Hockey: Island national sides into championship semi-finals

Men's & Women's B teams win again on the road

Two of the Isle of Man's senior national hockey sides have progressed into the semi-finals of their respective England Hockey (EH) Championships competitions.

The Isle of Man Men's B & Women's B squads both claimed victories during their last-eight ties in the EH Men's Tier 3 Plate and EH Women's Tier 3 Plate tournaments.

A ruthless attacking display saw the men's side hammer Scarborough Men's 1sts 6-1 whilst the women's squad did enough to secure a narrow 3-2 win at Newcastle Ladies 2nds.

Both Island outfits will return to EH Championship action in the last-four phase next month.

The IoM Men's B side's good result came after having to fight from a goal down against Scarborough in a contest evenly-matched in the first half.

The Scarborough opener was cancelled out by a Josh Dougal finish from a penalty corner to leave the score 1-1 at the break.

Into the second period and the Isle of Man found an extra gear as Ben Dougal converted to give them the lead before further strikes from George Powell and Tom Tsitsos made it three and four respectively.

Ben and Josh Dougal both netted another each late on to seal the victory.

Elsewhere, the IoM Women's B took the lead in their tie at Newcastle 2nds late in the first half as Katie Errock opened the scoring on 29 minutes from a slick penalty corner routine.

Errock was then on hand to convert again from another penalty corner early in the second half with Newcastle then halving the deficit from a penalty corner of their own 14 minutes into the second period.

With seven minutes left, the Isle of Man grabbed a third, this time through Rachael Middleton who rounded the goalkeeper to slot home into an empty net.

Whilst Newcastle did set up a nervy finish by scoring their second late on, the Isle of Man withstood the late pressure to progress.

Both of the Isle of Man teams will be in semi-final action in the EH Championships on either Saturday, 6 April or Saturday, 13 April.