Poynton coach tells her players to focus

POYNTON coach Anne Dutoy has warned her side they will continue to slip down the Slazenger England Hockey League table unless they focus.

Dutoy watched her side draw 1-1 at home to fellow strugglers Trojans on Sunday as a series of controversial penalty corner decisions eventually resulted in the away side cancelling out Helen Armishaw's opener through Joanna Davis.

The draw leaves Poynton and Trojans in seventh and eighth place respectively, after the latter lost 3-1 to Canterbury on Saturday.  Although both sides remain well clear of bottom club Chelmsford.

But Dutoy insists her players need to keep their cool in testing circumstances during the remainder of the season or risk a disappointing end to the campaign.

 "I think a lot of the girls let the umpiring decisions get the better of them on Sunday which was very disappointing," said Dutoy, in her fourth season as coach at Poynton.

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"Some of the decisions were fair enough but there were a lot of dodgy ones that put us under a lot of unnecessary pressure from corners.

"Unfortunately though it doesn't matter at all what the decision is, the girls need to learn to accept the decision and not let it affect their game and they didn't do that.

"They were getting flustered and annoyed and it affected their performance which was disappointing because at the start of the game we scored and were in control.

"Then a few decisions started going against us, they got the goal and in the end we were lucky to not lose."

Armishaw looked to have put the home side on their way to a victory when she converted from a penalty corner in the 11^th minute.  But Davis' first goal in a Trojans shirt levelled things up four minutes from the end.

Poynton now face a two-week break before they take on sixth-placed Canterbury.

And after a solitary goal against Trojans, Dutoy admits some hard graft on the training field awaits, as the Cheshire side bid to boost their recent run of form.

"We allowed some decisions to get to us which was disappointing," said Dutoy.

"But what was also worrying was that our midfield and forwards didn't combine very well at all.

"A lot of the balls from the midfield failed to reach the attackers at all so we'll be making sure we work hard on that between now and the Canterbury game."

Elsewhere, league leaders Bowdon Hightown continue to set the pace after smashing 12 unanswered goals to see off Ipswich 4-0 and Chelmsford 8-0.

Olton cemented their second-placed berth with a win over third-placed Clifton, who had won 2-1 victory against Slough on Saturday.

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TOM REYNOLDS