Opponents: Reading
Competition: National League Division 1
Date: Saturday 28th March 2009
Venue: Bacon's College, Rotherhithe
Result: W 3-0 (25-19, 28-26, 25-18)
Headline: Safety achieved by confident Docklands
Author: Andy Hopper

London Docklands Volleyball secured their place in National League Division 1 for the ninth year in a row with a confident 3-0 victory against Reading. Even though Docklands will finish in their lowest position since the year 2000, they can look forward to another season in the top flight whilst the loss condemned the visitors to relegation after their first year in Division 1.

The home side were boosted by the return of Yassir Sliti but were missing captain Alexis Blair, so Sliti slotted into Blair's position to partner his brother Mohammed on the outside. It was a Sliti treble (Mohammed two and Yassir one) that took Docklands ahead at the start of the first set only for Tomek Swierczek to score three points of his own to sneak Reading into the lead at 7-6. That proved to be the last time Reading would hold the lead in set one as Docklands took over. Riccardo Senatore was proving that his man of the match performance the previous week was no fluke as a block and an ace helped build Docklands' commanding lead at 18-12. Despite some valiant defence by Reading's libero Songnan Yang, Docklands cantered to a 25-19 first set win.

Docklands won the reverse fixture earlier in the season but last year Reading knocked Docklands out of the KO Cup when they were defending the title they won in 2007. So Docklands were not taking Reading's threat lightly and knew they needed to start well in set two. With a rare ace by Martin Blake they did just that to take a 5-3 lead. However, Reading struck back and a Swierczek service run turned a two point deficit into a two point advantage. Further points by Keith Paskins and Swierczek stretched the visitor's lead and a block by Tom Jones on Yassir Sliti took them 14-10 up. It's not unusual for Boris Halatchev to be Docklands' best blocker and he proved it with a strong performance at the net and his block on Jones sparked Docklands' come back. In the next point his block on Ioannis Manolakis brought Docklands to within touching distance. However, a drop in concentration cost Docklands dearly as an ace by Manolakis and a block on Halatchev took Reading away again at 20-16. But faced with the prospect of losing the second set Docklands started to come together as a team. Two quick points by Yassir Sliti and the momentum was back with the home side. With Halatchev firing down his tricky float serves the pressure was on Reading again and errors crept back into their game. By the time Halatchev's run came to an end his side were 22-20 up and seemingly on their way to a 2-0 lead. However, a kill by Konstantinos Stogias and two Docklands' errors saw Reading back in front at 23-22. A service error gifted Docklands a lifeline and a Reading hitting error in the next point gave the home side their first set point. Swierczek saved two set points only for the Sliti brothers to give Docklands more chances. Then a Senatore smash that caught the back line was followed up by a Yassir Sliti kill to seal a 28-26 second set win.

Reading were incensed by a couple of refereeing decisions and their protests earned them two yellow cards at the start of set three. So from a 2-0 lead Docklands took advantage with two more regular points from a Blake kill and Alex Gaitan block. Docklands were playing with confidence whilst Reading became more and more frustrated. Another service run by Halatchev stretched Docklands' lead to 16-8 and the game was affectively over. Despite a mini-recovery by Reading, Docklands were able to coast to a 25-18 third set win.

A relieved Docklands coach Ian Legrand said afterwards, "That was a good solid and professional performance. Everyone played their part and we controlled the match well. It's a shame we couldn't have produced that sort of display more throughout the season as then we wouldn't have been in the position we were in. But the team came good when it mattered and handled the pressure well. We need to build on this for next season and go from there."

The day turned into a double celebration with Docklands' unofficial women's team, Swiss Cottage, sealing their first ever Division 1 title. Danny Primus' team will now look to achieve the league and cup double when they face City of Wolverhampton in the cup final on 18th April.

Docklands: Halatchev 0 kills (4 attempts), Hitchcock 0 (0), Senatore 4 (16), Gaitan 1 (4), Blake 2 (9), M Sliti 8 (20), Y Sliti 16 (37), Mills (Libero). Subs not used: Davies, Schaepertoens, Primus.

Reading: Manolakis 2 (5), Jones 2 (6), Balagiannis 7 (21), Stogias 3 (15), Swierczek 10 (32), Paskins 3 (8), Yang (Libero).

Black Knight: Mohammed Sliti

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