We are the champions!

That’s right, the Letchworth senior team have taken the title of National Division 1 champions! The team sealed the deal on Sunday 14th June at the final tournament for the division. The squad had to take two wins from their four games of the day to be crowned league champions.

The day started with a 10am start against a Farnham team that has seen some old faces come back and a rejuvenated side. Letchworth took the initial lead and maintained it throughout with a final score of 3-1. The game was seen as the toughest of the day so things were certainly looking promising.

The second game against Cambridge seemed to go much more to plan with Letchworth playing the ball around confidently and having the lion’s share of the control of the game. Cambridge were pushed back and had to resort to shooting from long range… something which keeper Ben Howes took all in his stride. A final score of 7-2 to Letchworth lifted any pressure the boys had of securing their title.

Up next was Plymouth B, and with Letchworth now dominating their games and really making some excellent space the only task left to achieve was to have Todd Halfpenny score for the first time in 2009. Service was provided again and again until finally he managed to flick the ball just above the Plymouth keeper’s shoulder… the team rushed Halfpenny and bundled him to the ground (of course Howes was not one to waste this opportunity to get out of the goal). With this out of the way the day was certainly coming along well… and with the team playing like they were it was now a battle to see who could get top-goal scorer of the tournament. The onslaught of goals continued and the game ended Letchworth 13, Plymouth 0.

The final draw was against a slightly depleted Norwich team and was the only hurdle left between Letchworth and a 100% successful day. Once again Howes was as strong as ever in goal and the team seemed to play well around him. It could be seen that the boys were however getting tired after a long day and there were a couple of late and sloppy challenges which meant a few names entered the referees book. Letchworth managed to keep their cool and saw the game through to a 7-2 victory.

With the hockey out the way and the champions thrilled but worn out after a long day of hockey all that was left to do was to crack open the champagne and tally up the goals.

For the final tournament the goals were split as follows:

• Todd. Halfpenny: 2
• Andy Allen: 4
• Graham Busolini: 4
• Neil Warre: 5
• Nigel Allen: 7
• Stuart Langley: 8

A big thank you should also go to our splendid timekeepers for the day who did the club proud.

The 2008/2009 Senior National Division 1 squad: Andy Allen, Nigel Allen, Graham Busolini (Captain), Todd Halfpenny, Ben Howes (GK), Stuart Langley, Andrew Stewart, Neil Warren

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