W1 Start Pool A Campaign With 6-1 Win Over Reading
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Women beat Reading 6-1 to start their League Finals Pool A campaign with an emphatic performance at a sunny Sugden Road on Saturday afternoon.
Surbiton caught Reading out with two goals in the first six minutes, Erica Sanders opening the scoring at the right post in the fifth minute and Darcy Bourne finding the backboard a minute later.
Sanders struck again just before half time as the Berkshire club's defence of their title was put in jeopardy.
In the 53rd minute, history was made as Giselle Ansley scored an open play goal at the right post, having last scored from open play in October 2011 for Loughborough Students in a 7-0 home win over Doncaster.
Reading's misery was completed when Amy Costello converted Surbiton's seventh penalty corner in the 56th minute and a minute later, Bourne's shot went in off Reading goalkeeper, Nicki Cochrane's pads.
Reading's only consolation was a goal two minutes from time from Annie Wilson.
Surbiton frequently managed to dispossess the Reading forwards and create counter attacks and the game was a complete contrast to the previous meeting at the same venue, where Surbiton won 1-0 on 22 March thanks to Maddie Axford's winning goal.
In the other match in Pool A, Charlotte Watson scored the only goal as Wimbledon beat Loughborough Students 1-0.
In Pool B, Millie Giglio and Biba Mills scored for East Grinstead, but Alice Atkinson, Sarah Parkinson-Mills and Lily Sokhi earned the University of Birmingham a 3-2 win in West Sussex.
Hampstead and Westminster beat Durham University 4-2, Tyler Lench, Jo Leigh, Rachel Greenwood and Holly Hunt scoring for Hampstead with Lorna Crawford and Rebecca Birch replying for Durham.
Barnes beat Clifton Robinsons 4-3 in the relegation playoffs with Maddie Long, Claudia Swain, Rachel Goodwin and Aleesa Ferguson netting for Barnes. Ella Cusack and Victoria McCabe's brace weren't enough to ease the Bristol club's relegation fears.