East Grinstead focus on Europe after picking up silver

Matt Jones insists that East Grinstead will emerge stronger from their Indoor Final heartbreak.  Grinstead lost their Indoor Championships crown in a thrilling final against Canterbury at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham.

The defending champions led 5-4 at half-time but failed to take a number of other chances in the second period as Canterbury fought back to claim their first ever indoor win and the chance to represent England in Europe in 2008. Canterbury even survived three East Grinstead short corners in the final minute as they held on for a 7-6 success.

Grinstead were dominant as they won the indoor league title the previous weekend to qualify for finals day and they can console themselves with the prospect of playing in the European Indoor Championships in Brussels next month, the prize for their 2006 success.

Jones said: “Full credit to Canterbury. They are a great bunch of guys who have worked incredibly hard. I’m pleased for them but disappointed for us. “You have got to take your chances and they did that. On another day it could have been a very different story.

“We have milestones quite clearly in our sights that we can focus on. We will learn from our mistakes. It is onwards and upwards from here. “We didn’t perform anywhere near as well as we could have done. It was fairly clear that Mark Pearn was suffering but it was a valiant effort to drag himself out of bed where he had been for four days suffering with flu. But I’m not looking for excuses.

“It is very disappointing because we know we are ­ and proved it in the league ­ to be the best indoor side that the country has to offer at the moment, even without a number of very good indoor players who weren't available to us."

The likes of Ashley Jackson and Darren Cheesman, who missed out because they were representing Great Britain under-20s in the Australian Youth Olympic Festival, will come back into contention when Grinstead travel to Brussels. Jones says the squad must not dwell on this disappointment and should look forward to a bright future with arguably the most progressive hockey club in the country.

He said: “Now we have experience of winning and losing finals so we know what it takes and what we now need to do. Europe will be another significant stage in the learning curve of what we hope will see us become consistently the top indoor side in the country. If you look at it we are nearly four weeks into January, we have won a national title and almost another one, we are two points off top spot in the league (outdoors), we are through to the quarter finals in the national cup having put out two Premiership opponents and we are going into Europe in four weeks’ time. It is a fantastic position to find ourselves in. “The disappointment we are showing at the moment is a true mark of the club¹s ambitions. There is no complacency and no arrogance about the way we hold ourselves and about our expectations. It shows the passion within the squad to achieve things.

“We believe this is just a glitch. We are determined it won’t happen again, we will rectify it and it will make us stronger. Expect bigger and better things moving forward, mark my words.”

Grinstead qualified for the final by beating Reading 8-6 with David De Prez scoring four goals. Scott Ashdown (two), Dom Male and Ben Barnes were also on target as they set up a repeat of last year’s final against a Canterbury side who got through 8-7 on penalty strokes against Loughborough Students after a 4-4 draw.

A first-half hat-trick from De Prez helped Grinstead to a 5-4 interval advantage in the final. However, former England forward David Mathews completed his own hat-trick to get Canterbury on level terms and South African Greg Nicol ­ who played outdoors for Brighton last season ­ gave them a lead they would never lose.

Mark Justice drew Grinstead level at 6-6, completing his hat-trick in the process, but Matthews scored four minutes from time to decide the issue.

Taken from The Argus - Tuesday 23rd Jan 07 - Howard Griggs