M1 Take On Beeston On Saturday Evening
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Men begin their Men's Hockey League Premier Division League Finals Pool B campaign when they host Beeston at Sugden Road on Saturday evening (push back 1815).
The game is scheduled to start fifteen minutes later than usual to accommodate any need for a shootout to be held in the preceding Surbiton W1 v Clifton Robinsons match if that game ends in a draw.
Supporters unable to attend Sugden Road on Saturday evening can watch the match via the Surbiton Hockey Club channel on You Tube here.
Surbiton finished second in the Premier Division at the end of Phase Two and Beeston qualified for the League Finals Pools by finishing seventh overall and top of the Lower Six table.
Beeston visited Sugden Road in October, when they lost 5-2, Jake Smith supported by braces from both Struan Walker and Will Haspel, whilst Jack Stamp and Henry Croft scored for the Nottingham based club.
Croft has scored in all but one game this season, only failing to score at home to Beeston in November. Croft's goal against Surbiton came from the penalty spot.
Croft has scored 20 goals, the same as Surbiton's Struan Walker, with George Fletcher scoring five goals for Beeston. Jamie Rawlings scored three goals before moving to Indian Gymkhana for the second half of the season, and Gareth Griffiths, Jack Stamp and Joe Paul have all scored twice. Toby Stanley, Oliver Manson, Oliver Dunn and Alasdair Richmond have scored once.
After a period when Beeston dominated Surbiton including a 7-2 home win in 2012-13 and a 6-2 home victory in 2010-11, Surbiton haven't lost to Beeston since November 2018, when current Surbiton player Nick Park scored in a 4-3 win at Sugden Road.
Croft also scored in that match and overall, has scored five goals against Surbiton over the years, only bested by Adam Dixon's six goal tally.
Beeston have also gone 171 minutes since their defence was last breached, Sean Davis scoring for Southgate on 22 March, followed by two clean sheets against East Grinstead and Cardiff & Met.
The other Pool B match sees Holcombe at home to Oxted, a week after the Kent club won 5-0 at Oxted in their last match in Phase Two.
Old Georgians are at home to East Grinstead in Pool A, and Wimbledon host Hampstead & Westminster.
The top two teams in each pool qualify for the finals weekend at Nottingham Hockey Centre on 3/ 4 May and any drawn pool game is decided by a shootout. Wins in normal time earn three points, both teams get at least one point for a draw and the winner of a shootout gets an additional point.
The relegation places could be confirmed this weekend in the first of three final rounds of matches. Richmond will be relegated if they lose at Southgate. Bowdon will be relegated if they lose to Cardiff & Met and Southgate get at least a point as Southgate would have a seven point advantage with only six points available.