W2 Win 3-2 at Slough
By Colin Pike
Anyone following the Chloe Kelly saga, after the Manchester City footballer left the club in an attempt to get more minutes of playing time, may be surprised to know that there was also internal deadline day drama within Surbiton Hockey Club.
With both Surbiton's Women's 1s and Men's 1s not resuming their Premier Division campaigns until March, there were concerns that I might be missing out on valuable minutes of reporting time during February.
Therefore, I have been signed on loan during February as the Women's 2s' Press Officer, having previously reported on their games in the days when the Bulletin existed and when they were in the South Clubs' Women's Hockey League.
As a result, I headed to Slough for their first England Hockey League Division One South clash of 2025 and inadvertently mirrored those You Tubers who post videos of travelling from A to B by the most complicated route possible and put connections at risk.
Or in other words, I travelled from Surbiton to Hounslow on the 281 and then transferred to the 81 from Hounslow to Upton Court Road in Slough. Having arrived in Hounslow safely, I had a twenty minute wait for the 81 bus, which in mid journey decided to terminate at Harmondsworth, resulting in a rushed transfer to another 81 bus, which was actually going to Slough, at Harlington Corner!
Fortunately, I arrived at Slough HC ten minutes before push back and having made my way to the bench side of the pitch, was welcomed with a hug by Captain Lilie. I'm not sure whether it was because I was writing this match report, or whether I was being congratulated on actually remembering where the pitch was after several years since my last visit.
The scene was set with overcast skies and the floodlights switched on, but before I finally get round to reporting what happened on the pitch, I must reveal that there is a secret tradition that whenever the Women's 1s lose or suffer a setback, the appropriate phrase is "I blame the Press Officer".
The tradition is so secret that not all the Women's 1s players know it exists, but the reason I mention it is because after a goalless first quarter, it looked likely that the Women's 2s might adopt the tradition after Slough took the lead in the 22nd minute.
Goalkeeper Jemma needed treatment after the goal and quite rightly the situation was properly assessed before play was allowed to resume.
In the 25th minute, Tilly was upended in the circle and after dusting herself down, slotted the penalty stroke past our former goalkeeper Asha to level the scores at 1-1.
Two minutes later, Slough were awarded their own penalty stroke, but Jemma's save was so quick that you'd swear she hadn't moved!
Surbiton took control with two late goals at the end of the second quarter. The first contender for goal of the second half of the season came in the 33rd minute when Josie, after shrugging off the attention of a Slough defender, found herself in a one on one with the home goalkeeper after a long run before going round her to finish and put Surbiton ahead for the first time.
Just before half time, Issy poked the ball into the net to give the Women's 2s a 3-1 half time lead.
In the second half, Slough found the backboard in the 56th minute and in desperation to find an equaliser, replaced their goalkeeper with an outfield player, but seconds later the final whistle blew to ensure Surbiton completed the league double over their Berkshire opponents, having won 2-1 at Sugden Road in September.
Surbiton are fourth, four points behind leaders Barnes, who lost 4-2 at Southgate.
The University of Exeter and Guildford are second and third respectively after both teams drew 0-0. Exeter drew at Harleston Magpies and Guildford were held at Sevenoaks.
Next week sees an all second team confrontation as Wimbledon 2s are at Sugden Road for a 1430 push back. The teams drew 2-2 at Wimbledon in October.