Hockey: IoM Under-16 Girls march on in EH Championships

Narrow defeats for U18 Boys & U16 Boys on the road

The Isle of Man Under-16 girls hockey side have advanced once more in the England Hockey Knockout Championships.

As one of a trio of Island junior national teams in respective EH Tier 2 Cup competitions on Sunday (10 November), the girls team claimed victory at North Stafford 10-9 on penalty flicks after a 2-2 draw in regular time.

Elsewhere, there was a narrow 3-2 defeat for the Isle of Man Under-18 Boys side at Neston whilst the Manx Under-16 boys squad lost at Preston by the same scoreline.

For the Under-16 Girls they progress to the third round of the Under-16 Girls Tier 2 KO Cup in good goal-scoring form having netted 15 times across their opening two matches so far.

Having found themselves behind after 11 minutes, the girls team fought back to lead first through Sophie Partington and then Saffy Miah with North Stafford levelling the score with seconds remaining.

Penalty flicks were chosen to decide the game with all ten takers - five each side - finding the net with the Island side to eventually win on 'sudden-death.'

Meanwhile, the Under-16 Boys took on Preston and the Lancashire side swiftly moved into a two-goal lead before Robbie Valerga struck twice for the Islanders to bring things level.

It would be late disappointment however as Preston would strike for a third and decisive time with ten minutes left to play.

There was an equally close and entertaining battle for the Under-18 Boys at Neston and the Manx squad took a two-goal lead courtesy of Cameron Roome and Ben Dougal.

But their Wirral-based opponents produced a swift comeback, scoring twice to see the score at 2-2 at the half-time break.

Neston then led for the first time in the second half by putting away a third and would ultimately hold onto their lead until the full-time whistle despite playing a portion of the second period down to nine men.

Looking ahead, three more Isle of Man junior national hockey teams will be in England Hockey Knockout Championship action in the next two weeks.

This Sunday (17 November) sees the Isle of Man Under-18 Girls take on Chorley Under-18 Girls at the NSC in Douglas, pushing back at 12.30pm.

The week after on Sunday, 24 November sees the two Isle of Man Under-14 squads on the road with the Boys at Edge Hill University against Preston and the Girls at Wilmslow to face Timperley.

Push-back times for those are to be confirmed.