W1 Hold Reading To 4-4 Draw In Thriller
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Women ended Reading's one hundred per cent record at Sonning Lane on Sunday afternoon, coming back from 2-0 down to draw 4-4 in a thriller, nearly 24 hours after Surbiton's M1 drew 4-4 at Holcombe in the Men's Hockey League Premier Division.
Having gone through the 2022-23 and 2023-24 Women's Hockey League Premier Division regular season without drawing a single match, the draw at Reading was Surbiton's first draw since 9 April 2022 when they drew 1-1 at home to Wimbledon.
Their last draw away from home was at Clifton Robinsons on 18 September 2021 and the 4-4 score is Surbiton's highest, since Surbiton drew 3-3 at home to Clifton on 9 March 2013.
But these records would have been irrelevant if not for Nicki Cochrane going to her right to save Darcy Bourne's penalty stroke in the 57th minute after Meg Dowthwaite was brought down.
But even more remarkable was that seven of the eight goals came from penalty corners with Reading forcing ten penalty corners and Surbiton forcing eleven for the second day running.
After half an hour, Reading seemed on course for their sixth successive win of the season as Lorna Mackenzie converted in the 20th and 30th minutes as Surbiton trailed 2-0.
A minute before half time, Jordan Homann halved Reading's lead and in the 43rd minute, Surbiton were on level terms after a superb strike from Bourne which proved to be the only goal from open play.
Mia Moore restored Reading's lead in the 49th minute, only for Surbiton to equalise again two minutes later as Martha Taylor's shot crept over the Reading goal-line to make the score 3-3.
Fran Clements gave Reading a 4-3 lead in the 53rd minute before Cochrane denied Bourne the chance of an equaliser from the penalty spot.
However, Bourne did restore parity with nine minutes to go and give Surbiton some consolation after their 2-0 home defeat to Hampstead & Westminster the previous day.
Surbiton stay fourth, six points behind Reading on a day when four of the six Premier Division fixtures were drawn.
Hampstead drew 1-1 with Wimbledon, Lucy Hyams levelling for the hosts after Lydia Macdonell gave Wimbledon a first half lead.
The University of Birmingham also drew 1-1 with Clifton Robinsons, Jess Lea giving the Bristol club a third minute lead, only for Carter Ayars to salvage a point six minutes from time.
The East Midlands university derby also ended level with Loughborough Students drawing 3-3 with the University of Nottingham. Nottingham led 3-1 through Claudia Swain, Monica Watkins and Katie Alexander, but after Liv Breed gave Loughborough their first equaliser, Madeleine Goodman and Catherine Reid earned the hosts a point with eight minutes to play.
Amy Thompson gave East Grinstead a 1-0 win over Holcombe by scoring ten minutes from time. And Bowdon were the other winners on Sunday as they beat Sutton Coldfield 2-0 with Tor Hughes and Maddie Scullion on target.
Loughborough Students are Surbiton's opponents next Saturday, when the match starts at 1700.