Jennings warns against further Canterbury no-shows

CANTERBURY coach Ian Jennings has warned his players last weekend's performance against Leicester was unacceptable ahead of their clash with Trojans on Saturday.

Beijing Olympian Anne Panter scored twice as Leicester comfortably beat Jennings' charges. They leapfrogged the Kent side in to fifth in the Slazenger English Hockey League to re-ignite their European qualification charge.

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Jennings joined Canterbury at the start of the season having previously coached Queensland University in Australia.

 

And while he accepts the club is in a transitional year, Jennings was adamant a repeat performance against the Trojans, who have won just twice in the league this season, will not be tolerated.

"It's always a very steep learning curve when you come in to manage a new side and you bring new ideas and new ways of doing things," said Jennings.

"But the girls have responded very well to that and we had a very good first half of the season with one exception, when we played Trojans in the second game of the season.

"We were not good enough that day and unfortunately when we started the season again last week we saw a repeat of that performance in losing to Leicester.

"But the girls have been warned in no uncertain circumstances that performances like those against the Trojans and Leicester will not be tolerated and are simply not good enough.

"It is a development year for us as a club, with it being my first year in charge there are a lot of things to get used to.

"And so what we are looking for are performances more than anything else and last week was not good enough."

Canterbury's hopes of qualifying for Europe next season will be hanging by a thread if they suffer a third successive defeat this weekend, having lost to league leaders Bowdon pre-Christmas.

But Jennings is confident his players will respond positively against Trojans, he added: "It can sometimes be quite difficult to deal out home truths like that but the girls are very good at leaving things in the dressing room and not taking it to the bar.

"But we need to make sure our performance is better straight away, starting this week against the Trojans again - and I expect it to be."

Elsewhere, this weekend Bowdon will be confident of extending their 100 per cent record to 11 matches when they travel to winless Chelmsford.

Free-scoring Olton and West Warwicks, who put 12 past Chelmsford last weekend, will be looking to complete the double over Ipswich to keep the heat on Bowdon.

Defending champions Slough travel to Clifton while a resurgent Leicester side visit Poynton in the day's other games.

TOM REYNOLDS