England Hockey League 2023/24 Premier Division Weekend 2 Preview

Premier Division returnees Southgate host Holcombe (7pm) in a first ever top flight meeting between the two unbeaten sides when the second round of games in the top flight resumes on Saturday.

Table toppers Holcombe travel to North London hoping for a better journey than the one Southgate experienced last weekend when their bus broke down before leaving the club.

The players were forced to take cars to Cardiff, but Southgate still looked in fine fettle on opening day after they and Holcombe scored four goals apiece in their victories.

This meeting will also reprise old wounds, with Southgate pipping Holcombe to the Conference East title by one point nine years ago. New signing Louis Duprez is set to play his first game for Holcombe.

Surbiton travel to Old Georgians in what looks set to be the match of the day at St. George’s College (6pm).

Surbiton won the first meeting between the teams in November 2019 (4-3), but haven’t beaten their rivals since. 

Alan Forsyth can become the first player to score for both teams in this fixture, having netted a brace for Surbiton in that 2019 win. Old Georgians did the double over Surbiton last season, winning both matches 2-1.

Reading may be the closest Premier Division club to Cardiff & Met, but the two sides will play their first Men’s Hockey League match on Saturday (18:30).

Hosts Reading will be hoping to turn around a poor run of three successive 4-0 losses, their last goal scored by Adam Pescod in February.

Oxted and Wimbledon (16:30) only met once in 2022-23, with Wimbledon winning 6-1 at home and Ed Horler bagging four goals. 

Indeed, Oxted will be aiming for a totally different outcome this weekend after also losing 6-0 in 2021 - and will be full of confidence after beating local rivals East Grinstead last weekend.

Meanwhile, East Grinstead travel to Beeston for a 6pm push back. Both top flight matches were drawn last season, while the West Sussex side will be looking for a first win in Nottingham since March 2019.

Another 6pm start will mark University of Nottingham’s first visit to Hampstead & Westminster in the Men’s Premier Division. 

Hampstead won 6-0 at Nottingham last season in the teams’ only meeting, Sam French scoring twice.

Stat Attack

Following three goals in successive minutes in last week's Wimbledon v Beeston clash (Henry Croft 58, 59; Ed Horler 60), Wimbledon scored three in three minutes in their 12-1 win at University of Nottingham last season (Jack Turner 14, Ben Hooper 15, Peter Scott 16).

Leaders on goal difference after the opening weekend in the Vitality Women’s Premier Division, Clifton Robinsons play their first home match of the season in a Saturday midday push back (12:15pm) when Wimbledon travel to Bristol.

Juliet Rayden’s side were the only team to keep a clean sheet last Saturday, while Wimbledon will be looking for their first points after losing to a late Beeston goal.

However, Wimbledon have won their last three Premier Division regular season matches away to Clifton Robinsons.

While Beeston earned their first win away at Wimbledon, they will also be aiming for another first when they take on champions East Grinstead (4pm).

Beeston have never beaten East Grinstead at home in the Premier Division, while the West Sussex side came away with a 7-1 win at Nottingham Hockey Centre in February before beating James Sordillo’s side a month later in the League Finals.

Beeston’s neighbourly rivals, University of Nottingham, head to the capital for a meeting with Hampstead & Westminster (4pm), who play a university side for the second weekend running.

The Londoners, who drew with University of Birmingham on opening day, have only faced UoN once in the league when they ran out convincing 8-2 winners last October when Anna O’Flanagan and Lauren Hunt both bagged hat-tricks.

Bowdon, who won their first game back in the Premier Division against East Grinstead, play their first home game in the top flight since March 2020 when they host University of Birmingham (13:30).

Birmingham won 2-0 on their last visit to Greater Manchester a month earlier in 2020, the students having drawn 2-2 at home on the opening day of the 2019-20 season.

Isca & University of Exeter travel to Surbiton (3pm) for another big test of their Premier Division credentials.

Isca play their second successive away game against a Surbiton team, having lost 1-0 to Surbiton 2s in April. 

The match saw Isca’s unbeaten season end in the final game of the season, while former players Martha Taylor and Ella Burnley have now moved to Surbiton.

After a superb opening win against Surbiton, Reading head on the road to Loughborough Students for a 2pm push back.

The Students will also be playing Reading at home in successive games after hosting the Berkshire outfit in their final game of last season. The game ended 2-2. 

*All stats kindly provided by Colin Pike