M1 Beat Oxted To Qualify For Finals Weekend
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Men qualified for Finals Weekend at Nottingham Hockey Centre with a 5-2 victory over Oxted at Sugden Road on Saturday evening.
Having followed on from their 3-0 win over Beeston last weekend, Surbiton have six points, with Holcombe on four points after a 4-3 home win over Beeston. Oxted are on two points with Beeston on zero and neither Oxted or Beeston can prevent Surbiton from finishing in the top two places.
Surbiton will meet Holcombe at 1800 on 26 April to decide which team finishes top of Pool B.
The game versus Oxted can be watched back via the Surbiton Hockey Club channel on You Tube here.
Surbiton had beaten Oxted 4-2 and 5-3 at Sugden Road already this season and once again, Oxted were up for the challenge, leading 2-1 in the third quarter before Surbiton pulled away.
David Goodfield made his first appearance for Surbiton this season.
Oxted were unfortunate with the goal which broke the deadlock in the 17th minute, Rob Farrington running towards goal before shooting from the right of the circle at the same time as losing his footing, visiting goalkeeper, Max Christopher trying to make a save before the ball seemed to be deflected into goal off a defender.
Oxted, buoyed by last weekend's shootout victory at Holcombe, capitalised on their penalty corner routines to turn the match around in search of another outstanding result.
Oliver Bennett equalised from his side's first penalty corner in the 23rd minute and although Oxted had to wait until the 42nd minute for their second award, they took full advantage, Owen Williamson ensuring the visitors led for the second time at Sugden Road this season, Jamie Batten having put them 1-0 ahead on the opening day of the season.
However, this time, Surbiton battled back, player-coach Barry Middleton diving forward to poke the ball home from James Gall's cross in the 46th minute.
Six minutes later, Nick Nurse restored Surbiton's lead with a fine finish from a rebound after Struan Walker's strike came back off the crossbar.
Another fine finish by Stuart Rushmere in the 56th minute gave Surbiton the breathing space they needed and any hopes of an Oxted comeback were extinguished with four minutes to play, Gareth Furlong dispatching Surbiton's seventh penalty corner into the net.
Holcombe had to battle back from 3-1 down before finally seeing off Beeston's brave challenge. Teague Marcano equalised after William Prentice gave Beeston the lead, but goals from Ben Collinson and George Fletcher put Holcombe under severe pressure.
Ali Shan pulled a goal back in the 51st minute and Marcano struck twice in the 57th and 66th minutes to avoid another disappointing result for the Kent club and set up a pool topping matchup with Surbiton in a fortnight.
In Pool A, both Old Georgians and Wimbledon have qualified for the finals weekend with maximum points after two matches. Kyle Marshall, Alan Forsyth, Phil Roper and Sam Ward all scored for the reigning champions as they beat Hampstead & Westminster 4-0. Euan Gilmour scored a hat-trick as Wimbledon beat East Grinstead 5-2. Ed Horler and Fred Newbold also scored for Wimbledon; Trevor de Lora and Louis Tipper scored for East Grinstead.
Bowdon are still alive in the Premier Division, but will need to overcome a fifteen goal inferior goal difference compared with Southgate to stay up after they won 3-1 at Southgate. Hugh Page put Southgate 1-0 ahead in the seventh minute, but Bowdon's Cole Pidcock scored twice just before half time and Richie Dawson-Smith sealed Bowdon's victory in the last minute.
Richmond, who were relegated last weekend after a 4-3 defeat at Southgate, lost by the same scoreline at Cardiff & Met. Cardiff led 3-0 through Matthew Magann, Jack Pritchard and Hari Bhogal, but Richmond's Hamish Imrie and Cardiff's Scott Rawlings both scored in the 58th minute. Jack Clee pulled a second goal back for Richmond with ten minutes remaining but they ran out of time to find an equaliser after Scott Wall scored in the last minute.
Surbiton Men now turn their attention to the Euro Hockey League FINAL8. Surbiton face Kampong in the FINAL8 in s'Hertogenbosch at 1615 BST (1715 CET) on 17 April. If Surbiton win, they will face the winner of the match between Bloemendaal and Club Campo De Madrid at 1500 BST (1600 CET) on 19 April. If Kampong win, Surbiton will face the loser of the Bloemendaal match at 1030 BST (1130 CET) on 19 April.
More information about the Euro Hockey League can be found at the Euro Hockey Altius website here.
The Euro Hockey League will be streamed by Eurohockey TV. Passes for the Euro Hockey League are 14.99 Euro and can be purchased here.