It has been a first-half of the season full of ups and downs for Lindum Hockey.
The team, who secured a total of two wins and one draw out of the ten games they played, finished 2024 on a high, with their back-to-back wins putting them four points clear of the bottom of the table.
Their wins, one against Harborne and the other against Stourport, was complimented by a 3-3 draw against Loughborough. Lindum were unable to secure any points in their last game of 2024 though. They fell to defeat away to Deeside Ramblers.
Despite coming into the league with impressive back-to-back promotions over the last two seasons, the Yellow Submarines struggled to acclimatise for the start. It is the first time any Lincolnshire hockey team has competed in the second tier of the English sport.
During their first handful of games, they were unable to find a win. This left them at the bottom of the table alongside Stourport. Though after a painful streak of losses, their first win came on November 17, when they beat Harborne on their own patch.
From there, the team regained their footing as they secured their second haul of three points the following weekend. This left the team optimistic that they can climb the league after the Christmas break, according to coach Stuart Cunnington.
He spoke to The Linc after the first leg of the season came to a close, and said: “In the previous seasons, 12 or 13 points was enough to stay in the league but that won’t be the case this year. I think we will need at least 20 points which means we’re going to need, you know, another three to four wins at least.
“It’s a very competitive league. I mean, one of the things you can look at was Loughborough, who are at the very top of the league have only dropped points against one team and that was us. It just shows that anybody here can get a result against anyone.
“Positively that just means we can go into every game with the belief that we can get a result and, you know, it doesn’t matter who plays, we know we can get results against anyone.”
Cunnington also hopes that the well-needed break will refresh his team, with training looking to resume in early January before the season kicks back into gear at the start of February.
He said: “We’ll refresh and then in early January we will be straight back on and, weather advising, we’ll hopefully get some training in and a couple of friendlies.”
On Sunday, February 2, Lindum Hockey will welcome Durham University to Lincoln, restarting their debut Division One North campaign.