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2 December 2025  3 min read

Elite Academy Leagues preview - Week Six (03/12/25)

Itchen vs HHS Reading Rockets and Oaklands Wolves vs Barking Abbey make up South Conference contests in both the EABL and WEABL, leaving Derby vs Myerscough in the EABL and Sheffield vs Manchester in the WEABL as the pick of the bunch from the North.

Wednesday 3 December 2025

EABL

North

BMet City of Birmingham Rockets (1-3) vs Charnwood College Riders (2-2) - LIVE STATS

Derby Trailblazers (1-3) vs Myerscough College (3-1) - LIVE STATS

Manchester Magic (4-0) vs SGS College (1-3) - LIVE STATS

South

Itchen College (2-1) vs HHS Reading Rockets (1-2) - LIVE STATS

Oaklands Wolves (0-2) vs Barking Abbey (2-1) - LIVE STATS

WEABL

North

BMET City of Birmingham Rockets (0-3) vs Milton Keynes 5 Dimensions - The Hazeley Academy (0-3) - LIVE STATS

The Sheffield College (3-1) vs Manchester Mystics (1-1) - LIVE STATS / LIVE STREAM

South

Itchen College (1-2) vs HHS Reading Rockets (0-3) - LIVE STATS

Oaklands Wolves (1-1) vs Barking Abbey (1-1) - LIVE STATS

 

 

 

 

 

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Bounce back performances needed

In the Academy Leagues, each season is short, and every game in the 10 contest regular season is important.

That means teams can't dwell on tough losses, and the need to pick themselves up after a narrow defeat is as important as ever.

Two Northern teams need to do just that tomorrow: Derby Trailblazers and Manchester Mystics.

The Trailblazers were on the wrong end of a 2OT heartbreaker against Charnwood last time out, a result that would have seen them take a big step ahead of the Riders in the top four battle had the game gone their way.

Instead they need to dust themselves off and go again against 3-1 Myerscough, another side in the playoff battle.

Likewise, Manchester Mystics lost a tough home tilt against rivals Nottingham.

The season still has a long way to go, especially for the Mystics, who have played the fewest games of anyone in the WEABL North, so bouncing back and picking up a positive result against Sheffield is priority #1 for last year's finalists this Wednesday.

Catching CoLA

Both South Conferences are currently led by City of London Academy - Southwark, but with the Londoners taking a week off, the chasing pack have an opportunity to close the gap on the top spot.

In the EABL, Itchen and Barking Abbey both sit at 2-1, six points behind CoLA, and both have the chance to knock off teams below them in HHS Reading Rockets and Oaklands College respectively.

In the WEABL, four teams all have one win, Barking and Itchen included, with 1-1 Oaklands also looking to put themselves firmly in the conversation for the #2 seed if they can get a W on Wednesday afternoon.

Two teams enter, one must win

This week presents the first-ever meeting between the two newest WEABL programmes, BMet and MK5D.

Both are without a win to their name so far, with MK5D in their second season and BMet still in their first, but one team's duck will be broken on Wednesday as the sides meet in the West Midlands.

Whilst a top four playoff spot is an outside hope for either side given their more established Conference rivals, winning is good for any team, and certainly something for a programme to build on. 

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Visit the WEABL Hub

Main image credit - Charnwood College Riders