W1 To Make History In Derby On Sunday
By Colin Pike
Whatever happens at Derby Arena on Sunday, Surbiton Women will make history when they compete in the Super 6s Finals for the first time in their history.
Surbiton face Buckingham in the first semi-final at 1030 am, when they will emulate Surbiton Men in making their Finals debut in the East Midlands. Surbiton Men beat Loughborough Students 7-5 in the semi-final before losing 9-5 in the final to East Grinstead in the 2010 Finals at the Trent FM Arena, Nottingham and Surbiton Women will also be aiming to exceed all expectations on their first appearance.
Buckingham finished top of the Premier Division table, but Surbiton should go into the match-up with confidence having battled before going down 2-0 when the teams met on 13 January. Only two fourth quarter goals from Lottie Porter and veteran Sally Walton condemned Surbiton to defeat at Repton.
Walton will be hoping for a first Super 6s title since 2018 when she helped Bowdon Hightown to a 2-1 win over Leicester at the Copper Box Arena. She has appeared at every finals day since, representing Bowdon in 2019, 2020 and 2023 and Repton in 2022. There were no Finals in 2021 due to Covid-19.
Buckingham will also be hoping to build momentum in advance of their trip to Alanya in Turkey from 22-25 February to compete in the Women's EuroHockey Indoor Cup, having replaced last season's champions Repton, who withdrew.
Surbiton and Buckingham first met in the South qualifiers back in 2010 when Clarissa Schilling (nee Goodwin) scored in a 1-0 win at Seaford College. A year later, the teams met again in the South final at East Grinstead where Jemma Norton, Sian Craze and Izzy Garrard's goals earned a 3-2 win and promotion to Super 6s Division 2, where they immediately won promotion to Division 1 for the 2012 season. Buckingham have been more successful at national league level winning all four meetings: 3-2 in 2018 in Division 1 and 7-5 in 2020, 4-1 in 2023 and 2-0 earlier this month, the last three meetings all in the Premier Division.
The second semi-final sees second placed Slough take on third placed East Grinstead at 1145. When the teams met on 7 January, they drew 2-2. The final is scheduled for 1540.
The men's competition sees Old Georgians, who missed out on glory last year on a shootout to Wimbledon, meet Hampstead & Westminster, who pipped East Grinstead to fourth place on a vastly superior goal difference at 1300. Hampstead shocked Old Georgians 10-6 on 13 January, so Old Georgians will want to make amends for their defeat.
Reigning champions, Wimbledon face Sevenoaks at 1415. Sevenoaks won 5-2 on 6 January, so both Premier Division results will have to be reversed if Derby is going to host a repeat of the 2023 final. The Men's final is scheduled for 1655.
The matches can be followed in real time via the England Hockey Altius website:
The Women's Finals Day can be followed here
Women's Premier Division qualification information can be found here
The Men's Finals Day can be followed here
Men's Premier Division qualification information can be found here
The matches will also be streamed via the England Hockey TV channel on You Tube here
Surbiton Women will now meet Holcombe and Sutton Coldfield in the 2025 Super 6s Premier Division after Beeston were found to have fielded an ineligible player during the first weekend of the Division One tournament. As a consequence, their three results were amended to 5-0 victories for their opposition meaning that Beeston dropped from first to sixth and Reading were denied promotion after finishing second as they were demoted to third through no fault of their own.
More information can be found at the England Hockey website here
