W1 Visit University of Birmingham On Saturday
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Women travel to the University of Birmingham on Saturday for their final Women's Hockey League Premier Division fixture of 2024.
As this weekend sees the final round of fixtures of Phase One, all six games will start at 1400. The match will be played at the University of Birmingham, Bristol Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT.
Surbiton moved up from fourth to third last weekend after East Grinstead lost 3-2 to Reading, and although they can't finish top as Reading go into the weekend with a four point lead over the reigning champions, Surbiton can end 2024 in second if they win in Birmingham and Hampstead & Westminster lose to Reading, whilst overcoming Hampstead's five better goal difference.
Last season, Surbiton won 2-0 in the Second City, Hannah French scoring both goals. Both of Birmingham's victories over Surbiton in the Premier Division came on home turf, the last in March 2019, when Jo Turnbull scored the only goal of the game.
Birmingham also beat Surbiton 4-1 in the 2012 Women's Cup Final at Cannock, when Surbiton were in the Conference East.
Birmingham go into the game in seventh place, a point behind sixth-placed Loughborough Students, with eighth-placed Clifton Robinsons trailing the West Midlands students on goal difference. Birmingham will need to beat Surbiton to have a chance of finishing in the Top Six, whilst relying on both Loughborough and Clifton Robinsons slipping up.
Birmingham made the ideal start, beating Sutton Coldfield 8-0 on opening day, before losing narrowly 1-0 at Hampstead and crashing 6-0 at home to Reading. Birmingham then won 1-0 at Holcombe and 4-3 at Bowdon, followed by two successive draws, 1-1 at home to Clifton Robinsons and 2-2 at the University of Nottingham.
Since then, Birmingham have lost three successive matches without scoring, 2-0 at home to Wimbledon; 1-0 at East Grinstead with last week's 2-0 home defeat to Loughborough Students proving to be a severe blow to their Top Six hopes.
Lily Sokhi is Birmingham's top scorer with five goals, Hannah Pearce and Sarah Parkinson-Mills have both scored three, Carter Ayars has scored twice with Hannah Atkinson, Lottie Bingham and Coca Hall all finding the net once.
Meanwhile, Surbiton will be disappointed to have conceded a goal in added on time at the end of the game in their 5-1 home win over Sutton Coldfield, preventing Amber Walton from keeping a second consecutive clean sheet.
Surbiton are on a four game winning streak after a disappointing double-header weekend which saw them lose 2-0 to Hampstead and draw 4-4 at Reading and will want to end 2024 on a high.
Ellie Mackenzie and Darcy Bourne are Surbiton's joint top scorers this season with six goals apiece, supported by Erica Sanders on four and Issy Yonge (who has also played for Surbiton's second team this season) and Jordan Homann on three.
Elsewhere, Reading host Hampstead & Westminster to decide which team will finish top of the Premier Division table at the end of Phase One. Hampstead need to win to go top of the table for the first time this season, whilst a draw or Reading win will keep the Berkshire club in prime position.
East Grinstead cannot finish lower than fourth as they welcome Clifton Robinsons to West Sussex. the Bristol club needing to win to have any chance of finishing in the Top Six.
Wimbledon are guaranteed to finish fifth, regardless of their result at Sutton Coldfield, who have struggled in their first season in the top flight since 2014 and will be battling against relegation for the rest of the season.
Loughborough Students can book their place in the Top Six with a home win over Bowdon, whilst Holcombe will look to end a run of eight games without a win when they host the University of Nottingham in Kent.