Irish Hockey League 1
After dispatching Dublin YMCA last week in the Irish Cup, it was southern opposition again on Saturday, this time in the shape of Three Rock Rovers.
The home side took the initiative from the start and were unlucky not to go ahead in the eighth minute when Fraser Mills pulled a wonder save out of Stephen West in the Three Rock goal.
He was still smarting from the hit to the chest when Mills came at him again. This time, instead of shooting, he slipped it back to Peter Purcell who slapped it into the corner for an early lead.
Dublin side Three Rock tried to get a grip on the game, but were knocked further back when Peter Caruth fired the ball into the danger area where Tizian Peukert timed his dive perfectly to deflect the ball into the net.
Three Rock won three penalty corners in the space of five minutes but found Johnny Moore in the Annadale net unbeatable.
They did get a breakthrough on the half hour mark with a deflected goal.
In response Chris Campbell slipped behind his marker and squared the ball to John Edgar who had his shot well saved by West. Andy Williamson then picked out Peter Caruth with a lovely through ball, but his shot on the turn just went the wrong side of the post.
Annadale should have been awarded a penalty stroke, when Matthew Allister was bowled over as he lined up a shot, but only earned a penalty corner. Luke Madeley was quickly off the line to block off the attempt and Annadale soaked up some late pressure to hold on to their lead.
It is back to the Premier League this week with a home match against newly promoted Belfast Harlequins.
This is followed by three away matches to the South. On 29 October Annadale travel to Dublin in the Irish Hockey League to play YMCA, then on 5 November they face another visit to Dublin to take on Pembroke Wanderers again in the Irish League. One week later an even longer trip beckons, this time to Cork in the Irish Senior Cup, to take on Cork Harlequins.
Awards night
The Ivanhoe Hotel hosted the club’s awards presentation and social night last Saturday.
The ticket only event was a total sell-out with players and supporters enjoying a great evening.
The following received awards for the season 2010/2011.
Club Player of the Year: Richard Maybin
Young Player of the Year: Michael Robson
Club Personality of the Year: Gareth Hamilton
Team Players of the Year
First XI: Chris Campbell
Second XI: David Nichol
Third XI: Ray Coffey
Fourth XI: Chris Taylor
Fifth XI: David Joachim
Special Award for International Recognition: Peter Caruth
Results
Junior Leagues
Bangor III 2 - 3 Annadale III
(Ben Crawford 2, Sam McCormick)
Annadale IV 1 - 1 S Antrim III
(Neil Barr)
Bangor IV 1 - 0 Annadale V
Annadale II 5 - 1 Raphoe II
(Ian Hamilton 3, Josh Woodrow, Andrew Downey)
Fixtures
Annadale v Belfast Harlequins
Instonians II v Annadale II
Annadale III v Antrim II
Harlequins III v Annadale IV
Annadale V v Kilkeel III
