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Hood all set for Champs Élysées moment

Lawrence Trott
Created: Apr 01, 2017 08:00 AM
Turning point: Lightbourne’s outlook on the title race was not too bright in November when he was helping an injured Ereico Outerbridge off the pitch at White Hill Field, but the Robin Hood coach stands on the cusp of a first league championship for a club who can be no longer considered a pub team (Photograph by Lawrence Trott)

Barring an absolute disaster, Robin Hood will become the first team since Devonshire Cougars in 2005 to win a first Premier Division title tomorrow.

Hood travel to Police Field to meet Boulevard knowing that only a heavy defeat combined with a big victory for PHC over Dandy Town, will deny them a first league crown.

Football’s equivalent of a cruise into Paris along the Champs Élysées, with the Tour de France already secured, awaits Kyle Lightbourne’s side.

They can be denied the league title only on goal difference, where they are 13 goals better off than PHC. This season Hood have scored the most goals, with 40, and their eight conceded is the fewest in the league.

However, neither Hood nor PHC will have easy opponents, as Boulevard and Dandy Town are fighting for the remaining Dudley Eve Trophy spot in the top six and need victories in their final game. Town are one point ahead of Boulevard on 21.

The second relegation spot will also be decided, between Flanagan’s Onions in eighth and Somerset Eagles, one point behind in ninth. Onions face an easier match against already relegated Devonshire Colts at Goose Gosling Field, while Eagles must get a win against North Village at White Hill Field and hope that Colts avoid defeat.

In the other match, mid-table sides Devonshire Cougars and Somerset Trojans will close out their season with their match at Devonshire Recreation Club. Both have already qualified for the 2017-18 Dudley Eve Trophy.

In the First Division, X-Roads need only a point against lowly Paget at Southampton Oval to be crowned champions ahead of fellow promoted side Young Men’s Social Club. Next season will present a first taste of top-flight football for X-Roads, while Social Club are back among the game’s elite for the first time since 1980. They meet Ireland Island Rangers at PHC Field tomorrow.

In the other games, Hamilton Parish and Southampton Rangers, last season’s two relegated sides, meet at Wellington Oval, while BAA host St George’s Colts at Goose Gosling Field and Wolves play St David’s at Police Field.