M1 Win 6-1 At Cardiff & Met
By Colin Pike
A stunning fourth quarter performance saw Surbiton Men score five goals in the last 14 minutes to finally pull away from hosts, Cardiff & Met in a Men's Hockey League Premier Division match at the Welsh Institute of Sport on Saturday night.
After their heroics in the Euro Hockey League last weekend, Surbiton went into the fourth quarter level with Cardiff at 1-1 after Struan Walker opened the scoring in the 13th minute and Jonny Fleck equalised, also from a penalty corner in the 41st minute.
Cardiff had hopes of winning their first ever home game in the top flight until those hopes were dashed as Surbiton's penalty corner expertise came to their rescue.
Luke Taylor restored Surbiton's lead in the 56th minute, Walker scored his second goal of the match five minutes later with Conor Williamson making the score 4-1 in the 63rd minute in a goal fest of set pieces.
Jake Smith scored his first goal for Surbiton from open play in the 67th minute with Ben Park adding Surbiton's sixth goal in the penultimate minute of the match.
Surbiton are second in the Premier Division with a game in hand over Old Georgians, who won 5-2 at third-placed Holcombe. Sam Ward scored twice with Phil Roper, Tom Carson and James Carson also scoring for Old Georgians, Mubashar Ali and Teague Marcano scored for Holcombe.
Beeston are fourth following a 2-2 home draw with sixth-placed Oxted. Henry Croft kept up his record of scoring in every league game this season by giving Beeston the lead, only for Jamie Batten to level. Josiah Wood gave Oxted a 2-1 lead in the 58th minute, only for Gareth Griffiths to equalise in the same minute.
Beeston and Oxted are split in the league table by fifth-placed Hampstead & Westminster, who made the long trip to Bowdon and came back with an 8-0 win. The match was a Guise-Brown masterclass with Matt scoring a hat-trick and Tim a brace to give Hampstead a 5-0 lead going into the final quarter. Timothy Cross then scored twice before James Oates scored with two minutes left to complete a comprehensive victory.
Wimbledon have a game in hand on their rivals due to their participation in the Euro Hockey League and they secured their second win in three games with a 4-2 home win over Southgate. Sam Hooper scored twice after Ed Horler scored in the first minute with Kaden Draysey also netting in the fourth quarter for Wimbledon. Archie Foster and John Sterlini replied for Southgate.
Scott Wall remains the only player to have scored for Richmond in the Premier Division this season as he scored both goals in a 6-2 defeat at East Grinstead.
Louis Tipper, Hugh Pembroke, Alex Sheldon, Trevor De Lora, Sam Knight and Kurt Lovett earned East Grinstead their second win of the season to lift themselves up to 8th place.
Next Saturday, Surbiton Men visit Holcombe, push back 1830.