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Men 1s Playoff triumph!

Men 1s Playoff triumph!

Howard Morris11 Apr 2014 - 11:11
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Once more into the Premier League and this time the boys aim to stay there!

Talk is cheap, as they say, but their performance in Conference North and at the Play-offs this month suggests that there is substance behind the dream of holding our own among the big boys.
They lost only once and drew one with the rest won on the way to the Conference championship and they were clearly the best team at the play-offs held at Cannock and Reading.
Two wins and a draw saw us top the group against Sheffield Hallam, Cardiff and Southgate. The opening game at Cannock saw Brooklands tested and not a little shocked as Sheffield Hallam sailed into a three-goal lead in keeping with their experience after playing a season in the Premier League, but this was where we saw a resolve and refusal to back down as our team fought back with goals from David Flanagan, Aidan Khares and Peter Cornell to dig out a 3-3 draw. It was a terrific fight-back that will perhaps hold us in good stead for life among the elite.
The following weekend at Reading saw us beat Cardiff 2-1 with goals from each of the Flanagan brothers. As Peter said afterwards: “It wasn¹t our most fluid performance but there was a lot at stake and we fought really hard for the result we wanted”. The following day saw a more confident team against Southgate who had won Conference East with only one defeat and it was Peter Flanagan who emerged the scoring hero with a real captain¹s performance.
The Conference North top scorer notched a hat-trick of penalty corners to give us 3-1 win and send us back to the Premier in some style along with our old friends from Southgate.
It was a monumental moment for Mark Bateman in his first season as a senior coach, a role he says he enjoys more than as a player. His leadership, enthusiasm and grasp of what is needed were in evidence throughout the season. Brooklands have been fortunate to discover a worthy successor to the more experienced John Bell, and he also gathered together a great backroom team with Paul Gannon taking over smoothly as manager from Neil Flanagan. It was the fourth time Brooklands have figured in the play-offs in the last seven years and it was a delight to see us go up this time with such a promising and tightly knit group of players led superbly by Peter Flanagan.
As you can judge by our regular appearances in the play-offs Brooklands are something of a yo-yo team, but coach Bateman is ready to break the pattern.
“There will be a gap in experience when we go up but not too much in terms of our heart and desire to stay in the top division,” says the coach.
“Next year is when we have to step up but I am sure we will. Our training has been harder than the actual games and the players are focussed,” he added.
The message from Brooklands Manchester University Hockey Club is ‘bring it on’!
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