Newcastle Vikings Handball Club’s men put in a brilliant team performance on Saturday to claim a well-deserved 19-16 home win against the University of Leeds, while the Vikings ladies gained a forfeit win over Peninsula.
The men’s England Regional League North fixture at South Shields’ Temple Park Leisure Centre got underway with right-winger Robert Thompson and player-coach Frank Smelt from the line position giving Newcastle an early lead. The university side pulled back, but two goals apiece from Thompson and left-half Adam Batley plus four strikes from centre Mark Harrison took the Vikings into the half-time break in positive spirits with a 10-9 lead.
Captain Adam Mobberley added his name to the scoresheet at the start of the second half, with left-winger Milan Anilkumar enjoying scoring his first Vikings goal in between further strikes from Smelt and Batley. Novice goalkeeper Matthew Lamb again did a great job between the posts to help keep the Gryphons at bay and enable Newcastle to gradually stretch their advantage. Mobberley picked up his second from right-half, while Thompson, Smelt and Batley each took their tallies for the game to four goals to match Kafeneon player-of-the-match Harrison.
By the final whistle, the Vikings had come away with a valuable 19-16 win that lifted them off the bottom of the league table and above the University of Leeds into third place.
Meanwhile, Newcastle Vikings’ women also jumped into third place in their league without playing, thanks to gaining a default 10-0 win after Wirral club Peninsula unfortunately cancelled and forfeited their match due to not having enough players available to travel up to the North East.
The afternoon’s handball action nevertheless continued with women’s and juniors friendly games. A great turnout of friends and family particularly enjoyed supporting the a fun match between the Vikings’ junior players from their Temple Park and Benfield training bases.
Newcastle Vikings Handball Club would like to thank everyone who came along and especially for all the generous donations made to our collection for the South Shields foodbank which was gratefully received when delivered by club chairperson Marlen Slinning Goulty.
Newcastle Vikings men: Matthew Lamb (GK), Robert Thompson (4 goals), Milan Anilkumar (1), Adam Mobberley (2), Mark Harrison (4), Adam Batley (4), Frank Smelt (4).
