London calling for happy Hawks

HANDBALL: NORTH East Manchester Hawks handball side have booked a trip to London for the under-18s National Cup final.

Hawks, with several squad members from Oldham, gained sweet revenge over league champions Deva (Chester) 23-12 in the semi-finals with a season-best performance based on solid defence.

Deva were missing a couple of squad members, but coach Donna Hankinson believes her rookie side would still have prevailed.

“We lost to Deva by a point in the league play-off semis in February and have been working very hard in training since with current GB men’s captain Ciaran

Williams, who has been inspirational. This result was reward for all that hard work and now it’s a job half done.”

’Keeper Terry Ellis made some early saves, including a penalty, as the two teams traded points but a late surge saw Hawks lead 10-6 at the break.

Ellis was replaced by in-form Marc Howard at half-time and the Hawks’ tireless defence continued to thwart Deva.

At the other end, the surging drives of James Higgins and Sam Bedlow either side of playmaker Stefan Whaley ran up the points and wide players Jamal Braithwaite, Tyrell Coley and Pavel Winnick played their part in rotation.

Coach Hankinson reserved special praise for Matthew Barnes, playing at the specialist ‘line’

position at the head of the attack for the first time in the absence of injured Wesley Hunt.

“He did a fantastic job for the team,” said Hankinson.

Now the Hawks can look forward to a capital encounter with Cannock, who beat Warrington Wolves 26-18 in the other semi-final, both matches played at Birchwood Sports Centre, Warrington.

The final clash on Saturday, June 4, will be a curtain-raiser to the open-age national finals, with teams from Salford and Manchester bidding to increase the North-West involvement in finals day as they play southern opposition in next weekend’s semis.

Hawks’ under-18s girls team look to emulate their male counterparts tonight when they play in a triangular clash with league champions Warrington Wolves and Deva for a place at Crystal Palace.