[O]n the 13th of May, Penrith Canoe Club attended the final North West and Central Regional Division 2 tournament of the winter season. Aiming to finish strong and taking arguably their strongest team of the season, hopes were high.
The first and last games of the day were against a scratch team, meaning an automatic win for Penrith, regardless of the outcome. However, against the scratch team consisting of various players, Penrith put in two great performances winning 3-2 (goals from Chris, Katie and Jack) and drawing 5-5 (goals from Chris (x2), Tim, Katie and Caitlin).
2 games were also against 3rd place finishers FOA C, and proved to be very tight games. Both games were lost 3-2 and 1-0 respectively, goals in the first game provided by Chris and Jack.
The final 2 games were against Lakeland, our local rivals, and eventual league winners Welsh Warriors. Lakeland were defeated 2-0, with Jack and Katie providing the goals, however our best game of the day by far was the 1-1 draw against Welsh Warriors. It was a very close game, the only goal of the game coming from Jack. It was a very open game with pressing from both teams, requiring lots of movement, potentially Penrith’s best game of the season.
Overall Penrith finished 5th, only 7 points behind 4th placed Red Rose A. So it was actually a good season and shows that with our strongest team we can contend even with the top teams in the league, so hopefully come next season we can aim for a higher finish which is something we know to be achievable.
