Lancashire win British National Championships
LANCASHIRE had plenty to smile about as they made history
by winning the British National Championships at Wilmslow.
The Red Rose county had never previously won the national
crown, but overcame some nerves in the final to snatch an
8-7 victory against Scotland.
Victory was extra sweet for Lancashire and their manager
Allan Collingwood. This time last year Lancashire were beaten
9-7 by England Under-19s in the final.
Collingwood was understandably delighted his team had the
rub of the green this time around.
"It means so much to us all to have won this title,
we felt we should have won it last year," said Collingwood,
whose side also defeated a strong Cheshire side 8-4 in the
semi-finals.
"We were a bit nervous in the final, but we settled
down and played well."
James Gallagher, the England midfielder, led from the front
with a hat-trick, while Neil Marshall, Thomas Gallagher, Matt
Beadle, Chris Battersby and Steve Green were also on the scoresheet.
James Mitchell (3), Kyle Anderson, Daniel Heighway, Mark
Hodkin and John McCaskell replied for Scotland, but their
efforts were in vain as Lancashire held on to their 5-3 half-time
lead.
"I don't think the occasion got us, we're not used to
get to finals that often," added Collingwood, "but
this is the direction the county want to go in. We want to
start winning things."
Results
British National Championships (Wilmslow Lacrosse
Club, Styal Road): Conference A: English
Universities 2 Lancashire 3; Scotland 4 South 4; Lancashire
4 South 3; English Universities 3 Scotland 3; South 3 English
Universities 5; Scotland 4 Lancashire 3. Conference
B: Cheshire 6 Yorkshire 3; England Academy 3 Wales
5; Yorkshire 9 Wales 3; Cheshire 19 England Academy 1; Wales
0 Cheshire 12; England Academy 1 Yorkshire 16. 3rd
place play-off: Yorkshire 2, Cheshire 13. Semi-finals:
Scotland 5 Yorkshire 4; Cheshire 4 Lancashire 8. Final:
Lancashire 8 Scotland 7.
|