Men’s Hockey League Premier Division Review – 16/17 October 2021
Surbiton moved to the top of the Men’s Hockey League Premier Division after thrashing Brooklands Manchester University 9-1 on Saturday evening.
KHC Dragons – Surbiton HC
Picture: Luke Taylor celebrates his 1-1 goal with Gareth Furlong.
WORLDSPORTPICS COPYRIGHT FRANK UIJLENBROEK
After Nick Hale gave Brooklands a 15th minute lead, Surbiton scored five goals in ten minutes; Rob Farrington scoring in the 25th and 33rd minutes, Ben Boon putting the hosts 2-1 up in the 30th minute and Luke Taylor also scoring twice including a penalty stroke just before half time. Taylor scored from the penalty spot again in the 54th minute and after David Goodfield opened his account in the 56th minute, Taylor grabbed his fourth goal of the night in the 57th minute. Boon completed the scoring with a last minute strike. Surbiton have now scored 42 goals in their last six home matches with Brooklands, who have scored six.
Old Georgians were poised to regain the lead on Sunday, but their 2-1 win at Holcombe was not enough and with both Surrey clubs locked together on 12 points and a goal difference of plus 16, only Surbiton’s 23 goals scored compared with Old Georgians’ 18, separate the teams. Sam Ward, the Division’s leading goalscorer with eleven, two ahead of Surbiton’s Taylor, put Old Georgians ahead in the 23rd minute, but Tim Guise-Brown levelled with nine minutes remaining. James Tindall netted the winner in the 64th minute.
Also on 12 points, but having played a game more, Wimbledon are third after they closed the goal difference gap with an 8-0 home win over the University of Durham. Having won 6-4 last season, Wimbledon led 2-0 at half time before scoring six goals without reply in the second half. Duncan Scott opened the scoring in the 15th minute, with Ronan Harvey-Kelly doubling the lead in the 29th minute. David Condon added a third goal in the 42nd minute before Wimbledon exploded with five goals in ten minutes as Surbiton had done on Saturday. Eddie Way put Wimbledon 4-0 up in the 51st minute, Arthur Hughes scored the fifth in the 54th minute, Ed Horler scored with a penalty stroke a minute later, Harvey-Kelly notched his second goal in the 59th minute and Sam Hooper completed the scoring with nine minutes to play.
In spite of Matt Guise-Brown’s eighth goal of the season, Hampstead & Westminster dropped their first points after being held to a 2-2 draw at Beeston. The Nottingham club, looking for their first win of the campaign, led through Josh Pavis’s 39th minute opener, only for Hampstead to turn the match around with two goals in five minutes courtesy of Guise-Brown’s penalty corner conversions in the 43rd and 48th minutes. Sam Apoola salvaged a point for Beeston five minutes from time.
The University of Exeter are now the only team in the Premier Division without a point, but they came close to drawing at Oxted before Owen Williamson converted a last minute penalty corner to win 2-1 and hand Exeter their twelfth successive defeat. Max Lowrey had given Exeter a tenth minute lead, but Chris Webster equalised for Oxted in the 26th minute as Oxted beat the Devon university for the second time in the top flight, having failed to beat them in the National South Division or the Promotion Tournament.
