Men's Hockey: Windermere stamp authority on Division 4 title (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Men's Hockey: Windermere stamp authority on Division 4 title

3:00pm Wednesday 22nd February 2012 in Sport By Patrick O'Kane, Senior News/Sport Reporter

North West Men’s Hockey League
Division Four
Windermere 4
Didsbury 3s 0
Windermere stamped their authority on the division four title race with a resounding 4-0 victory over their closest rivals at Troutbeck Bridge on Saturday.

Mere kept possession for long spells and their pressure forced a series of penalty corners. Will Dolman had a strike stopped on the line with a foot so a penalty stroke was awarded which he duly dispatched and Rob Green made it 2-0 before the break.

The Mere defence of Andy Hartnett, Rob Griffiths, Josh Landmann and Keenan Quill stopped everything Didsbury created and provided the springboard to get forward.

Dolman scored a second penalty stroke goal low to the keep's left and Tom Maloney added a fourth to complete the win.

ON Sunday, Mere moved 11 points clear at the top with a stunning 9-1 win at Southport 2nds.

Dominating from the start Mere were nine goals to the good before Southport scored from their one and only chance of the game.

Scorers for Mere were Scott Santamera (3), Tom Dolman, Harry Jackson, Steve Heyns, Keenan Quilll, Mike Hodgson and Rob Green.

Division 5 North
Kendal suffered two defeats in two days as they lost 5-2 at Timperley 3rds on Saturday before a 2-1 home defeat against Preston 3rds on Sunday.

Just 10 men travelled to the game on Saturday with the returning Ayrton Boyd pushed back into service.

A hard fought game was even throughout but the extra man meant the broken play was always likely to lead to opposition possession and the hosts ran out 5-2 winners.

Liam Derome scored both goals for Kendal.

On Sunday, Preston was a more daunting game and with a bare 11 at push back it wasn’t long before they broke and scored.

Boyd senior (Martin) and Phil Conlin were drafted in to bolster the bench and an equaliser from Nick Davis before the half meant a much more promising second half was had.

Kendal struggled to get their attack at full steam though and Preston won several penalty corners, none of which were converted until a clumsy tackle with three seconds to go and they stole the victory by slotting home.