M1 Lose 4-2 At Wimbledon
By Colin Pike
Wimbledon beat Surbiton Men 4-2 to end Surbiton's hopes of finishing top of the Men's Hockey League Premier Division at the end of Stage 2 and clinch the second European place in the Euro Hockey League.
Old Georgians are guaranteed a place in the 2024-25 Euro Hockey League after beating Southgate 6-5 on Saturday evening, with Wimbledon joining Surbiton on 36 points, six points behind Old Georgians with just one game remaining.
Surbiton have a sixteen better goal difference going into the final round of matches next Saturday at 1800 when they visit Hampstead & Westminster whilst Wimbledon travel to Old Georgians.
Wimbledon hadn't beaten Surbiton at home in the Premier Division since February 2016 when they won 4-1, but they took the lead in the 27th minute when Rory Patterson converted a penalty corner.
Surbiton missed the chance to level when Luke Taylor's penalty stroke clipped the outside of the right post and were made to pay in the 50th minute when Ian Sloan doubled Wimbledon's lead from the penalty spot with his sixth goal of the season, all coming from penalty strokes.
Ben Park pulled a goal back for Surbiton from open play in the 54th minute, but two minutes later, Wimbledon's leading goalscorer, Sam Hooper, scored his ninth goal of the campaign, also from open play to restore Wimbledon's two goal advantage.
With eight minutes remaining, Louis Gittens gave Surbiton a lifeline before Connor Greentree sealed the win for Wimbledon five minutes from time.
Hooper and Sloan had also scored for Wimbledon on Thursday night when they beat Holcombe 3-1 at home in their rearranged game due to their indoor exploits in Vienna.
Old Georgians had to battle before coming out on top 6-5 against Southgate as Teague Marcano and Matt Ramshaw put Southgate 2-1 up after James Carson opened the scoring. Will Calnan extended Southgate's advantage to 3-1 by half time before Old Georgians stormed back in the second half.
Goals from Alan Forsyth, Tom Carson and James Carson turned the match around so Old Georgians led 4-3 with thirteen minutes remaining, but Southgate fought back to lead 5-4 with just five minutes to play.
Two late penalty corner conversions from Tom Carson earned Old Georgians their first place finish and qualification for the Euro Hockey League.
Holcombe ended a run of three successive defeats thanks to goals from Alex Pendle and Tom Russell as they beat Hampstead & Westminster 2-1 at Holcombe Park.
In the Lower Six, there was more drama at Nottingham Hockey Centre as Beeston beat Oxted 3-2 with two late goals to clinch their place in the League Finals. Second-placed East Grinstead and third-placed Oxted meet in Surrey next Saturday in an effective eliminator for the remaining place.
In form Guy Morgan put Oxted ahead after a goalless first half before Henry Croft equalised in the 59th minute. Michael Royden-Turner seemed to have won the game for Oxted with five minutes to play, but Jamie Rawlings levelled in the 68th minute and Ben Collinson scored the winning goal a minute later to book Beeston's place in the League Finals.
East Grinstead met Reading for the second time this season at Saint Hill and this time it was a home game for the West Sussex side after the first meeting was switched from Reading after the match was initially abandoned at Sonning Lane. East Grinstead won 2-1 with goals from Hugh Pembroke and Max Lowrey, Tom Minall's 69th minute goal destined to be a consolation.
Cardiff & Met fought out a 2-2 home draw with the University of Nottingham. Nottingham led twice through Oliver King and Peter Caughey but Sion Goldsmith and Scott Rawlings earned what could prove to be a vital point for the Welsh side.