Saturday the 24th of March saw our Tier 2 team, the Coyotes, make the short trip to Rotherham for final qualifier of the season.
Having won the last qualifier the team were assured of qualification to Nationals, but this was a good chance to prepare for the end of season event on the surface where it will be held.
Five teams were in attendance. Local rivals Greasley Bears and Sheffield Knights, and two teams from the northeast, Stanley Stingers and Northumbria Sharks.
The Coyotes had a tough start with a close 2-1 win against the Stanley Stingers. Following this they really got into gear with wins against Greasley (3-0), Sheffield (6-1) and Northumbria (11-0).
Onto the semi finals where the team awaited the winner of the Sheffield and Northumbria quarter final. Sheffield emerged from this one, and took on the Coyotes. The Coyotes were now finding their best form and took a 6-0 victory.
The final saw the Coyotes again take on the Bears. This was a tight affair with the first half ending 0-0. It was to the Coyotes who cracked the game open in the second half with a scrambled goal by Reece Bull, followed by a great slap shot from youngster Tom Dalton. This was to be enough to see the Coyotes close out the game and grab the silverware.
Pat Cox, who was bench coach on the day, had this to say "We heard lots today about how our Tier 1 players were the difference makers. I think this does the rest of the team an injustice. The bubble system has been in place for four years and we’ve made use of it along with the other larger clubs. We’ve never had any success at Tier 2 or 3 until this season, and we feel the actual difference is that we are now seeing the fruit of our ladies and junior system. We had 5 players who are under 18’s, including two who are only 14. We also had three ladies players. Four of our players are actually Tier 3 players playing up. This was a total team effort, and this was perfectly exemplified when 14 year old Tom Dalton scored in the final."
