A season, which was riddled by inconsistency both offensively and defensively, is finally over for Manchester A. The squad drew a group of Southampton, Nottingham, Edinburgh, and St. Andrews -- a group that included the Div 1 North Cup Competition winners (Edinburgh, 16 pts) and Div 1 third place finishers (Nottingham, 15 pts), and a host of ENL talent on Southampton. An A/B mixed Metros team faced St. Andrews in an early season friendly coming out on the wrong end of a 10-3 loss.
Manchester showed up to the competition missing several important cast members who had featured in most of the Div 1 North games including Topi Jylha, Mike Di Paoli, Sarah Hutchinson, and Kieren De'Ath. Shayne Langlois (knee), Max Drakeley (shoulder), Thomas Revesz (knee), and Gino Poulin (hamstring) all missed out due to injury.
Saturday's Game 1 was a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Southampton. The Spitfires were able to jump out to an early lead against a side that looked like they were still in the middle of breakfast and Soton never looked back. Game 2 against Nottingham finished in heartbreaking fashion as it was arguably the Metros' best performance all weekend. But that statement is all too synonymous with their season -- the inability to close games out or to take advantage of opportunities late in the clock. Manchester lost their 2-1 lead with a hair over five minutes remaining and saw a hopeful point slip away when Maverick's Tom Bradshaw slotted in a shorthanded goal with two-and-a-half minutes left. A familiar opponent in Edinburgh was Game 3's matchup in Manchester's last game of the day. Manchester grabbed a lead six minutes into the game and the Brad Valentine (assists: Tom Wilson, Allen Gunn) goal would hold until the Eagles rallied off four unanswered to win 4-1. Sunday's only group game against St. Andrews was a fitting bookend to the weekend. Game 4 was hotly contested early, but two goals within minutes of one another wrote the story. The Typhoons would go on to score five more goals to earn a 7-0 win, keeping Manchester off the board for a second game.
As an organisation, Manchester heads into the offseason the friendly schedule already filling up. 2014/2015 will hopefully be a turn around season for the club as they look to regain stability in an ever-powerful Division 1 North. It will be vital that the club's top team gets and stays healthy next year following the long-term exits of Langlois and Poulin. The "A" team will need to strengthen its ranks at all positions to be competitive against teams rife with ENL and EPL talent. Hopefully a fair few new Freshers faces and current "B" team players can rise to the occasion.
Manchester Tier I Nationals Roster: Matthew Crouch, Matt Lowry, Tom Wilson, Bradley Valentine, Oliver Wallace, Allen Gunn, Patrick Thomson, Jamie Bower, Callum Notman, Tyler Schock, Phil Pearson (G).
For further information, results, and tables visit the BUIHA website at buiha.org.uk.
