M1 Beat Saint Germain To Qualify For KO8
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Men beat French club Saint Germain 7-2 in the ABN AMRO EHL FINAL KO12 on Wednesday afternoon at the Wagener Stadium in Amsterdam to qualify for a KO8 match up with Belgian club KHC Dragons at 1245 BST on Friday (15 April).
Surbiton made an excellent start, forcing a penalty corner after just 44 seconds with Luke Taylor finding the backboard four seconds later to open the scoring.
After just 20 seconds, play had been stopped to check on an injury to Tom Sorsby, but he quickly recovered to show some excellent possesson retention skills a few minutes later.
The French side forced two quick penalty corners in the third and fourth minutes but Pol Parrilla shot past the left post and the second routine resulted in a mistrap from which Guillaume Samson couldn't set up a scoring opportunity.
Saint Germain's starting goalkeeper, Guillaume De Vaucelles had to make a fine reaction save from Rob Farrington in the tenth minute after good approach play from Tim Nurse.
Towards the end of the first quarter Surbiton put some penalty corner pressure: De Vaucelles saving from Gareth Furlong; then making a double save from Furlong and Alex Williams before Luke Taylor found the backboard for the second time in the match from the third penalty corner in the sequence in the 14th minute.
In the second quarter, Surbiton created chances but couldn't add a third goal with Farrington having a shot saved directly in front of goal; Jonny Gall and Ben Boon combining before Jamie Golden's shot went well wide of the right post and Boon also shot wide of the right post.
However, Surbiton found their open play goal form with three goals in the last five minutes of the first half. Nick Park found Boon in front of goal in the 26th minute with the ball going just inside the left post to give Surbiton a three goal cushion.
A minute later, James Gall put the ball away from wide of the right post after Luke Taylor played the ball upfield to Williams before the ball found its way to Gall.
The best goal of the match came just before half time when an attack down the left was taken up by David Goodfield who played a one-two move with Ben Boon before scoring while diving towards goal.
Trailing 5-0, Saint Germain opened their account in the 33rd minute when Alban Semenol found space in the Surbiton circle and finished whilst standing level with the left post.
Surbiton once more came good at the end of a quarter, Jack Middleton sending the ball into the roof of the net in the 43rd minute and Boon finishing off a counter attack immediately following a Saint Germain penalty corner in the 45th minute to establish a 7-1 lead.
Saint Germain changed their goalkeeper at the start of the fourth quarter and Surbiton brought on goalkeeper Alex Rooney with just over nine minutes to play.
The only goal of the final quarter came from a last gasp penalty corner, Hugo Genestet converting to give Saint Germain a second consolation goal.