Week 9 Review of the England Hockey League

Barnes returned to winning ways with a 3-0 victory over Harleston Magpies to remain at the top of Women’s Division One South Their win saw them extend their lead to two points over Guildford who replaced Surbiton 2s in second place after a 3-2 away win. A closely contested battle saw both sides level at 2-2 at the half time break but Guildford’s Kerryn Swanepoel’s field goal in the 66^th minute gave the visitors all 3 points. Southgate also won 3-2 away, after trailing 2-1 at half time Charlotte Childs rescued 3 pts with a field goal with five minutes remaining.  Sevenoaks visit Barnes and Southgate travel to Guildford as both teams face the top two on the final weekend of the first half of the season. Elsewhere Exeter University secured a 2-1 win over struggling Bristol Firebrands with goals from Charlotte Graham & Emma Williamson in the 18^th and 49 minutes of the game. Slough also picked up a valuable three points, their 1-0 win over Wimbledon 2s earning Slough’s second win of the season, giving them a two-point advantage over ninth placed Bristol Firebrands with the teams due to meet in Bristol this weekend.

This weekend saw only two fixtures take place in Division One North, as the bad weather took its toll on the North of the Country. Beeston secured a 5-1 win over Ben Rhydding with goals from Isabelle Smith, Cerys Miller, Alexa Berkin-Evans & Lauren Burrell (2), Repton travelled to Olton & West Warwickshire and secured their third win of the season beating the hosts 3-1 In a game in which the scoreline fluctuated, Maisey Gaunt opened the scoring for Repton with a field goal in the 7th minute, Olton & WW equalized through a Kate Edgeworth field goal in the 49^th minute but Repton responded to score again late in Q3 (52 mins) with a field goal from Kat Melson and then again early in Q4 (54 mins), securing the three points with a converted penalty corner by Anna Metcalf.

All postponed fixtures will be replayed over the weekend of 7^th /8^th Dec

Reading 2s saw their six-point lead reduced to four as they had to fight back to secure a 3-3  draw with Lansdown. Second placed Trojans led 2-0 through goals from Amy Sheehan in the 12^th minute and Jennifer Gough in the 27^th minute but allowed the hosts, Exeter to score from a penalty corner converted by Lorel Wallis in the 70^th minute, the game finishing 2-1 to Trojans.  Cheltenham moved up to fifth in the table with an impressive 5-1 win over Swansea. Clifton Robinsons 2s secured their fifth win this season with two goals from Verity Clark to see them beat Witney 2-1. Marlow hosted Team Bath Buccaneers, securing a 2-0 win with goals from Martha Goodridge in the 23^rd minute and Lauren Hilditch in the 44^th minute moving Marlow up from eighth to sixth.

The Conference North was badly hit with four out of the five scheduled fixtures being postponed. The rearranged fixtures will all be played over the weekend of 7^th /8^th Dec. The only match to survive saw Bowdon 2s win 2-1 at Harrogate after trailing 1-0 at half time.

Conference East leaders Teddington narrowly secured a 1-0 win over London Wayfarers with a field goal scored by Mariana Garcia Moritan in the 50^th minute while Hampstead & Westminster 2s battled to a 2-1 win over Old Georgians to maintain second place in the table with both teams scoring in the 42^nd minute,  Bente Eggink putting Hampstead ahead before Gemma Doran levelled, Siofra Murdoch scoring the winner from a penalty corner in the 66^th minute. Spencer kept up the pressure on the top two, netting all five goals in the first half to beat struggling Sevenoaks 2s 5-0. Goals from Canterbury’s Sarah Kerly, Emma Reid, Iona Lester & Amy Stoutt helped them secure a valuable three points with a 4-1 win over East London while Wapping and Old Loughtonians fought out a 1-1 draw.

Conference Midlands leaders Loughborough Students 2’s game against Cannock was postponed as was Beeston 2s v Oxford Hawks. Cambridge City hosted local rivals Cambridge University, City winning 4-2 thanks to a hat trick from Emily McStea and a goal from Isla Campbell to move them to second in the table with Cambridge University now dropping from second to fourth. Birmingham University 2s were held to a 3-3 draw by Stourport, who are one point behind Cambridge City in third.  St Albans took all three points over struggling Bedford, winning 2-0 after Kirsty Barber converted a penalty corner just before half time and a second goal from April Leeson in the 52^nd minute.

Loughborough Students maintained their three-point lead at the top of the Men’s Division One North with a penalty corner goal scored by Joe Cotton in the 49^th minute to give them a 1-0 win in another all-student derby at Durham University. Second placed Brooklands MU took a 4-1 lead into the third quarter but allowed Nottingham University back into the game to score a further two goals through Zac Buck in the 60^th minute and Jules Bournac in the 63^rd minute but held on to win 4-3. Deeside Ramblers travelled to Birmingham University but were unable to repeat last week’s second half comeback, Birmingham University winning 3-2 to move from eighth to fourth, but only one point ahead of nearest rivals, Olton & West Warwickshire, Deeside Ramblers and Durham University. The bottom two teams, Lindum and Stourport took to the field with all to play for but the game saw Lindum taking all three points with a 3-1 win with goals from Ben Read, Angus Graham and Matt Goodley. The Olton & West Warwickshire v Harborne game was postponed and will be replayed over the weekend of 7^th /8^th December.

Whilst Reading kept their place at the top of Division One South, their game at Teddington was abandoned due to the weather. Indian Gymkhana closed the gap to one point having played a game more following their narrow 1-0 win at Havant with Jagdev Bal converting a penalty corner in the 54^th minute. Old Loughtonians and Sevenoaks battled out a 4-4 draw with Oliver Macintyre scoring a hat trick for Old Loughtonians, all his goals from penalty corners. Canterbury travelled to Bath & secured their first win of the season with a 2-1 win over Bath Buccaneers. Bath opened the scoring in the fifth minute through Sam Watson scoring from a penalty corner, but Craig Boyne and Thomas Degiovanni turned the match round for the visitors from goals scored in the 15^th and 40^th minutes. Exeter University improved on their 7 points with a 6-0 win over University of Bristol moving them to seventh place in the table.

Timperley could only manage a 2-2 draw with Doncaster which reduced their five-point lead over Leeds to three in the Conference North after Leads’ Dillon Bhogal (2), Oliver Frith, Ed Wheeler and Jack Fletcher helped secure a 5-1 win over Sheffield. Brooklands Manchester University 2s beat bottom placed Wakefield 1-0 with Max Wedderburn scoring the only goal of the game from a penalty corner in the 69^th minute. After two successive defeats, Durham University 2s returned to winning ways to overcome mid table Oxton with a 5-2 win. Ben Rhydding travelled to Didsbury Northern to gain a valuable point, taking the lead through Will Musgrave in the 6^th minute, Didsbury Northern responded in the 15^th minute with a field goal from Harry Talks, the game ending in a 1-1 draw.

Conference East leaders London Wayfarers won 5-1 at Wimbledon 2s to keep their three-point advantage over second placed Surbiton 2s who won 4-0 at Hampstead & Westminster 2s through goals from Scott Jones, Ben Hanson, Scott Pearce & Joshua Redstone, while Spencer’s 5-1 win over bottom of the table West Herts kept them level on points with Surbiton.  Tunbridge Wells won 2-1 at Old Cranleighans to join the hosts on ten points going into the last round of matches in 2024. Brighton & Hove drew 1-1 at Bromley & Beckenham, Toby Price putting Brighton ahead in the 41^st minute before Juan Martin Gomez Sanchez levelled eight minutes later. Ninth place Brighton are a point behind Bromley & Beckenham and two points behind Tunbridge Wells and Old Cranleighans.

Repton’s 10-3 win over Harleston Magpies now takes them 4 points clear at the top of Conference Midlands. St Albans’ Richard Laverick – Brown’s brace helped them secure a 3-2 win at Nottingham University 2s to move St. Albans up to second. Chelmsford started well away from home to the University of Birmingham 2s when Marcus Bradley- Stevenson opened the score in the 5^th minute and Jack Meer got a second in the 15^th minute but the University side  were able to pull one back in 23^rd minute when Robert Dymond converted a penalty corner, and completed the comeback in the 46^th minute when Lewis Ingram successfully converted a penalty stroke to make the final score 2-2. Norwich City took all three points from Banbury with a 3-0 win, whilst struggling Cambridge City managed to secure their second win of the season with a 4-3 win over Barford Tigers, this win now takes Cambridge off the bottom of the table.   

Guildford took on their nearest rivals Clifton Robinsons 2s in Conference West but were unable to maintain their 100% winning record as they were held to a 3-3 draw. Clifton Robinsons took an early 2-0 lead through Alexander Holmes and Ben Stone, but Guildford’s Cameron Baker completed his hat trick in the 70^th minute to earn the 3-3 draw. Oxford Hawks dropped points with a 3-2 loss away to University of Exeter 2s after conceding a penalty stroke in the 63^rd minute which was converted by Ben Rees for the hosts. Third place Chichester took all three points with a 3-0 win over Ashmoor despite a half time score of 0-0. Reading 2s came back from 2-0 down to force a 2-2 draw with Isca to see both teams eighth & ninth in the table both now on 8 points, while bottom of the table Team Bath Buccaneers 2s beat Fareham 3-2 with Bath Buccaneers’ Louis Bowen-Rayner, Sam France and Howard Richards all scoring field goals to secure Team Bath’s first win of the season.