The weekend belonged to Cannock Men's 1st Team who earned a massive three points away at Leek winning 4-3 in the final minute thanks to a Harry Jawanda penalty stroke. Read more below

1st Team vs Leek 1st Team (Sunday)

On a brisk, blustery Sunday morning 9th placed Cannock First Team travelled to bottom side Leek in a hige battle at the wrong end of the National League Conference North.

The game started with Cannock in a confident mood, however the hosts won an early short corner and converted past a bewildered James Fair in the Cannock goal. Cannock then responded with a fantastic effort of their very own from home-grown forward Louie Morris. This goals seemed to spurred the hosts who scored another to take a 2-1 lead, this crucial game continued to played at a fast pace and Cannock stalwart Harry Jawanda found a second equaliser for the maroon men. Half-Time 2-2.

The second half started and their was no let up in the pace of the game as both sides understood its importance, Leek scored to take the lead for a third and final time. Cannock bravely pushed on again with the help of super fans Paul Singh and Chris Mayer. With eight minutes left on the clock Callum Swinnerton went on a typically crazy run with the ball who I turn fed Jawanda, the midfielder struck a fierce shot which was followed up with a beautiful effort from Will Fleet to equalise at 3-3. With two minutes to go the game looked like it would finish level however Swinnerton again made a tantalising defence splitting run into the heart of the Leek D, a poor tackle lead to a penalty stroke. Captain Jawanda stepped up and placed the ball into the bottom corner. The hosts desperately pushed on but they couldn't break through, and Cannock celebrated winning the game as if they'd won the cup. 

Joy, relief and happiness filled the air as Cannock took a giant leap towards safety and placed their opponents in deep trouble with our four games left to play. Cannock, who jump into 8th place now welcome 9th placed Oxton to Chase Park next Sunday, 2pm start.

MOM - Russell Anderson

DOD - Aza Wilkes

2s vs Leek 2s

Cannock 2nd Team made the long trip to Leek on a miserable Saturday afternoon for a late game against their mid-table hosts. The game was a chance for Cannock to continue to climb the league table after a tough start to the season. Frustratingly for Cannock the young team failed to get going, poor discipline which included poor passing, running into flat sticks and childish bickering meant Cannock were never really in the game. A green card for Chris Gardner and both a green and yellow card for Lewis Round was as colourful as Cannocks afternoon got. The hosts managed to score two goals without reply as Leek ran out 2-0 winners.

MOM - Dan Hibbert

DOD - Dan Hoare, unable to select a DOD

3s vs Loughborough Students 3s

Cannock Men's 3rd Team welcomed runaway leaders Loughborough Students to a wet Chase Park on Saturday afternoon. Cannock, who have improved in the second half of the season, were cautious after they lost heavily away to the visitors back in November.

Despite a cautious approach, Cannock match their opponents for long spells with a half court press but were unable to maintain possession or relieve the press on their goalkeeper Connor Beardmore. The league leaders were able to go 2-0 in the first half but Cannock were creating chances and missed several good chances including an open goal miss from Danny Swinnerton.

Second half Cannock attempted to step up and match the students and got back in the game with a goal from the impressive Callum Warren. Unfortunately Cannock were unable to maintain the pace that the 16-man Loughborough squad were playing at and conceded a third goal in the final ten minutes which meant the game ended 3-1. Cannock's attempts to finish in 4th place and catch rivals Beeston remain within reach but they must now put a run of result together and hope their rivals slip up.

MoM - Angus Bulpitt - brought his stick
DoD - Dan Swinnerton - missed an open goal

4s vs Leek 4s

Cannock 4's travelled to mid-table Leek in a must win game as the team strive to survive the dreaded drop. Cannock started off slowly with an early goal scored by the hosts. After 10 minutes Cannock settled into their stride, stringing some good possession together resulting in the first goal from a penalty flick, confidentially taken by Lewis Micheal.

The midfield started to get themselves organsied mainly due to the influence of Chris Mayer and Cannock began to dominate the play, however, we still conceded a second goal against the run of play. Cannock showed great resilience to keep pushing on and scored an equaliser which was taken early by George Collins and caught the Leek defense asleep. A great individual goal.

Second half saw some tough defending against some pressure from Leek but the visitors held strong... With good stops on short corners from Mayer Cannock gre back into the game. Lewis Michael continued to play well on the wing with some good runs putting pressure on the hosts defence. Cannock's third and winning goal came from another penalty flick converted by the impressive Mayer. Despite efforts from the hosts Cannock were able to hold on for their second win in as many weeks.

MOM - Tony Blower

DOD - Lewis Michael

5s vs Sutton Coldfield 7s

Cannock 5ths played the lowly positioned Sutton Coldfield at Chase Park. Expecting an easy game, Cannock soon realised this was not to be the case as they faced a Sutton team which was drastically different from the one they played before Christmas. The opposition was more experienced and more skilful than before and Cannock quickly realised they had a game on their hands.

Cannock took the lead with a fierce shot by Lee "Swampy" Marsh. Sutton equalised after a defensive error, which allowed them to work the ball around the keeper and push the ball into an empty net. Cannock quickly regained the lead when a sharp cross from the industrious Luke Stacey was decisively finished by Harry Michael with his first goal for the 5ths. However, Sutton equalised once more following an incorrectly awarded short corner. Cannock failed to clear their lines and a mis-hit Sutton shot deflected in off the keeper's stick.

The score remained 2-2 at half time. The Cannock skipper called for his side to play the game in a more efficient manner. Cannock listened well and came out with the intention of playing better quality hockey. Luke Stacey fired in a well struck reverse stick shot to restore the lead. Further goals from James Roberts and Mark Cotterill gave Cannock a deserved 5-2 win, but the 5ths will not be happy with their general standard of play. League leaders Edgbaston visit Chase Park next week, bringing their 100% record with them. Cannock will need to be at the top of their game if they want take the points from them...

MOM - Harry Michael

DOD - Cameron Horn

6s vs Newport Fathoms

Cannock Men's 6th team welcomed Newport Men's to Chase Park this week. With a mixture of experienced men's players, some up and coming Badgers players and excellent support from the Ladies 4ths Cannock were able to field 14 players for this match. Although the team was relatively new they gelled quickly with Cannock's passing game causing Newport a number of problems. Although most of the first half was played in the Newport half Cannock were finding it difficult to get a clear site of the Newport goal; when they did, they found the Newport keeper in good form. Cannock continued to press throughout the first half and eventually the ball fell nicely for Gary Jones who opened the scoring for Cannock. Cannock continued to look for more goals in the first half, but finished the half with a 1-0 lead.

In the second half Cannock looked to the wide players to press home the advantage and very quickly Cannock were able to extend their lead to 2-0. This spurred Newport on and Cannock had a 5 to 10 minute period of resolute defending resulting in one fantastic save from the Cannock keeper, Connor Lloyd-Smith, diving to his left and turning the ball around his post. Cannock recovered and took control of the game once more and created a chance for Gary Jones to grab his second and Cannock's third. Cannock created a number of further chances, but the Newport keeper made some excellent saves and kept the final score line to 3-0 to Cannock.

A huge thank-you to the Ladies 4th team for their support and to Josh Jones who played for Newport against his younger brother and dad.

MOM - Josh Jones, for agreeing to play for Newport and for giving Bob Pursehouse and Nick Colclough a torrid time.

DOD - Andy Hoare, for giving Newport Josh Jones.

Badgers vs Telford Badgers

Cannock Badgers enjoyed a home fixture against Telford Badgers this week. Following last week's tremendous performance against Lichfield, there were high expectations for this match. Unfortunately a week is a long time in hockey.

Cannock were slow out of the starting blocks giving Telford too much time on the ball and too much space to play in. A very early assault on the Cannock goal brought early dividends for Telford, going 1-0 up. Cannock tried to regroup but found the Telford 'pass and move' game difficult to cope with. As the game progressed Cannock started to make some traction creating a number of half chances for Alison Runton, Connor Lloyd-Smith and Roshan Drayton-Chana. Cannock were however also susceptible to the quick break, and with Telford playing with a high forward, Cannock were undone by an early ball down the pitch which was passed around the Cannock keeper, Joe Thomas, for Telford to lead 2-0. Cannock tried to get back into the game and just before half-time forced a short corner. A good routine saw Roshan Drayton-Chana score to make the score 2-1 to Telford at half time.

Throughout the second half Cannock continually drove the ball into contact in the centre of the pitch, giving the ball to Telford who then punished Cannock with some clinical finishing. As Cannock tried to push forward they lost their width and shape, leaving the defence exposed and outnumbered, conceding a further four goals and finishing on the wrong end of a 6-1 score line. Hopefully another week will make a difference with Cannock's Badgers learning from this defeat and putting into practice the lessons learnt in the next match against Yardley