Indoor

England Hockey National Indoor League Division One

Sevenoaks Ladies travelled to Birmingham on Friday for the second of the two consecutive weekends which make up the Division 1 tournament, knowing that they would need to improve substantially on the previous weekend’s performance if they were to retain Division 1 status. A combination of one win, 2 narrow defeats & a comprehensive beating in the first weekend had left Oaks with just 3 points and sitting in 9^th place in the table, one off the bottom and within the relegation zone.

 Clearly, early matches on a Saturday morning are not to the liking of the team as, for the 2^nd week running, Oaks were overrun in their 1^st match of the weekend and suffered a 6-1 defeat at the hands of newly promoted, and highly organised, Firebrands. This setback intensified the pressure to deliver a result from the afternoon’s fixture against Manchester based Brooklands Poynton who were themselves starting to entertain ideas of an assault on a promotion place. Oaks rose to the occasion & delivered a tight 2-1 win, courtesy of 2 goals from Sarah Bolton – enough to move Oaks out of the relegation zone, with 2 matches left to play.

 Facing Birmingham University in their first match on Sunday, Oaks knew that they were up against the likely winners of the tournament. Having lost 4 goals in quick succession, Oaks showed great character to fight back and narrow the gap to 2. Ultimately, they couldn’t quite even the score, but the character the team showed stood them in good stead for the final match of the tournament against local rivals, Chelmsford. By this stage, coach, Sue Chandler, had metaphorically thrown the analysis out of the window, along with the video camera, and resorted to simple facts. It was quite simple, if Oaks beat Chelmsford, they would stay in the league. If not, then it was likely that Ipswich would take that status from them. In response, the team rose to the occasion and delivered a 3-0 win, consigning Ipswich to Division 2, along with Chelmsford – a disappointing day for the East teams but, fortunately, not for Sevenoaks. This was, above all, a team performance. But there must be special mention of Sarah Bolton, whose 3 goals sealed the victory against her old club. Also of Sharon Davy who,  due to an availability crisis on the final day of the tournament, answered a last minute call to bolster the team and who provided the platform for captain and fellow defender, Fiona Harland, to deliver her best performance of the tournament.