M1 Beat Oxted 4-2 In Opening League Match
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Men kept up their run of unbeaten opening day Men's Hockey League matches with a 4-2 home victory over Oxted at Sugden Road on Saturday evening.
Surbiton overall last lost their first match at Holcombe 3-2 in 2016-17, and since then, apart from a 2-2 draw at Holcombe in 2022-23, have started each Premier Division season with a win including memorable 8-1 home win over Brooklands Manchester University in 2020-21 and a stunning 10-1 win at Reading in 2019-20.
Surbiton have generally had the upper hand over Oxted in recent seasons, only losing 1-0 at Oxted School in 2020-21. But not for the first time, Surbiton had to come from 1-0 down before coming out on top on home turf.
In October 2022, Nick Giles put Oxted ahead before Surbiton fought back to win 5-1. Nearly two years later, it was Jamie Batten who gave Oxted a twelfth minute lead from open play before Surbiton recovered to win 4-1.
Nick Nurse and Jacob Payton made their Surbiton debuts with Coach Barry Middleton wearing a Surbiton shirt for the first time coming on as a seventh minute substitute.
With Surbiton having fallen behind, Luke Taylor levelled matters for the hosts from a penalty corner just before the end of the first quarter. A minute before half time, Surbiton went 2-1 ahead thanks to a Stuart Rushmere deflection.
Oxted had goalkeeper Robbie MacLennan to thank for several excellent saves: James Gall setting up a scoring chance for Rob Farrington, only for MacLennan to stop the shot; Ben Park and Louis Gittens were also thwarted with Tim Nurse also unable to find a way through from Ben Park's pass.
The pressure intensified as Rushmere swivelled before launching the ball over the cross bar and Payton, under pressure from former Surbiton player Rob Mugridge, ran towards goal before diving to sweep the ball against the left post.
The pressure told in the 57th minute, Ben Park scoring Surbiton's third goal after a one-two move at the right post and then Struan Walker smashed the ball into the goal with four minutes remaining to extend Surbiton's lead to 4-1.
However, Oxted were destined to have the first and last say, Owen Williamson converting a twice taken penalty corner in the 68th minute to make the final score 4-2 to Surbiton.
Elsewhere, Bowdon were given a baptism of fire by reigning champions Old Georgians in Altrincham as they were beaten 6-1. Three minutes before the interval, the score was level at 1-1, Steven Halfhead cancelling out Tom Carson's opener, but within a minute, David Condon restored Old Georgians' lead with Sam Ward scoring twice in the second half, Tom Carson adding a second goal and Alan Forsyth also getting on the scoresheet.
Richmond's first ever top-flight fixture was cut short at Beeston due to a thunderstorm. Beeston led 3-0 through Jamie Rawlings, Owen Sutton and Henry Croft.
Holcombe beat Wimbledon 5-3. Wimbledon led 2-0 after ten minutes through Jack Turner and Ben Francis and after Tom Russell pulled a goal back just before half time, Ed Horler put Wimbledon 3-1 ahead immediately after the interval. Teague Marcano, Mubashar Ali, Matt Ramshaw and Ali Shan all scored in the second half to turn the match completely around.
The remaining two matches both ended in 3-1 away wins. Alex Sheldon gave East Grinstead the lead, but Hampstead & Westminster stormed back to win 3-1 through Kei Kaeppeler, Josh Kelly and Tom Crowson.
Cardiff & Met won 3-1 at Southgate. Ieuan Davies and Rhys Gowman put Cardiff 2-0 ahead at half time. Charles Hamilton halved the deficit for Southgate only for Rhodri Furlong to score a third goal in the third quarter.
Richmond will try again next Saturday (28 September) when they host Surbiton at 6 pm.