Leicester have won the Investec Championship Final against Reading in a close fought battle between the top two sides. Leicester went a goal ahead with Lucy Brown stepping up when called upon for the penalty corner. Unfortunately the Pukkas couldn’t keep hold of their lead when they went down to 10 men with Katie Long given a yellow card for an offence not warrenting that severity. With Reading drawing level the game progessed to silver goal, which is a 5 minute each way competition. If a goal is scored in the first 5 minutes then you finish at the half time whistle. If the game remains goaless after the extra time we progress to 1v1′s against the goal keepers. After the final whistle and no goals during extra time, the close game was forced into a penalty shoot-out.
With some true goalkeeping class from Maddie Hinch, Alex Dansen was denied her penalty goal leading the game to a sudden-death penalty shoot-out where Chloe Rogers confidently scored the winning goal much to the delight of the rest of the team, the coach and those supporters who had made the journey from Leicester to Reading to watch the game.
Unfortunately for Leicester, it is the end of an era for two of their players; Lucy Brown will be moving to Australia and I am retiring from club hockey to focus on the London 2012 Olympics. I have been with Leicester Hockey Club since starting my hockey career in 2000 and I was very emotional on my annoucement, Leicester is truly an amazing club to play for and I look upon my time there with the fondest memories. I am of course elated to be leaving the club on such a high, being crowned both Indoor and Outdoor Champions 2011/12. I would like to thank everyone there for all of their support and dedication over the years.
If you wish to join the number one club in England and follow in the footsteps of a great Internationals and Olympians, then feel free to contact Leicester Hockey Club – they are always looking out for all levels and ages of hockey players!
Well done Pukkas’ I will truly miss you all!