Cannock Mixed Return to Finals
Posted by Andy Darnley on 18 May 2014
Cannock Continued Cup Success
After winning the country’s premier cup competition Cannock Hockey Club continue to strive for further cup honours. This weekend it was the turn of the Mixed Hockey Team to attempt to achieve a double by winning the National Mixed Hockey Cup two years in succession.
The team travelled three hours into deepest Suffolk to take on Harleston Magpies. Cannock opened the scoring with a goal from Lewis Jecketts . Then Harleston found their touch and soon after produced an equaliser from a short corner deflection. The game swung from end to end throughout the half with Harleston eventually finding the net before half time, to edge into the lead.
As the second half dawned Cannock were left stunned as the home side quickly went 4-1 up , with another goal coming from a penalty corner and the forth coming from a penalty flick, given away by some strong –arm tactics from goal scorer Jecketts. The partisan home crowd, brimming with confidence, started to taunt the Cannock side, reminding them it would be a long journey home on the back of such a defeat! Captain Andy Hodgetts then played his joker and pushed an extra player into midfield. The Cannock faithful were spurred into action as a dynamic four minute spell saw them bag three successive goals, through Arjun Chana, Lucy Spencer & Dave Harris, to level the score. With Harleston suddenly on the back foot and their supporters reduced to silence, Cannock pushed on to find the winner. With three minutes remaining, Arjun Chana took the ball on the half way line, squeezed passed several Harleston players to find himself one-on-one with the keeper. Chana coolly rounded the keeper to slot home the winner. This win has secured Cannock’s appearance in the finals for the second year, in Sheffield, in three weeks’ time.
