M1 To Face Wimbledon For Fourth Time This Season On Saturday
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Men will face Wimbledon for the fourth time this season when the local rivals meet in the second semi-final of the Athleteq.App Premier Division Finals at Nottingham Hockey Centre on Saturday (push back 1315).
Supporters unable to get to Nottingham Hockey Centre can watch the Premier Division Finals via the England Hockey channel on You Tube here.
Having met twice in the England Hockey League and once in the Euro Hockey League already this season, both teams will go into the last four encounter with a lot of experience of playing against each other.
The first meeting was at Sugden Road in the KO8 stage of the Euro Hockey League in October when Surbiton won 3-2 to qualify for the FINAL8 in 's-Hertogenbosch, where they lost 3-1 to SV Kampong. Luke Taylor and Struan Walker gave Surbiton a 2-0 lead before Sam Hooper halved the deficit for Wimbledon. Walker restored Surbiton's two goal advantage, with Fred Newbold scoring a second goal for Wimbledon to give them hope of forcing a shootout, but the equaliser never came in the final ten minutes.
The original league fixture was scheduled for the Euro Hockey League weekend, but was moved to an unusual midweek fixture as the teams battled to a 2-2 draw on a Thursday night in November under the Sugden Road floodlights.
Surbiton led early through Jake Payton before Ben Francis equalised. Taylor gave Surbiton a 2-1 lead, but this time, the equaliser did come, Connor Greentree levelling in the penultimate minute to earn a vital point.
The fixture in the Top Six at Raynes Park High School saw Surbiton put in a magnificent performance to win 5-1. Gareth Furlong led the way with a hat-trick, Tim Nurse and Payton adding to Wimbledon's misery, Duncan Scott scoring what turned out to be a consolation goal late in the second quarter.
Surbiton clinched top spot in Premier Division Finals Pool B with an emphatic 3-0 home win over Holcombe which saw the Kent club eliminated, when they could have finished top with a win. Wimbledon were runners-up in Pool B, losing their third match 4-2 at Old Georgians after winning their first two games.
Wimbledon's scorers have been consistent with their top three goalscorers all on nine goals and their next two scorers on eight. Euan Gilmour, Hooper and Newbold have all scored nine with Ed Horler and Liam Ansell close behind on eight. Francis is on seven, with Scott on four. Jack Turner, Greentree, Kaden Draysey and Sam McCulloch all scored twice, and Evan Kimber, Joe McConnell, James Vallely and Jonathan Lankfer each scored once this season domestically.
Surbiton's top scorer, Struan Walker goes into the Premier Division Finals on 20 goals with Jake Smith, in his first season at Surbiton on ten. Penalty corner specialists, Furlong and Taylor are on nine and eight goals respectively, and Payton has also made an impact with his eight goal haul. Stuart Rushmere's seven goal tally has also been impressive, with Rob Farrington's four goals an important contribution to Surbiton's achievements.
Ben Park, Conor Williamson, Tim Nurse, Will Haspel and James Gall are all on three goals, with Nick Park, Max Anderson, Barry Middleton and Nick Nurse all scoring once.
And with Surbiton Men's second team set to play in Division One South next season as the first club second team to get to that level, Surbiton's strength in depth should be boosted for the 2025-26 campaign.
But there are still two games to play before the 2024-25 season comes to a conclusion with Surbiton eager to reach the final for the second season running after losing 3-1 to Old Georgians on their home pitch last year. Old Georgians face Oxted, who have qualified for the Premier Division Finals for the first time in their history in the first semi-final at 1100 on Saturday.
More information about the Men's Premier Division Finals can be found at the England Hockey Altius website here.