M1 Aim For Top Spot In Pool B On Saturday Against Holcombe
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Men will be aiming to finish top of Pool B in the MHL League Finals when they take on Holcombe at Sugden Road on Saturday evening.
Supporters unable to attend Sugden Road can watch the match via the Surbiton Hockey Club channel on You Tube here.
Surbiton Men are already guaranteed qualification to the Finals Weekend at Nottingham Hockey Centre on 3/4 May, but which team will join them will also be decided on Saturday night.
Holcombe will need to win in normal time, or secure a shootout win to secure their place in the last four, whilst Surbiton will be keen to preserve a top place finish.
If Holcombe lose, then Oxted can overtake them into second place with a win over Beeston. If Oxted win and Holcombe lose a shootout, then both Oxted and Holcombe would finish on five points, with Oxted needing to overcome a four goal negative goal difference to qualify for Finals Weekend for the first time in their history.
As this weekend sees the final round of matches, all games will start at 1800.
Oxted gave themselves an excellent chance of qualification by winning a shootout at Holcombe on 5 April after a 2-2 draw, having lost by five goals the week before.
Holcombe kept their qualification hopes alive with a 4-3 win over Beeston, a defeat which ended the Nottingham club's chances of reaching the playoffs on their home pitch.
Holcombe were denied a home win over Surbiton in October when Luke Taylor earned a 4-4 draw with a last-gasp equaliser.
Teague Marcano gave Holcombe the lead before Struan Walker levelled for Surbiton. The teams were still equal at half time, but at 2-2 after Matt Ramshaw had put Holcombe 2-1 up, only for Tim Nurse to enable Surbiton to level a second time just before the interval.
Rob Field gave Holcombe their third lead of the match, with Ben Park taking his turn to equalise. Ramshaw thought that he had scored Holcombe's winner as the Kent club led for the fourth time, only to be thwarted by Taylor's dramatic climax to the match.
The rematch came in a disappointing March for Holcombe and was more clear cut, Surbiton winning 4-0 at Sugden Road thanks to Stuart Rushmere, a brace from Walker and a fourth goal from Gareth Furlong.
The defeat was the second of three successive defeats, followed by a draw with Wimbledon and only eased by a 5-0 win at Oxted, the week before Oxted's shootout victory in Kent.
Marcano has been Holcombe's standout scorer this season with 22 goals, with excellent support from Ramshaw who has been on target ten times this season. Tom Russell has scored six times, with Field joining Alex Pendle on five goals. Mubashar Ali has netted on four occasions, with Ali Shan and Felix Tully scoring twice. Rohan Bhuhi, Tim Neild, Samkelo Mvimbi, Sam Taylor and Tom O'Keeffe have demonstrated that Holcombe have a variety of scoring options.
Surbiton are equally adept, with Walker having scored 20 goals this season. Jake Smith and Gareth Furlong have each scored nine goals, with Taylor and Luke Payton close behind on eight. Rushmere has scored seven goals, Rob Farrington is on four and Ben Park, Conor Williamson, Tim Nurse and Will Haspel are all on three.
James Gall, Nick Park, Max Anderson, Barry Middleton and Nick Nurse have all scored once domestically this season.
Surbiton will be disappointed to have lost 3-1 to Kampong in the Euro Hockey League FINAL8 in 's-Hertogenbosch, but delighted to have come out on top in the Ranking Match 3-2 in a shootout after a hard-fought battle against Club Campo de Madrid.
In Pool A, both Old Georgians and Wimbledon are assured of their place in Nottingham and will meet at St. George's College to decide which team will finish top and determine their semi-final opponents. East Grinstead travel to Hampstead & Westminster for a dead rubber.
In the relegation playoffs, Richmond have been relegated from the Premier Division and barring a miracle, will be joined by Bowdon, who travel to Richmond needing to win and somehow hope that Southgate lose heavily enough at Cardiff & Met to allow Bowdon to overcome an unlikely 15 goal negative goal difference to stay up.