Hockey: Gloucester head up

GLOUCESTER CITY, from the SunLife West Premier, and Sheffield, the Ernst & Young North First Division leaders, at the weekend joined Edgbaston as Regional League champions to await the play-offs at Olton at the end of next month, writes Bill Colwill.

Gloucester, coached by John Law, clinched promotion with a 4-0 win against Yeovil and Sherborne, who are relegated after just one season in the Premier. Mark Pearn, a 15-year-old striker and joint top- scorer with Derek Pittaway, put away two with Pittaway and Mark Summerwell scoring one each.

Sheffield, after several hiccups on the run-in, finally took the North title when they beat their closest challengers Formby 2-1.

The neck-and-neck battle at the top of the two parallel Peroni South leagues goes on. In the A Division, Maidenhead's 6-1 win at Staines, with three goals from Kuljit Dhak, two from the player- coach Suti Khehar and one from the Malawian international Francois Toussaint, puts them four points ahead of second-placed High Wycombe. Now only Anchorians, who have a game in hand, can beat them to the title.

In the B Division all the top three sides won.