Exeter deservedly topped the group, returning to the EHL at the first attempt following last season’s relegation. The players have shown their EHL pedigree all season, winning the Western conference by 8 points, winning 16 out of 18 games, with a goal difference of 48.
Canterbury, on the other hand, despite boasting Kwan Browne in their ranks, are back to the drawing board for a thorough re-think as they look to bounce back up next season.
Results:
Canterbury | 1 | 3 | Exeter University |
University of Durham | 0 | 4 | Southgate |
Exeter University | 4 | 5 | University of Durham |
Southgate | 5 | 4 | Canterbury |
Exeter University | 5 | 2 | Southgate |
Canterbury | 2 | 5 | University of Durham |
Table:
P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | |
Exeter | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 6 |
Southgate | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 6 |
Durham | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 6 |
Canterbury | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 13 | -6 | 0 |
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