Favourites in line for EHA Cup final clash

THE two favourites in the EHA Men’s Cup have been kept apart in the semi final draw made at SportHouse in Barking last weekend, increasing the likelihood that they will play each other in the final.

London GD will play University of Manchester in their semi final on May 12/13, while Salford – who have yet to beat Liverpool in their quarter final – will play the victor from Cambridge v Bath in their semi tie.

The draw was made in the presence of referees and members of the public, while the EHA Men’s Plate semi finals will be Olympia v Manchester and Deva versus either Warwick of Liverpool Speke Garston.

London GD only just reached the semi finals after a tough match against rivals Ruislip Eagles which they won 24-27.

The previous day, Manchester University had cruised into the semi finals with a 31-17 victory over Bristol.

And in the women’s EHA Cup, Ruislip Eagles edged past Olympia 34-26 on Sunday, while Saturday saw London GB beat Warrington Wolves 32-21.

It's crunch time in EHA Cup

IT’S crunch time in the EHA Cup this weekend, with some crucial matches being played across the country as clubs go in search of silverware.

The EHA Men’s Cup is at the quarter final stage, and the University of Manchester will take on Bristol on Saturday at Sugden Sports Centre in Manchester.

The following day at SportHouse in Barking, Ruislip Eagles and London GD will do battle in a match which is never half-hearted.

In the women’s EHA Cup on Saturday Warrington Wolves will play London GD at Birchwood, while Sunday’s other Women’s Cup match sees Ruislip Eagles play Olympia at SportHouse.

London GD keep title hopes alive

London GD maintained the push for the Men’s National League title when they beat Leeds Hornets 40-24 at the Greenbank Sports Academy in Liverpool on Sunday.

Second in the table, London GD will need to win their remaining two matches – and hope Salford lose both theirs – if they are to take the 2011-12 title.

Against Leeds, London GD had Juan Carrasco to thank for scoring ten goals, while Phillip Altong chipped in the eight.

Marcin Cwik scored 13 for Leeds, but it was not enough to avoid defeat for a Hornets team who had just the seven bare players for the match.

In other matches, third-placed Ruislip Eagles beat Manchester 31-24 with Christian Nguelo scoring seven goals. For Manchester, Minas Georgiou and Semit Liatouji both scored seven goals, but Manchester couldn’t overhaul their opponents.

Table-topping Salford were given a 10-0 walkover in their clash with Cambridge, who failed to raise a side for the match.

But Salford’s title is far from certain – their final two matches in the play-offs are against second-placed London GD and third-placed Ruislip Eagles.

Veteran Eagles swoop past Thames

INJURY-hit Ruislip Eagles women had to call up the old guard for their clash with Thames on Sunday – but they still managed to secure a 23-18 victory in the English National League clash at Leyton SCORE Centre in London.

Eagles were already without three of their key players to long term injuries, and faced Thames with three further key players missing including their top scorer, Danni Sposi, and influential defender Milli Chebanova. But they knew that if they were to have any chance of retaining the league, they could not lose this vital match.

So coach Mel Chowns stepped out of retirement, Rena Fairbrother and Andrea Szanto stepped up to play a full 60 minutes and Ella Jadeszko returned to cover Chebanova role in defence and the veterans combined well with their younger teammates to pull off an excellent victory.

Ruislip were also determined to give right winger Judit Volgyi a winning send off as she returns home to Hungary.

Ruislip started the better, but were soon pegged back by Thames who were also without key players but had Olimpia Lopes da Veiga in good scoring form.

Half time was a close one-goal lead for Ruislip but they stepped up a gear in the second half and Szanto began to really cause trouble through the centre and Volgyi scored from fast breaks and this ensured a key victory for Ruislip by 23-18. Da Veiga finished with 7 goals for Thames, a total matched by Szanto.

The win leaves the league delicately poised with Great Dane just two points ahead but having played a game more than Ruislip. Significantly, Ruislip’s goal difference is +12 on Great Dane and this could be the deciding factor at the end of the season.

Salford beat rivals London GD in play-offs

NORTHERN Section winners Salford beat Southern Section winners London GD 29-27 in a thrilling English National League play-off clash on Sunday.

Despite currently filling the second place spot, London GD went into the game confident. Having met Salford three times last season and winning each time, there would be no reason for them to expect anything but a victory this time round too.

Salford on the other hand could be far from confident. The last time these two teams met saw Salford end up on the wrong end of a 19 goal drubbing. A defeat that handed London GD last year's league title.

The game started tight with no team managing to turn their opening attacks into goals. However, London GD were first to break to deadlock and soon after had opened up a 4 goal to nothing lead.

At this stage there was a real danger of history repeating itself, but an opening goal from Salford's Aden Woodall seemed to ease the tension slightly and give the northerners the bit of a boost they needed. A few minutes later London GD were forced to call an early time out as Salford crept up on their lead and were now only trailing by two at 5-3.

The time out didn't help. With every attack that followed you could see the confidence growing in the youngsters from the north. All helped by their renowned strength in defence. As the sides grew level the turning of the tide was obvious. As the teams went in at half time Salford had returned the 4 goal deficit to go in ahead by a single goal at 12-11.

Clearly the start of the second half was going to be key now to the outcome of the game. If London GD could retake the lead and reopen their ealier advantage then the chances of Salford coming back again would be minimal. Once again crumbling to the southern superiority that had kept the title in the south for a number of years.

Salford, however, seemed to know what would be coming. Taking the time to refresh their line up, it was Salford that came out with all guns blazing, leaving their opponents shell shocked and trailing by 5 goals after just 5 minutes.

To their credit though London GD didn't give up. As true champions, they are always a threat and worked hard to try and recoup the deficit. But, Salford's greater fitness and speed just made that task impossible. Even with two late 2-minute suspensions, Salford would not succumb to London GD's pressure.

A goal to keep Salford up by three with a minute left made the outcome certain. Even with a late goal from London GD the result was now inevitable. Salford ending an entertaining match victorious at 29 goals to 27.

Salford Assistant Coach, Kristian Marsh, said after the game: “Any match against London GD is going to be tough. They are a well established club with a great record to show for it. They've been deserved champions for a number of seasons and any team that comes to play them have to be at their best, especially down here in London.

“We played well as a team today and showed that we do not rely on any one single player. This was a massive result for us, it takes us one step closer to the title and banishes the memories of last season's catastrophic final game. We do though need to keep the momentum going. This season's far from over and we are in no way guaranteed of anything. We've wounded London GD a little today, but, just like a wounded animal, that will make them all the more dangerous next time".

Notable performances on the day come once again from Salford's Rafik Tahraoui, scoring 6 goals, and London GD's Jordi Ferrer-Torras, scoring 7. With 11 assists Salford's Aden Woodall played a great supporting part and with a save rate of over 50 per cent Salford's Rob Avery showed his value in goal.

* In other play-off action, Cambridge moved up to fourth in the play-off table with a 23-17 victory over Manchester, while Ruislip Eagles were 34-25 winners over Leeds Hornets.

The play-offs resume on April 1 at Greenbank Sports Academy in Liverpool, where Leeds Hornets play London GD, Salford take on Cambridge and Manchester play Ruislip Eagles.

National U15 Champs attracts 100s of youngsters

MORE than 400 eager young handball stars of the future took part in the National Under-15 Championship heats at SportHouse in Barking last week.

The first round of the national competition saw a very high standard of handball being played.

The boys event was split into three groups, with the top three teams from each going forward to the next stage of the competition. From Group One, Carshalton Boys, Woolwich Polytechnic and The Bromfords School go through, while in Group Two All Saints topped the group, while Bexley Heath and Tiffin School were close behind. And Harris Boys, Aylesbury Grammar and Seven Kings from Redbridge will also go through.

Harris Girls and barking Abbey were the two teams to go through to the next stage in the girls competition, while The Bromfords School and Bexley Heath will join them after finishing first and second.

The event took place at SportHouse, which is where international teams will train during the Olympic Games this summer.

After the event, Harris Girls Team Manager, Marcus Kudliskis said: ''Both the U13s and U15s National events were just amazing and extremely well organised, providing students with the opportunity to play on a full-size Olympic court, with official referees, and having to abide by all the Olympic rules and regulations.

“They were also greeted by professional players and coaches who even took the time to show students a few new skills and tricks whilst they were warming up on court!''

And Crispin School’s PE department also enjoyed the day, saying: “All the staff were really helpful and friendly and the referees all took the time to answer our questions about the game and helped our pupils to understand handball better (this was our first time playing other schools at handball and we have only really been playing it since January).

“A lot of our players were from year 9 (14 year olds), yet they really benefitted from playing. We had a 5 1/2 hour coach trip back to Somerset and they couldn't stop talking about it all the way back!”

Wolves clinch EHA Cup quarter final spot

LIVERPOOL Wolves booked their place in the quarter finals of the EHA Men’s Cup with a 32-21 victory over Deva at the Greenbank Sports Academy in Liverpool on Sunday.

The Wolves started with an aggressive 5-1 defence which brought good results, allowing them to catch Deva on the break and obtain a comfortable six-goal lead throughout the first half.

Goals were coming from both teams, however, and Liverpool started stalling towards the end of the first half thanks to a deep defence from Deva which impeded Liverpool from moving the ball at a fast pace.

The second half started with Deva playing an aggressive 4-2 defence, followed by quick breakthroughs, and they managed to edge as close as four goals down. This could have gone very wrong for Liverpool, but somehow the Wolves managed to stop the tide against them and slowly, started to get over Deva's defensive efforts.

Once the technical faults on Liverpool's part started to fall, Deva could not get fast breaks, and struggled against the solid 5-1 defence. The physical strain started to show in both teams, but maybe due to inexperience, this lead to late tackles from the Deva defence, and a continuous six minutes with at least one man down. Liverpool utilised the chances and the score difference kept increasing until the final whistle, giving a clear victory for Liverpool in the end.

* This weekend, the National League play-offs resume with three matches being staged at the new SportHouse facility in Barking.

The key clash of the afternoon looks set to be the top-two match-up of London GD v Salford, while the other matches are Ruislip Eagles v Leeds Hornets and Cambridge v Manchester.