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20 January 2026  4 min read

Elite Academy Leagues preview - Week Ten (21/01/26)

Teams are beginning to focus in on what is required over the closing month and a bit of the regular season.

With Conference titles and playoff seedings still up for grabs across all four competitions, the coming weeks will contain some huge contests.

This Wednesday is no different, with plenty on the line for most of the teams involved.

Wednesday 21 January 2026

EABL

North

BMET City of Birmingham Rockets (1-6) vs Myerscough College (6-1) - LIVE STATS

Derby Trailblazers (2-4) vs Manchester Magic (6-1) - LIVE STATS

SGS College (2-5) vs Charnwood College Riders (3-3) - LIVE STATS

South

Barking Abbey (2-2) vs Copleston High School (0-6) - LIVE STATS

City of London Academy - Southwark (5-0) vs HHS Reading Rockets (1-4) - LIVE STATS

Itchen College (4-2) vs Oaklands Wolves (4-2) - LIVE STATS

WEABL

North

BMet City of Birmingham Rockets (0-6) vs Nottingham Academy Wildcats (5-0) - LIVE STATS

Manchester Mystics (4-1) vs Milton Keynes 5 Dimensions - The Hazeley Academy (2-4) - LIVE STATS

South

Barking Abbey (2-2) vs Copleston High School (5-1) - LIVE STATS

City of London Academy - Southwark (5-0) vs HHS Reading Rockets (0-5) - LIVE STATS

Itchen College (2-4) vs Oaklands Wolves (2-4) - LIVE STATS

 

 

 

 

 

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Could the EABL still have twists and turns?

Manchester Magic need three more wins (or dropped points from Myerscough) to seal top spot in the EABL North.

That push starts with a road game in Derby this week, followed by a home game against BMet and a trip to SGS. That's not a daunting slate for the 6-1 Magic, but they can't afford to take their eye off the prize just yet.

BMet look resigned to playing spoiler after their loss to SGS last time out, and the Rockets could do just that with contests against Myerscough this week and Manchester next week still on their schedule.

SGS on the other hand now have the playoffs in their sights, and securing a win this week against Charnwood would be huge.

The EABL South still has a little longer to run, though this week's clash between 4-2 Itchen and Oaklands certainly has a post-season feel about it.

Neither team will want to lose ground to unbeaten leaders CoLA, and the winner of the clash will grab the upper hand in the race for playoff seedings as well.

Barking and CoLA will both expect to win their match-ups with Copleston and HHS respectively, but like Manchester, neither can afford to take their upcoming opponents lightly as any kind of slip up could be costly indeed.

Nottingham/Manchester and CoLA/Copleston play the same dance

Both WEABL Conference look set to be decided by a few key contests.

Assuming they can both navigate their remaining fixtures unscathed, Nottingham and Manchester will meet in the Midlands on the last week of the regular season, with the Mystics needing to win by eight or more to take top spot.

Remaining unbeaten for that long isn't a given for either side, however, and the Wildcats will have to see off BMet this week as Manchester host MK5D hoping to do the same.

In the South, 5-1 Copleston and 5-0 CoLA are locked in a similar pattern. Set to meet in London to end this month, then in Suffolk in mid-February, the destination of the Conference's #1 seed looks to hinge on those two contests.

Copleston travel to 2-2 Barking and CoLA host 0-5 HHS on Wednesday, with both teams hoping to keep themselves on track for another week.

As it does in the EABL, Oaklands' trip to Itchen has plenty on the line, with both teams sporting identical 2-4 records.

The head-to-head tiebreaker could be important come the end of the regular season, but the three points for a win will also prove invaluable across what is proving to be a tight three-way battle for third, fourth and fifth.

Visit the EABL Hub

Visit the WEABL Hub

Main image credit - Kareem Lee