Olympia Topple Leaders Salford

OLYMPIA threw the race for the English National League title wide open when they convincingly beat league leaders Salford 30-18 in the first play-off match at Greenbank Sports Academy in Liverpool.

The defeat was Salford’s first of the season, and cuts their lead at the top of the play-off table to just two points with Great Dane, Manchester and Ruislip all breathing down their neck.

An early clash of heads between Salford’s Jake Williams and Olympia goalkeeper Mohammed Elkedim led to a lengthy delay, with Williams knocked out for a number of minutes and left needing hospital treatment.

The stoppage left Salford clearly rattled, and they were 15-5 down at half time. They battled back after half time, but they could not reduce the deficit with seven goals from Thomas Schied underpinning the win for Olympia.

Later in the day, Manchester beat Ruislip Eagles 24-20 in a close match.

Manchester took an early lead, opening up the Ruislip defensive line and scoring from several six-metre shots. Ruislip desperately tried different formations to stem the flow but Manchester mixed up their attacking options and continued their free-scoring ways which helped them to a 14-10 lead at the break.

But with just eight players remaining, Manchester began to tire and Ruislip closed the gap to just one goal.
But strong defence and good fast breaks kept Manchester’s tally ticking over, and they held on for the win.

Finally, in the day’s other match Great Dane beat Nottingham 25-19.

The play-offs continue on March 13 with another set of matches at Moulton, Northampton, from 12-6pm.

English League: Transfer Deadline Looms

THE deadline for player transfers between English League clubs is 4pm on Friday, February 4.

Completed documentation, returned registration cards and the appropriate admin fee should be with the EHA by that time.

This affects players transferring between non-related clubs, but not players upgrading their membership from development league to Division One within the same club (i.e. moving up from second team to first team).

New registrations are still allowed for players not yet registered with any EHA-affiliated club this season.

WANTED! Crowd for BBC English League Filming

BBC Sport will be filming this Sunday’s English League matches at Crystal Palace - and you’re invited to come along too!

The BBC cameras will be recording both the Women’s League clash between Great Dane and Olympia at 12noon, as well as the Men’s League Olympia v Great Dane match which follows at 2pm.

The project is a test transmission, with the BBC trialling new technologies with a view to live web streaming of future Great Britain matches.

Entry to the games is free, and the venue will be decked out to make it look as professional as possible.
Come along and make some noise!

Ruislip Celebrating Two Wins

RUISLIP Eagles are celebrating a double victory this week after both their men’s and women’s teams secured victories over title contenders.

Last year’s EHA Cup winners, Ruislip Eagles men (pictured) beat last year’s league champions Great Dane 27-26.

Leading by seven goals at half time thanks largely to a strong defence and good performance by keeper Andrius Rinkevicius, the Eagles faced a backlash from Great Dane after the break, but just clung on for victory.

And Ruislip women also won, 24-20, over league newcomers but title contenders, Deva from Chester.
Eleven goals from Telek helped the Eagles to victory, but they had to fight back from a 10-14 half time deficit.

Elsewhere, in the men’s league Liverpool Wolves won 36-10 over Speke Garston, while Manchester edged last Deva 29-27.

Olympia overcame Cambridge 24-30, while in the women’s league, Thames beat Cambridge 29-17 at Moulton.

English League Resumes

THE English Handball League springs into life this Sunday after the Festive break, with seven matches on the schedule for Sunday at locations across the country.

In the men’s competition, southern section leaders and reigning National Champions Great Dane take on third-placed Ruislip Eagles at Leyton SCORE Centre on Sunday (12noon), while second-placed Olympia play Cambridge at Moulton in Northampton (2pm start).

In the northern section, second-placed Manchester could take top spot in the league if they beat Deva at Greenbank in Liverpool on Sunday (1pm), with leaders Salford having a blank week.

Meanwhile, the two students sides in the north do battle, with Nottingham University playing host to the University of Manchester. Finally, Liverpool Speke Garston take on Liverpool Wolves in the day’s other match at Greenbank.

In the women’s section, Ruislip and Deva do battle in what promises to be a closely-fought match at Leyton (2pm), while at Moulton, Cambridge play Thames.

Deva Fever! League Newcomers Beat Champs

DEFENDING champions Great Dane suffered a shock 19-21 defeat to league newcomers Deva at Leyton SCORE Centre in London on Sunday.

After winning the Northern Development League for the last two season, Chester side Deva travelled to London to take on a Great Dane side who secured their first European victory in the European Challenge Cup just a few weeks earlier.

But they got off to an excellent start with 17-year-old England Youth international Ellie Whitehead banging in a powerful finish from the left wing.

Throughout the first half it was neck and neck, with neither side converting several one on one fast break opportunities as defences dominated, and Great Dane edged ahead 10-9 at the break.

The second half continued where the first half left off, with Anne Kandler of Great Dane and Florentina of Deva trading blows with several jump shot goals.

With around ten minutes remaining Great Dane took a three-goal lead, but Deva refused to give in, showing why they were undefeated for two years in the development league.

A time out and a change of tactics worked wonders, and 18-year-old National League debutant Nicola Quick threw herself into the area to win a penalty, coolly converted by Florentina.

This was followed by two inch-perfect passes by Charlotte Robinson which allowed Loewnau to finish expertly from the right wing and edge ahead to win 21-19.

"This is more than we could have hoped for and hopefully sends a clear message out that Deva have arrived,” said coach Donna Hankinson.

“We have been working towards this for the past three seasons, we consistently have 25 girls training with us, a couple of excellent European players and the rest young English girls.

“We wanted to enter the National League this year to give these young players some role models, players and a team to aspire to be in - and what better start could we have had?

“Some will look at the result and maybe think we were lucky, but you make your own luck.”

Close Results in Northern Section

THERE were some close encounters of the handball kind in the Northern Section of the Men’s English League on Sunday, with two of the three matches decided by just one point.

Salford and Nottingham beat Liverpool Wolves and Deva respectively by just one point, and as the league continues to see improving skills from many teams the 2010-11 season looks set to prove close to the end.

Liverpool Wolves put up a tremendous fight against an experienced Salford side, but went down 22-23.

The two sides were neck and neck for much of the game, with the Wolves’ defensive performance keeping Salford within reach - especially through the performance of goalkeeper Stuart Clarke.

Nottingham University secured a 19-18 victory over Deva to maintain their unbeaten start to the season, but with their next clash being against Salford in two weeks time, that could all change.

Leading 9-5 with half time approaching, Nottingham made some careless errors and Deva reduced the deficit to 9-7 at the break.

With one goal separating the two sides, Deva pushed on with their rivals a man down, but Nottingham held on for the win.

And in the day’s other match, Manchester beat Liverpool Speke Garston 28-10.

Nottingham Win Opening Clash with Student Rivals

NOTTINGHAM University made an emphatic start to the new English National League season when they secured a dramatic 22-20 victory over Manchester University at Belle Vue on Sunday.

Some excellent goalkeeping was on show, particularly from Nottingham, and both sides made it difficult for each other to build any sort of lead.

Manchester’s Berezowski showed he was in lethal form from nine metres, and Hough netted himself five goals. But Nottingham were careful to ensure goals kept coming, particularly from Mardaras and Bodet. At half time, the score was 11-11.

The second half saw both teams losing their shape and discipline, and Manchester University’s Castro, who played on the edge all game, was able to force Nottingham into conceding penalties.

The red card for Maradaras in the second period meant Nottingham were forced to be without their most creative player, but good work with two minutes to play meant they were able to open up an all-important two-goal lead, which they hung on to with some good defence.

In other action on Sunday, senior division debutants Deva put on an impressive second half display, but it was not enough to force a comeback against a depleted but well-oiled Manchester side who eventually won 25-17.

Hammache for Manchester was the star of the show with nine goals, while LIatouji added eight.
A new and inexperienced Wirral side lost heavily to a Salford which was littered with Great Britain Under-21 players.

Jack Hennessey scored 14 goals, while Aden Woodall added ten to help Salford to a 46-21 victory. Anthony Elston scored eight for Wirral.

And league newcomers Liverpool Wolves Foundation emerged 28-10 winners over Liverpool Speke Garston, with Caralo scoring nine goals. But good defence proved the key to their victory.