M1 Cement Second Place After 4-0 Home Win Over Holcombe
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Men cemented their second place position in the Men's Hockey League Premier Division Top Six after their 4-0 home win over Holcombe on Saturday night.
Holcombe dropped to fourth, with Wimbledon moving up to third, three points behind Surbiton courtesy of their 3-0 win at Oxted.
Old Georgians won 4-2 at Hampstead & Westminster to maintain their seven point advantage over Surbiton and come closer to clinching the first European place on offer by finishing top of the Premier Division table at the end of Phase Two.
Surbiton played very well to keep their first home clean sheet of the season, having kept two away from home at Richmond and Bowdon in Phase One.
Surbiton took the lead in the 16th minute following an excellent passing move down the left which was finished off by Stuart Rushmere as the ball was poked home past Holcombe goalkeeper, Ollie Payne.
Holcombe fell two goals in arrears in the 24th minute, Struan Walker smashing the ball into the top right corner from a pass from Nick Park.
Holcombe had a chance to reduce the arrears from a sequence of three successive penalty corners in the second quarter, but Mubashar Ali was denied on all three occasions, even after Park was sent to the centre line for breaking early.
James Mazarelo made an excellent save from the third award to help preserve the clean sheet.
Walker struck again with his twentieth goal of the campaign a minute before half time, after Holcombe's Matt Symonds was caught in possession and James Gall passed to Walker to score and put Surbiton in a convincing position.
Gareth Furlong added the fourth goal from a 57th minute penalty corner conversion to complete a professional performance.
The game versus Holcombe can be watched back via the Surbiton Hockey Club You Tube channel here.
Sam Ward scored all four goals for Old Georgians at Paddington Recreation Ground. With Old Georgians three ahead, Josh Kelly replied for Hampstead with Josh Glew netting in the last minute.
Wimbledon were goalless at Oxted at half time, but second half goals from Ed Horler, Fred Newbold and LIam Ansell earned Wimbledon the three valuable points.
In the Lower Six, Beeston and Cardiff & Met are tied on 16 points with Cardiff having played a game more. Beeston won 4-2 at Bowdon, Henry Croft scoring twice with Joseph Paul and Oliver Manson also netting for the Nottingham club. Simon Egerton and Ollie Rogerson scored for Bowdon.
Cardiff & Met's hopes of joining the Top Six in the playoffs suffered a setback as East Grinstead won 4-2 in West Sussex to close to within a point of the Welsh club with a game in hand.
Cardiff led 2-0 through Scott Rawlings and Ioan Wall, but East Grinstead fought back with Simon Faulkner scoring twice and Sam Knight and Hugh Pembroke also on target.
Richmond remain five points adrift of Southgate after the teams drew 1-1 in West London. Jack Middleton gave Southgate the lead, but Scott Wall earned a point for Richmond with seven minutes to play.
Surbiton visit Wimbledon next Saturday, when push back at Raynes Park High School is 1600. The following day, local rivals, Old Georgians are the visitors to Sugden Road. Push back for Sunday's match is at 1600.