North Notts – 2
South Notts – 8
North Notts travelled to local rivals South Notts with the hope of restoring some pride after the 10-2 drubbing they suffered last time.
After a stern team talk and with a game plan North were confident that they could pull off a shock win or at least gain a point out of the game. The game started with South going ahead early after their quick winger was let into the North D far too easily and slipped the ball across the goal to see it finished giving them a great start. North’s heads never dropped and upped their game and had several chances of their own but failed to convert. Midway through the first half central midfielder Steve White had to leave the pitch and would take no further part for a injury in which was to have a big bearing on the final result. With White off North reshuffled quickly but South’s pace and ability to move the ball around quickly led them to gain 2 more goals despite great saves from Faulkner and other clearances from the defensive players. Another goal was added to this tally when the umpire awarded a penalty corner against them in which South converted well. Towards the end of the first half Notts grabbed a lifeline when Butler was brought down when through on goal this lead to them being awarded a Penalty stroke in which Greer stepped up and gave the South keeper no chance, sending it high into the roof of the netting.
With North still in reach of getting a result in this game they went out in the second half fighting but saw South score quickly. Within 15 minutes of the second half South were now 7-1 up, shortly after a dubious decision went against Greer when he appeared to be fouled and made a comment towards himself, he was then sent off this not only shocked the North players but also the South players. With North down to 10 they regrouped and played some good hockey with great work from Smith and Buck seen a ball crashed into the D for Eli Hind to smash into the back of the net, but South had the final say when they got the final goal of the game. With the game over North must now look at what went wrong in the game and need to get on with whatever decisions were given against them. Also after other results in the league today’s result gave South Notts the league title with 3 games left to play so we congratulate them and wish them good luck for next season.
North Notts 2nd X1 – 2
Burton HC – 4
Notts lost another match but can hold their heads high as they played well, but errors led to Burton winning the match.
The first half was evenly matched but somehow saw Burton 2-0 up at half time.
Notts came out in the second half looking for goals and attacked throughout the second half with good build up play. Gaz Bradbury got a goal back from a short corner but straight after the restart Burton replied and scored to make it 3-1. Notts heads did not drop and looked for another goal which they got after captain Anil won a short corner which Gaz Bradbury again scored from. Notts kept pressing for the third goal but over commitment of players attacking saw Burton score a 4th in the dying minutes from a counter attack.
North Notts 3rd X1 – 2
Loughborough Town HC – 2
Notts 3rd team travelled down the road to mid table Loughborough Town.
Playing on possibly the worst hockey surface in the league Notts managed to hold the mid table team to a good 2-2 draw.
Notts had numerous injuries going into the game but their determination to get a result from the game came through. Goals for Notts scored by Johnnie Smedley and Paul Stevens, some great goalkeeping by Gareth Parr and all round good performances from rest of team have taken Notts out of relegation by 1 point so far.
Notts will be facing mid table Leicester next week at Manor Park and will be definitely going out looking for 3 points to try and secure there position next season in the East Midlands Premier league.
North Notts 4th X1 – 5
Burton HC – 4
North Notts 4ths played away to mid table Burton on Saturday, with Notts only needing two points to secure promotion.
North Notts started well but had two goals disallowed in the first five minutes. They managed to continue to play strongly and goals came from S. Hollingsworth, A. Cook and J. Hayes in the first half.
Burton came back at the start of the second half scoring two goals quickly. Then Hollingsworth scored again, quickly followed by Hayes. Burton managed to pull back two further goals but they were unable to break Notts down to score the equaliser. Final score 5-4 to Notts. P Wyville played exceptionally well for North Notts. This results will see North Notts promoted for next season.
North Notts 5th X1 – 1
Beeston HC – 2
North Notts 5 were unlucky to go down against Beeston 7 on Saturday, having lost several experienced players to higher teams. Despite the speed and skill of some of the Beeston youngsters, a hastily rearranged Notts side held their own for the first half, thanks to some fine defending especially by man of the match Matt Boardman, dropping to right back for the first time, who stopped two short corner strikes on the line.
After half time Notts came out on the attack and Cris Bolus’s shot hit two defenders and the keeper before crossing the line. Some minutes later Anthony Glynne-Jones thought his shot had crossed the line, but it was scooped back by the Beeston keeper and the umpires were unable to see through the melee.
Beeston equalised mid-way through the second half as a player broke through the defence and managed to find a way past Ken Marland, almost injuring himself in his celebration as he ran into the soccer goalpost behind.
Four minutes from time a Beeston shot was blocked on the line by Phil Stanley’s body and the umpire had no option but to give a penalty stroke which was converted by Beeston.
