POYNTON FACE TOUGH TEST TO DEFEND TED DONNET TROPHY   By Neil Goulding (English Lacrosse Press Officer, 07813 859986)   JOHN Adshead has revealed his team face a difficult challenge to defend the Ted Donnet Trophy on Sunday at Brooklands Hulmeians Lacrosse Club.   The Poynton coach guided his club to the title last term with a slender 2-1 win over Heaton Mersey in the showcase final.   But this season Adshead admits the London Road North club are without many of the players who helped them toast sweet success 12 months ago.   'We've lost a lot of the players from our winning team from last season, lots of them are now at university,' admitted Adshead.   'But we'll be giving it our best shot. It was a great achievement winning the competition last season.'   Poynton overcame Manchester Waconians in last year's semi finals having earlier in the competition finished top of the round-robin group qualifying standings.   Mersey beat Cheadle in their semi-final clash having finished second in the round-robin stages.   This year 12 teams are once again expected to compete, with matches lasting two six minutes halves.   The four top teams from the group stages will progress to the Ted Donnet semi-finals, while the next four teams in the standings will then have the chance to compete for the Geoff Gartside Memorial Plate.   Stockport, former Under-19 level treble winners, edged hosts Brooklands Hulmeians in last season's Plate final. Incredibly the match lasted four periods of sudden-death extra-time before the Beech Road club triumphed.   In the Plate semi-finals Stockport beat Boardman and Eccles, while Brooklands booked their place in the final with victory over Mellor.   Tournament organiser Mark Airey, from the Brooklands club, said: 'The Ted Donnet Trophy has been a popular competition over the last few years, I think a lot of clubs look forward to it.   'Hopefully the weather is good and we have another good competition this season. The standard of lacrosse was very high last season.'   2007/2008 results MEN, Northern Under-19 Ted Donnet Trophy (Manchester) - Final: Poynton 2 Heaton Mersey 1. Semi-finals: Poynton 2 Manchester Waconians 1, Cheadle 1 Heaton Mersey 2.   Geoff Gartside Memorial Plate - Final: Stockport 4 Brooklands Hulmeians 3 (after four periods of sudden-death extra time). Semi-finals: Brooklands Hulmeians 3 Mellor 1, Stockport 3 Boardman and Eccles 2.   Final round-robin standings: 1. Poynton, 2. Cheadle, 3. Heaton Mersey, 4. Manchester Waconians, 5. Brooklands Hulmeians, 6. Stockport, 7. Boardman and Eccles, 8. Mellor, 9. Wilmslow, 10. Timperley, 11. Oldham/Rochdale, 12. Sheffield Steelers.   ends.....