M1 Facing Qualification Challenge At Competitive Super Sixes
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Men face a challenge to finish in the top four of the Super Sixes Premier Division at Repton School after the first weekend ended with five teams on nine points.
A 4-3 win over Reading was followed by a 7-5 defeat to East Grinstead, leaving Surbiton in third place behind Sevenoaks and Holcombe and ahead of East Grinstead and Wimbledon on goal difference.
And with Hampstead & Westminster just three points behind in sixth place, the second weekend should be exciting, especially as Surbiton take on Sevenoaks and Holcombe in their next two games.
Surbiton surprisingly struggled against a Reading team which has only one point to show after the first four games.
After nine minutes, the game was going to form after Arjan Drayton Chana and Willie Marshall gave Surbiton a 2-0 lead. but two penalty corner conversions from Craig Falconer at the end of the first quarter and from former Surbiton player, Gareth Furlong in the 17th minute ensured that the teams were level at 2-2 at half time.
Zach Wallace restored Surbiton's lead in the 25th minute with Alan Forsyth scoring in the 33rd minute, but Surbiton had a few anxious moments when Peter Scott scored Reading's third goal in the last minute.
East Grinstead proved too good for Surbiton although Forsyth gave them the perfect start with a second minute goal. David Condon equalised in the 12th minute before Alexander Hemmersbach gave East Grinstead a 2-1 lead in the 18th minute.
Forsyth and Hemmersbach exchanged goals in the 20th minute, East Grinstead leading 3-2 at half time.
Condon scored his second goal of the game in the 26th minute and when Ben Mackey put East Grinstead 5-2 ahead at the end of the third quarter, Surbiton's unbeaten record was seriously under threat.
Forsyth gave Surbiton hope with goals in the 32nd and 35th minute to reduce East Grinstead's lead to 5-4, but the Sussex club clinched the victory through Mackey's second goal in the 39th minute and Daniel Faulkner's strike in the last minute. Forsyth collected his fifth goal of the match in the dying seconds to crown a fine individual performance as consolation for Surbiton's defeat.
Surbiton take on Sevenoaks in the first match on Saturday before facing Holcombe later in the day. On Sunday, Surbiton's opponents are Bowdon and Canterbury, the bottom two teams at the halfway point.
Forsyth is the Premier Divison's leading goalscorer with fifteen goals, six ahead of his nearest rival, Rory Patterson of Wimbledon.