Slazenger National Hockey League - Premier Division
Olton & West Warwicks 3 Canterbury 0
Canterbury failed to build on last weeks impressive victory over Clifton with a below par performance against Olton on Saturday. It was Canterbury's fourth defeat in their last five games & the fourth time that they have failed to score this season and they now go into the mid season break lying in sixth place.
Canterbury with Mel Clewlow & Hayley Brown still away on International duty in Argentina with Great Britain found themselves one down after only 2 minutes. Olton's own Great Britain Internationals Lucilla Wright & Rachel Walker, who had missed the Argentina trip due to work commitments, combined well on the right & Walker's cross was met by Mandy Gatherer who deflected the ball high past Duggan in the Canterbury goal.
Canterbury seemed to still be asleep after the long trip North and rode their luck in the first 10 minutes with Walker going close twice. The City side finally got into the Olton circle on 12 minutes winning their first penalty corner after good work by Natalie Seymour on the left hand side but Natasha Brennan's effort from the set piece was deflected wide.
Canterbury were just starting to find their usual rhythm when they fell two behind on 16 minutes . Again Walker and Wright the providers with the ball finally falling to Lisa Hunter who shot low to Duggan's right to score.
The second half saw Canterbury with more possession but they simply couldn't find the final ball and they fell three behind on 47 minutes from an Olton short corner. A half hit shot was neatly deflected by Wright over Duggan for a simple goal.
Canterbury should have pulled one back 5 minutes later when they won another short corner but Brennan's flick was well saved by the Olton keeper and Cathy Gilliat-Smith was just unable to steer the rebound towards the goal.
The last 10 minutes saw Canterbury continue to push but they couldn't find there way past an impressive Olton team & needed Duggan to ensure that Olton were restricted to only 3 goals.
Squad : Duggan, Chapman, Milne, Seymour, Brennan, Stewart, Kemsley, Wilson, Kerly, Gilliat-Smith, Bryant, Townsend, A Brown.
Canterbury now look forward to the Indoor season with there next outdoor league match not until the 9th February.