UEL Hockey Seek Vital Victory

The men's side are in desperate need of a win to climb off the bottom of the table, as Teri Dormer reports.

University of East London men’s first team face University of Kent men’s third team away on tomorrow. Both teams go head to head at Parkwood Astro, University of Kent at 4:30pm for the third game of the New Year.

Tensions continue to be very high for East London as they are still placed bottom of the South Eastern 4B league table. Not much has gone right for the Blues but they have a few new players since the New Year. They need to win one of the last few games before the season’s ends in order to stay up.

Robert Wheeler from the side said “I think being at the bottom of the table makes us more determined, it’s hard but it shows how much we need to work to get to the next level”. A tough game lies ahead but UEL really need to start picking up points. “Kent are around us in the league so we are focused on getting as much out of the game as possible”.

‘Confidence’

Kent are currently fourth in the league and are one game ahead. This season they have a total of three wins and four losses. Their last game played at home saw them record a 5-1 victory so they are hoping their form continues.

UEL’s Joint Captain Sam McGrath believes that Wednesday’s match is a game that the team could possibly get something out of “if we perform our best and do not concede any sloppy goals”. Although the Blues are bottom of the table McGrath said it isn’t knocking the team’s confidence: “We know what we need to do to stay up so it’s down to us to deliver that”.

East London’s number-one goalkeeper sustained an injury but it hasn’t knocked back the team as new keeper Tom Norton has impressed everyone and will be playing on Wednesday. Triple jump scholar Josh Gwilliam stood out with a great performance against Greenwich and captain Phil Wilson is back from his placement. His return is very important to UEL.