Premier Division Review Week Six

Leaders Reading remain unbeaten but saw their lead at the top reduced to a point after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Wimbledon. Anna-Ross Gabbitass gave Reading an early lead that was cancelled out by Katie Birch in the 56th minute. Wimbledon are eighth and the draw specialists, this being their fourth stalemate of the season.

Hampstead & Westminster are in second thanks to a 6-0 win at Clifton Robinsons. Miriam Pritchard’s third clean sheet of the season. At the other end of the pitch Lucy Hyams hit a hat-trick for Hampstead. East Grinstead are level on points with Hampstead. They beat Bowdon 4-2 not looking back after a 1st minute goal from Biba Mills.

Champions Surbiton sit fourth. Having trailed twice they were in a danger of a third successive home defeat with the game in the balance at 2-2 but Darcy Bourne made amends for an earlier missed stroke with a 58th minute winner.

Bottom of the table Sutton Coldfield picked up their first point of the season in a 1-1 draw with Holcombe. Leisa Randall gave the Kent side the lead in the 42nd minute but Sutton’s skipper Susan Wood levelled things up with three minutes to go.

The University clash between Nottingham and Birmingham ended all-square. Nottingham led 2-1 after a frantic opening ten minutes but there were no further goals until six minutes from time when Sarah Parkinson-Mills scored an equaliser for the visitors. Birmingham are 5th, Nottingham 7th in the battle for a top six finish.

We will have a round-up of the other EHL Divisions to come, the Goals of the Week clips for both days will be out on Wednesday and the EHL Premier Preview podcast, looking ahead to next Saturday’s games lands on Thursday evening. Also see our new league web pages here.

Top Scorers (26 Oct):

Maddie Axford (University of Nottingham) 8

Biba Mills (East Grinstead) 5

Lily Sokhi (University of Birmingham) 5

Lucy Hyams (Hampstead & Westminster) 5

Mia Moore (Reading) 5

Olivia Shannon (Holcombe) 5

Clean Sheets:

Miriam Pritchard (Hampstead & Westminster) 3

Mila Welch (East Grinstead) 3

Leaders Old Georgians made it seven wins out of seven with a 7-2 win at Cardiff & Met on Saturday evening. There were two goals apiece for Chris Griffiths and Sam Ward with Tom Carson. Phil Roper and Alan Forsyth also on the scoresheet. Rhys Gowman and Jonny Fleck replied for the home team. OGs have now won their last 26 Premier Division games across all stages stretching back to September 2023.

Second placed Surbiton also had their shooting sticks out, winning 9-2 at East Grinstead, including a hat-trick for Jacob Payton and two for Struan Walker. Third placed Holcombe scored four for the third successive week, this time in a 4-1 win at Bowdon, who remain bottom of the table without a point.

Hampstead & Westminster are also high scoring winners on their travels, albeit a far shorter trip this Saturday, to Richmond where they won 7-1. That makes it 20 goals in their last three away games for Hampstead who move up to fourth in the process, going above Wimbledon on goal difference as they were held to a 3-3 draw by Oxted.

Although Oxted took an early lead Wimbledon hit back and looked in control 3-1 up with three minutes to go but Peter Jarvis converted a 67th minute corner and then Guy Morgan scored from another set-piece in the last play of the game.

The point will help Oxted in their quest for a top six finish. Another team with those aspirations is Beeston but they too were held 2-2 by Southgate, their third draw of the campaign. Henry Croft kept up his record of scoring in every game to put Beeston 2-1 up with 14 minutes to go but Southgate’s Archie Foster, who has also found the target regularly this season, scored his seventh, with six minutes to go to level things up.

There were no games in the other EHL Divisions over the weekend. The Goals of the Week will be out on Wednesday and the EHL Premier Preview podcast, looking ahead to next Saturday’s games lands on Thursday evening. Also see our new league web pages here.

Top Scorers (26 Oct):

Sam Ward (Old Georgians) 12

Struan Walker (Surbiton) 11

Alan Forsyth (Old Georgians) 9

Henry Croft (Beeston) 8

Matt Guise-Brown (Hampstead & Westminster) 8

Tom Carson (Old Georgians) 8

Clean Sheets:

James Mazarelo (Surbiton) 1

Ore Ogunlana (Wimbledon) 1

Mark Philpot (Cardiff & Met) 1

Toby Reynolds-Cotterill (Hampstead & Westminster) 1