M1 Beat Oxted 6-0 To Go Second In MHL Premier
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Men beat Oxted 6-0 at Sugden Road to go second in the Men's Hockey League behind leaders, Old Georgians, with the top four teams all on 15 points.
Old Georgians extended their goal difference advantage over Surbiton to seven after a stunning 12-4 home win over Beeston. Holcombe stayed on course with Surbiton on goal difference but not on goals scored, in spite of a 7-1 victory at East Grinstead.
Hampstead and Westminster are fourth after a 3-2 win at Wimbledon.
Surbiton had to wait until the 18th minute to take the lead, Luke Taylor finding the backboard from a penalty corner.
Surbiton had to stay patient against a determined Oxted team for their second goal which arrived in the 37th minute when David Goodfield sent the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal.
Oxted conceded a penalty stroke in the 42nd minute when Struan Walker was knocked down by Thomas Finnegan when attacking on the right of the circle, Taylor duly dispatching the ball past Dom Dixon in the visitors' goal.
Jack Hobkirk scored Surbiton's fourth goal in the 54th minute, David Goodfield's long pass finding Hobkirk on the right of the circle to finish from a narrow angle.
Alex Williams scored from the centre of the circle in the 64th minute with Hobkirk grabbing his second goal of the game with three minutes to play, Walker crossing from the left for Hobkirk to deflect the ball home.
The game can be seen again via the Surbiton Hockey Club channel on You Tube here
Sam Ward scored six goals with Alan Forsyth grabbing a hat-trick, Tom Carson scoring a brace and Ed Carson also chipping in as Old Georgians won 12-4 to stay top of the table.
Henry Croft scored a brace with Brendan Andrews and Jamie Rawlings also scoring for Beeston.
Holcombe dominated East Grinstead with Robert Field, Tim Guise-Brown, Tom Russell and Alex Pendle giving the Kent club a 4-0 half time lead. Pendle and Russell both added second goals in the second half with Phil Roper also contributing, Daniel Faulkner scoring East Grinstead's consolation.
Wimbledon led 2-0 at home to Hampstead & Westminster through Sam Hooper and Jonathan Lankfer, but a goal from Dale Hutchinson and two goals in two minutes from Rupert Shipperley turned the match completely around.
Beeston are fifth, five points adrift of Hampstead with Wimbledon a point further behind. Southgate are seventh ahead of Cardiff & Met in eighth after winning 4-1 at Reading. Matt Ramshaw scored twice with Richmond Lum and Teague Marcano also on target for the newly-promoted London club. Will Holderness scored Reading's consolation.
Cardiff & Met won by the best of seven at the University of Nottingham. Scott Rawlings put Cardiff ahead twice, his first goal cancelled out by Nottingham's George Baugniet. Rhys Gowman extended Cardiff's lead to 3-1 before Peter Caughey replied for the hosts. Ioan Wall made the score 4-2, but in spite of Harry Stone's goal, Nottingham could not find an equaliser and went down 4-3 to the other newly-promoted club.
Surbiton Men travel to Beeston on Sunday for their second game of this week's Premier Division double header, push back at Nottingham Hockey Centre is 2 pm.
The preview of the Beeston match can be read here