Hawks tipped for glory in play-offs

MATTHEW Barnes takes a shot for Hawks against Deva.

Handball: COACH Donna Hankinson believes North East Manchester Hawks can pull off a shock by storming to victory in the England Handball Association under-18 League play-offs.

Despite being a rookie team and coming up against squads with much more experience in the fast-action sport, NEM Hawks forced two thrilling draws in the latest round-robin of matches — played at Oldham Sports Centre in a bid to raise the profile of the Olympic sport that is catching on quickly in local schools.

Back in September, the Hawks were well beaten by both Deva (Chester) and Cardinal Griffin Cannock but they showed just how far they have come in such a short time with an 18-18 draw with Deva and a

16-16 result against Cannock.

"We now meet Deva again in the play-off semi-finals next month, we are learning quickly and getting better all the time, said Donna.

“There is no reason at all why we can't pull off a surprise and make the final... or even win it.”

The Hawks' strength in depth was reflected in the fact that no fewer than nine of the squad got on the scoresheet in the two matches.

Glossop's James Higgins led the way with five goals against Deva while Royton and Crompton School pupil Jamal Braithwaite and Heywood's Matthew Barnes both got hat-tricks.

Other goals came from Josh Walker (two), Sam Bedlow (two) Adam Bowie, Wesley Hunt and Stefan Whaley.

Oldham Sixth-From College student Whaley, playing despite a tooth abscess that gave him a swollen face and impaired vision, had a last-minute chance to snatch victory when he intercepted the ball in defence and raced clear but was pulled for 'travelling' violation as he fired into the net and the score was chalked off.

Hawks' clash with table-topping Cannock was the last of the five-match programme.

Both defences worked incredibly hard to deny their opponents with Hawks' Wesley Hall particularly impressive and 'keepers Terry Ellis and Mark Howard playing a half each and making some excellent saves.

At the other end, the goals were again shared out — Bedlow, Braithwaite, Higgins and Hunt (three each), Whaley (two) and one each for Walker and Pavel Winnick.

In the other matches, Cannock sealed top spot by beating Warrington 15-14 while Bedford, weakened by the absence of some key players and their ill coach, lost 15-1 to Warrington and 31-18 to Deva.


BLUE Coat and North Chadderton schools are now following Royton and Crompton school by building handball into their sporting provision, while several primary schools have also introduced coaching programmes.
Take-up has been swift as traditional sports like football prove difficult to deliver on snowbound, frozen or waterlogged pitches during the winter months.