Leeds Hockey Club Ladies 3rds’ promotion push goes down to the wire

York claimed the title a couple of weeks ago but have shown no signs of relaxing in their aim to finish the season with wins, whereas Leeds are still fighting for their final league position and another three points would have helped secure that second spot – and with it, promotion to the Yorkshire Premier League.

With York having most of the possession in the opening period, Leeds struggled to get into the competition, and it was no surprise that York were the first on the scoreboard. The home side weren’t giving up however, and some strong defensive play and calm goalkeeping meant that only the one goal separated the two sides.

Helen Newman and Pips Tomkinson began to control the midfield game, showing the few spectators who braved the weather that, despite being a goal down, they had no interest in giving up.

The Leeds forward line slowly started to make themselves a nuisance to the York defence, as more and more balls were being put into space, and Leeds were unlucky on multiple occasions to not draw level, with Katie Myers always a danger when she got into the area.

Despite their high level of hockey, Leeds found themselves two down and saw the game slowly slipping away as York asserted their dominance with some fantastic runs from the back line.

After an injury held the game up, and with the rain worsening, Leeds looked to be running out of options but never gave up and it was this determination that finally gave them reward.

After a period of being camped out in the York half, Leeds won themselves a short corner, and it was from this that the York goal was finally breeched. The ball came out to the top of the area where it was controlled, pushed to the left and picked up by Ganni Braisby, who took a single touch before sweeping it goalwards.

The quick strike caught the York keeper off-guard, and the ball went between her legs – bouncing up off her foot, before finding the back of the net. This was Braisby’s third goal in as many games, and no less than Leeds deserved. This set up a very tense final 10 minutes of the game, as Leeds pushed forward with everything they had, and York fought to hold on. Unfortunately for the hosts, they were unable to get a second and lost the game 2-1. Results elsewhere meant that Leeds dropped to third in the table with just the one game to play next week.

Prior to the ladies game, Leeds men’s 2nds took to the field against Newcastle University.

Riding high in Northern Division One, the men’s 2nds have had a great season after narrowly missing out on promotion last year. Sitting in second place since Christmas, Leeds were looking to secure a place in the North Premier League for next year’s campaign but got off to the worst start possible after conceding within the first two minutes.

The men are second in their league for a reason however, and were soon back on level terms, before getting a second against the run of play. The last five minutes of the game saw Newcastle drive forward and pepper the Leeds goal, forcing three short corners in quick succession. They were unable to find a way through though, and Leeds saw the game out to record their second win over Newcastle this season.

Leeds Hockey Club full results: Men’s 1sts 0 Sheffield Hallam 1; Men’s 2nds 2 Newcastle University 1; Men’s 3rds 4 Driffield 13; Men’s 4ths 9 Sheffield Hallam 0; Men’s 6ths 5 City of York 0; Men’s 7ths 4 City of York 0; Men’s 8ths 2 Leodis Leeds 3; Ladies 1sts 2 Leicester 6; Ladies 2nds 2 Rotherham 1; Ladies 3rds 1 City of York 2; Ladies 4ths 3 Bradford 0.