M1 Win 7-1 At Fareham After Hosts Take Lead
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Men won 7-1 at Fareham in their first match in the England Hockey Men's Tier One Championships after the hosts took a shock early lead.
Fareham are third in the Men's Conference West, part of the third tier of the England Hockey League, but were far from overawed by their opponents at Henry Cort Community School.
After seven minutes, a cup shock was on the cards as Alex Barrett converted a penalty corner to give the home supporters a highlight to remember.
Ten minutes later, Surbiton led 2-1 thanks to Gareth Furlong also showing his penalty corner expertise with conversions in the 10th and 17th minutes.
Surbiton then stunned Fareham with three open play goals in four minutes. Ben Hanson scored Surbiton's third goal in the 21st minute before Will Haspel struck twice in the 22nd and 24th minutes to take the tie away from the Hampshire club.
To their credit, Fareham only conceded two goals after half time with Rob Farrington taking slightly longer than usual to score after the interval, having scored at both Richmond and East Grinstead in the 36th minute in the Premier Division, he scored in the 37th minute to put Surbiton 6-1 ahead.
Surbiton's seventh goal came from the penalty spot in the 59th minute, Furlong completing his hat-trick to make the final score 7-1 against a team which battled hard and came out of the tie with immense credit.
Surbiton turn their attention back to the Men's Hockey League Premier Division next Saturday when they welcome Southgate to Sugden Road, push back 1800.