HOCKEY: IT WAS a case of two points dropped for leaders Rugby & East Warwickshire as they were held to a 1-1 draw away at Sutton Coldfield in the Midland League Premier Division.
A traditional slow start was replaced by an impressive opening for the visitors on Saturday as they put pressure on their opponents throughout the opening period.
Despite their dominance, Rugby were unable to find a breakthrough until right on half-time a short corner routine led to Chris Graham scoring with a deflected shot.
It was more of the same for Rugby after the break but a short corner mid-way through the second period allowed Sutton Coldfield to get themselves back on level terms.
Richard Hill then received a green card for a bad tackle but once Rugby were back to full strength they continued to push but could not find a winning goal.
Despite dropping two points in their race for the title, Rugby remain three points clear of second-placed Barton who do have a game in hand.
Elsewhere, Rugby’s second team beat West Bridgford 7-6 in what was a thrilling contest and the third team had a busy weekend with back-to-back fixtures against Lichfield on Saturday and Leek on Sunday.
After losing 2-0 to Lichfield, the league’s basement boys knew they had to start picking up points and they did just that away at Leek after winning by a single goal scored by Giles Morrison to move off the bottom of the table.
Rugby’s fifth team tasted a heavy 5-0 defeat away at Notts Uni, with all five goals coming in the second half, but there was better news for the sixth team who got a vital away win at Leicester Westleigh thanks to a 3-2 victory, while the seventh team lost 2-1 at home to Sutton Coldfield.
