Members may or may not be aware, but the Bishop’s Stortford Mens Masters O35 team will be competing in the Tier 2 England National Final on Saturday 3rd May, push back 11am at the National Hockey Centre in Nottingham.
It’s been a long wait for the club to reach a England National Final in a senior national competition having last done so nearly 30 years ago in 1997 when the men lost out to Khalsa in the Final of the Veterans cup 5-0, having also lost in a penalty shootout in the same final the year before to Maidenhead in 1996. A lot of our VP’s played back then and will remember their cup runs fondly, including our now President Bernie Cotton.
A lot has changed at the club since then, and now the current crop of masters are looking to go one better than their counterparts did all those years ago.
Stortford have been free scoring in the competition this year initially beating Broxbourne 5-0 in the Tier 1 first round before facing Harleston Magpies away in the third round following a bye against Hertford. Stortford lost out in a close fought game 2-1 to magpies and dropped down in to Tier 2 where they haven’t looked back on route to the final. Wins follows against Milton Keynes 4-0 and Burnt Ash 5-3 in the quarter final with Stortford flying out to a 5-0 lead in the first half before taking their foot off the pedal. Further byes against Broxbourne in round 5 and finally Bath Buccaneers in the semi-final mean Stortford now face Sittingbourne in this years final and are determined to end their long wait for national silverware.
The guys would love some support from any members that wanted to come up for the finals and really make it a special atmosphere for the club. As you can see from the wait for another final, these things don’t happen very often! The finals weekend also includes the premier division finals so there is lots of hockey on offer to watch at the event.
For anyone wanting tickets, these can be purchased at a reduced rate using the following link – CM Tickets, or via the england hockey website.
The squad for the national final is as follows:-
1. David Butcher (GK), 2. Craig Smith, 4. Mike Landolt, 5. Adam Farley, 6. Phil Mathison, 7. Jack Wheaton (C), 8. Jon Taylor, 10. Richard Cooper, 11. Dan Mantell, 12. Grant Gilmour, 13. Rob Morgan, 14. Jeff Dummett, 19. Gregg Pettit, 21. David Roberts, 26. Matthew Brown, 80. Simon Martyn (GK)
