Highgate manager: League triumph proves we’re a ‘different club’ now

By Ben Pearce Thursday, February 14, 2013
12:22 PM

Highgate Harriers’ first ever Metropolitan League title proves that they have become a “different club”, according to the men’s team manager Ben Pochee.

Highgate finished top of Division One for the first time since the league’s inception in 1966, beating Woodford Green with Essex Ladies in Saturday’s final fixture to secure the crown.

A jubilant Pochee told Ham&High Sport: “The Met League requires real depth of numbers as it is your first 12 across the line that score, so it really underlines our growing membership – and the B team won their division as well.

“To win the trophy is fantastic but the bigger story is the club itself, how we’ve grown and got into the position where we can win this kind of title. We’re a different club now.

“In the past we had a few very good guys, but we didn’t have much depth below that. When availability was poor we were struggling to get a scoring 12 together.

“On Saturday we had fewer people running than we had done in the previous fixtures, but we still had a team of 28, which is almost unheard of for us. It just shows how far we’ve come.

“Now we’ve beaten Woodford Green, which is incredible because they’re like the Manchester United of the Metropolitan League!”

Visit http://bit.ly/UigTFy for all the action from Saturday’s triumphant final fixture.