M1 Win 8-0 At Richmond
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Men are one of three teams on maximum points after the first two rounds of the Men's Hockey League Premier Division season.
Surbiton won 8-0 at Richmond on Saturday evening to sit second in the Premier Division table on goal difference behind Old Georgians and ahead of Holcombe.
Richmond were due to play their first ever top-flight match last Saturday at Beeston, but a thunderstorm saw the game abandoned after three quarters with Beeston winning 3-0, with the match rearranged for Sunday (29 September).
Beeston won the rearranged match 3-1 after Scott Wall put Richmond ahead. Two goals from Henry Croft and a goal from Jamie Rawlings saw Beeston complete a second half comeback.
The game at Richmond started with the sun beginning to set before the floodlights took full effect in front of an enthusiastic home crowd.
The match saw the Surbiton debuts of Max Anderson and Jake Smith at the Quintin Hogg Memorial Ground, where the number 13 proved unlucky for the hosts.
But it wasn't unlucky for Jake Payton who opened the scoring in the 13th minute from open play after Richmond and Surbiton took a while to settle down.
Three minutes later, it was Surbiton's shirt number 13, Struan Walker, who doubled Surbiton's lead from their third penalty corner. When a team suffers a heavy defeat, sometimes the goalkeeper's performance is questioned, but Richmond's Will Burns made a stunning glove save diving to his left in the 22nd minute and the result only happened because Surbiton were able to play at a higher level than the hosts, whose commitment was never in doubt.
The visitors' penalty corner routine bore fruit again in the 28th minute as Luke Taylor scored Surbiton's third goal from their fourth penalty corner, before Walker struck for a second time a minute before the interval to leave Richmond trailing 4-0 at half time.
Seconds into the third quarter, Surbiton were 5-0 ahead, Rob Farrington catching out the Richmond defence, with Conor Williamson making it 6-0 from the penalty spot in the 40th minute.
Taylor was on target from Surbiton's sixth penalty corner at the end of the third quarter and the enthusiastic home supporters cheered when Richmond earned their only penalty corner of the match with fifteen minutes remaining, even though Surbiton successfully defended the set piece.
There were gasps of excitement as Matt Court came close to scoring Richmond's first ever Premier Division goal, the angled shot going wide of James Mazarelo's left post.
Walker completed his hat-trick from Surbiton's ninth and final penalty corner in the penultimate minute of the game, Surbiton matching their 8-0 win at Cardiff & Met last season, following a 9-1 victory at Beeston during a purple patch for the Surbiton forwards.
Old Georgians showed that they are once again going to be a force to be reckoned with as they also scored eight goals, at home to Southgate. The visitors actually led through Archie Foster but Old Georgians battled back as Sam Ward netted a hat-trick, Alan Forsyth notched a brace and Tom Carson, James Albery and David Condon were also on target.
Holcombe won 4-1 in South Wales against Cardiff & Met, who are still looking for their first home Premier Division win. Tom Russell, Matt Ramshaw, Mubashar Ali and Rohan Bhuhi scored for the Kent club while what proved to be Cardiff's consolation was netted by Ioan Wall just before half time.
Hampstead & Westminster dropped their first points in a 2-2 home draw with Beeston, who began their 2024-25 campaign after last week's abandonment. Beeston led twice through Toby Stanley and Henry Croft but Matt Guise-Brown and Kei Kaeppeler levelled twice, the second equaliser coming a minute from time.
Bowdon conceded six goals for the second week running as Wimbledon ran out 6-0 winners in South West London. Liam Ansell struck twice, with Ben Francis, Evan Kimber, Euan Gilmour and Connor Greentree adding to the newly promoted club's misery.
In the local derby, Oxted prevailed over East Grinstead at Caterham School with a 4-2 victory. Oliver Bennett, Thomas Finnegan, Owen Williamson and Peter Jarvis helped Oxted reverse the result of last week's defeat at Surbiton, whilst Louis Tipper and Simon Faulkner replied for the West Sussex club.
Surbiton turn their attention to the Euro Hockey League next weekend as they face a rematch with Waterloo Ducks from Belgium at 1730 on Saturday (5 October) after missing out 4-2 in a shootout in Eindhoven in 2019 after a 1-1 draw, also at the KO16 stage.
Waterloo Ducks went on to become EHL champions with a 4-0 win over Germany's Rot-Weiss Koln in the final.