Promotion delight for Ipswich Hockey Club
Ipswich Men's have been promoted to National League Indoor Division One. - Credit: Archant
Ipswich Hockey Club’s men’s team have secured a place in National League Indoor Division One.
The Suffolk side secured promotion at the UWE Sports Centre, in Bristol, after defeating Hampstead & Westminster in their final, and most difficult match of the weekend.
Ipswich prevailed 6-5, but not before some controversy saw H&W given one last chance to level the scores after a decision was made on the hooter.
Aggrieved, Ipswich’s players stood ready to charge out and protect their goal. However, H&W spurned the opportunity, signalling the end of the game – Ipswich taking home eight gold medals.
Ipswich Indoor captain, Josh Cutting, said: “This is an amazing achievement and I would like to thank all of the players, not just for their performances and effort on the pitch but for all their help with everything else that goes on behind the scenes.
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“We now need to take this recent Indoor success into our outfield season.”
Ipswich headed to Bristol for National League Division Two South, after winning the Eastern Region Championship.
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The squad consisted of Ben Gladding (GK), James Southgate, Adnan Zakir, Josh Cutting (C), Tom Watson, Max Macaulay, Robin Johnson and Mark Wheelhouse. Ed Youngman and Ben Gallagher who played in the Division Two South were unable to attend due to prior commitments.
They started slowly in their first game against Fareham, who they had previously beaten in the South Qualifiers, and, in the end, had to settle for a 6-6 draw.
Ipswich regrouped after this game and led Doncaster 4-1, at half-time, in their second game.
In the second half Cutting and Watson achieved their hat-tricks with additional scores from Johnson and Southgate saw Ipswich run away with the lead, Doncaster fought back but it was too late and the game ended in an 8-5 Ipswich victory.
On the second day, Ipswich defeated Olton 6-2 and Bournville, 12-4.
That set up their final game, against H&W, the only team they had lost to in the previous 14 games.
The team was led by Nicola Southgate, Robert Southgate and Andy Cutting who stepped into the manager’s position when needed.
