Basically just the weekend headlines, with occasional extra information.

Previous months: December; November; October;

 

31/01:   Results headlines:

Bristol take the Men’s National Cup, after overtime, in their first ever Final;   

Hatters lift the Women’s National Cup, for the thirteenth time, despite strong resistance from Nottingham Wildcats.   Report (in progress, from the only reporter at the Finals!)   

Men’s National Shield: Bradford Dragons and London United set up a first meeting of the season, in the Final;     Flowchart

EBL 2: Second victory of the weekend for Durham leaves them at the top; Brixton complete the “double” over Westminster, to stay level with the leaders, and push the Warriors one game back;

EBL 3: Hackney play twice in the weekend in South, and this time pick up a big win; Wellingborough’s hopes of gatecrashing the top four take a big blow, with overtime home defeat by fourth placed Westside;

EBL 4: Bury did win last night, to stay second in North; Huddersfield’s second win of the weekend takes them clear at the top, unbeaten in ten;

“Result awaited”, for the fifth time this season, from Southgate in Midlands;

EBL 2 Women: UWIC II win again to go top in Midlands-South West, with a game still in hand;

 

30/01:   Results headlines:

U-16 Women’s Conference (Midlands): I’d swear their fixture was still there when I last checked, this morning, but by tonight Hinckley & Bosworth have disappeared from the competition!   

EBL 1: Derby and Leeds take advantage of Manchester‘s inactivity to go clear at the top; Reading shrug off their recent troubles to go third;

EBL 2: Durham overcome injuries to win at Mansfield and go back to the top; Edmonton crash at Medway Park, to slip off the title pace; Glyndwr’s top four challenge takes a knock, as they lose at Northumbria; defeat at Birmingham University sucks Marjon deeper into the drop zone;

EBL 3: Dragons survive a scare against Sefton, to stay clear in North, but Sabres stay right on their tail;

Hackney produce the biggest shock in South ... they played (but crashed by 48 points at Portsmouth)! continue to track the leaders; London United continue their surge, with victory over second placed Oxford, to climb level with them;

EBL 4: Huddersfield go 9&0 in North, but don’t know about Bury, as “Result Awaited” from Hull (for the third time this season); Tees Valley still look strong in second place;

Birmingham Mets see off closest challengers Nottingham, while Coalville and Worcester II creep closer to second place in Midlands;

Victories over second placed Essex (last night) and Sevenoaks put Barking Abbey clear in South-East; Westside II climb to second;  

Solent go clear again in South-West; Bognor challenge for a play-off berth; first victory for Cornwall;

EBL 1 Women: Wellingborough and Birmingham As remain pointless;     

EBL 2 Women: UWIC II scrape past Birmingham Force to replace them in second place in Midlands-South West, just two points behind the leaders, with 2 games in hand;

 

24/01:   Results headlines:

EBL 1: Reading beat Coventry, to shoot up to sixth; Leopards leave Arrows even deeper in relegation trouble;

EBL 3: I’m worried about Hackney White Heat. They last played in mid-November, and have postponed three of their last four games (and forfeited the other one). What’s happening?

Victory over fifth-placed Wellingborough further strengthen’s London United‘s play-off claim in South;

EBL 1 Women: Hatters win big again; UWIC and Nottingham keep up the chase;     

EBL 2 Women: Hinckley & Bosworth climb off foot of table in Midlands/South-East;   

U-16 Men’s Premier: Manchester beat Sharks to open a two-game advantage in North;   

 

23/01:   Results headlines:.

EBL Shield: Glamorgan scrape through to semi finals, with one-point win at Division 4’s Worcester II;     Flowchart

EBL 1: Leaders Manchester fall to Leeds‘ buzzer-beating “3”; Derby go top; Coventry climb into play-off zone;

EBL 2: Brixton, Durham, Westminster and Edmonton all win to keep the title-race on a knife edge; Marjon double their win tally, with victory over Birmingham As;

EBL 3: Top four all win in North, to strengthen their grip on the play-off places;

Eastside remain unbeaten at top of South; Oxford continue to track the leaders; London United climb into top four;

EBL 4: Huddersfield and Bury continue to dominate in North, but Tees Valley remain poised to pounce on any slip-up;

Birmingham Mets and Nottingham pull away at top of Midlands;

Solent lose their unbeaten record, as they go down at home to second placed Chichester Thunder, in South-West;

EBL 1 Women: Hatters win big again; UWIC and Nottingham keep up the chase;     

EBL 2 Women: Mansfield‘s play-off hopes take a knock, with defeat at Bury in North; Sheffield Hallam thrash Ilkeston by an incredible 127 point margin!     

Leaders Birmingham Force take a tumble at Taunton in Midlands-South West;

Unbeaten Westside go top in Midlands-South East;

U-16 Men’s Conference: Oldham end Everton’s unbeaten record in North-West;   

 

16/01:   Results headlines:.

EBL 1: Manchester stay top; Leeds edge victory over Leicester, but lose second place to Derby, who thrashed Tees Valley by 64 points; Arrows double their win tally, but stay in the relegation zone as Coventry shock Leicester; a single point victory over Taunton edges Bristol back towards the top four;

EBL 2: Mansfield maintain their good form, with home win over Marjon, to go third in the table; Leaders Brixton lose at Edmonton, who edge back into the title reckoning; Westminster didn’t crash at home to Birmingham As (the earlier result on EB has now been reversed);      Table

EBL 3: Sheffield Saints hand Bradford Dragons their first defeat of the season, in North; we don’t know if second-placed Sheffield Sabres could take advantage and narrow the gap - ‘cos they’ve not submitted their result yet!

EBL 1 Women: Hatters win, to stay top; Leeds lose ground, with home defeat to Nottingham, who climb into the top four, with games in hand; UWIC win to climb to second;    Table     

U-18 Women’s National Cup: There’s no sixth final in a row for Manchester Mystics, as they bow out at home to the 2008 Winners, Haringey - and the visitors had had time to win an U-18 South game in the morning!       Flowchart   

U-18 Men’s Conference: Cardiff win at Cirencester, to open a gap between second and third in South-West;   

 

15/01:   It doesn’t appear to have been formally announced (except to those teams whose fixtures are affected), but London Heathrow Acers have withdrawn from EBL1 Women! With a decent 4&4 record, AND ONLY A MONTH AFTER THEY APPEARED IN THE Cup semi-final, I can only surmise that this must be related to finance.

Women’s National Trophy: Sheffield Hallam-Hatters reach their fourth Trophy final, as the team that beat them in the 2008 Final, Sevenoaks II, default in the semis;     Flowchart   

 

10/01:   Results headlines:

EBL National Trophy: Manchester stroll into semis; Derby thrash Leeds;

EBL Shield: Bradford Dragons qualify for semi finals;     Report

 

09/01:   Results headlines:     .

Only a handful of fixtures beat the big chill, but they still produced some key results.

EBL 1: Leicester slip to fourth, as Derby leapfrog them, and Leeds jump from fourth to second;

EBL 2: Mansfield rejoin the title race, and deal Westminster’s hopes a blow;

Under-18 Men: Huddersfield win at third-placed Leeds to strengthen their unbeaten hold on North-East;

Leaders Preston crash at Bury in North-West;

Wins for top three in Midlands, with third-placed Leicester Warriors still unbeaten;

Barnet end Oxford’s unbeaten start, in South to replace them at the top;

Uxbridge still unbeaten in South-East;

 

08/01:   Over half of this week’s Senior Fixtures are already postponed, as are a similar number of Youth Fixtures.

This morning I was checking and updating the Under-18 League Tables, Hackney White Heat were still there - by this afternoon they’d disappeared from Premier South!