W1 Home To Beeston On Saturday Afternoon
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Women welcome Beeston to Sugden Road for their penultimate home Vitality Women's Hockey League Premier Division match of the season on Saturday (push back 3 pm).
Supporters unable to attend the match can watch the livestream via the Surbiton Hockey Club channel on You Tube here
Surbiton go into the match two points ahead of second-placed Reading and take on a Beeston team which will be disappointed with their current ninth place after making progress over recent seasons.
Beeston started the season by winning their first two matches by a 2-1 scoreline at Wimbledon and at home to East Grinstead. Beeston have struggled since, their 1-1 draw at home to Bowdon last Sunday ending a run of four successive defeats.
Clifton Robinsons won 3-1 in Nottingham, Isca & University of Exeter secured their first-ever top-flight win with a 2-0 win in Devon, the University of Nottingham made the short trip across the Nottingham Hockey Centre car park to go back with all three points following a 2-1 win, and 2-1 was also the margin of defeat at the University of Birmingham.
Mads Newitt is Beeston's top scorer with three goals, closely followed by Cerys Miller on two. Hannah Grieve, Lauren Burrell and Jane Kilpatrick have also found the net once for the Nottingham club.
Over the years, Beeston have had a better record against Surbiton at Sugden Road, having lost every meeting at Nottingham Hockey Centre. The teams last met in the East Midlands in League Finals Pool A in March, when Surbiton won 3-1.
Surbiton won both regular season meetings in 2022-23, 3-1 at Nottingham Hockey Centre in November 2022 and 4-1 at Sugden Road in February 2023.
Beeston's only win over Surbiton came at Sugden Road in November 2018, when current Surbiton player Eloise Stenner helped the visitors come from behind to win 2-1. Stenner also scored for Surbiton against Beeston in their 2-0 win in September 2021 to join Erica Sanders in scoring for both clubs in the fixture.
Beeston also drew 1-1 at Sugden Road in February 2022, Miller scoring for Beeston with Maddie Long, now with the University of Nottingham, scoring for Surbiton.
Surbiton are currently on a run of six successive wins following their opening day defeat at Reading. A 4-1 win at East Grinstead followed by a 2-0 home win over Wimbledon kept them two points clear at the top of the table. Hannah French is the divisions top scorer with eight goals but the University of Nottingham's Jordan Homann and East Grinstead's Tess Howard aren't far behind on six goals.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Reading are at home to East Grinstead and third-placed Bowdon, who share the division's best defensive record with Surbiton having conceded seven goals, are at home to fourth-placed Clifton Robinsons.
The University of Nottingham host Isca & University of Exeter; Wimbledon welcome the University of Birmingham to South-West London and Hampstead & Westminster visit Loughborough Students.