Canterbury continue to confound our early season pessimism by going into second place in the Men's Premier Division after beating Surbiton 1-2 away. A James Gall goal had given Surbiton a brief lead in the 51st minute, but Michael Farrer equalised from a penalty corner five minutes later, and Kwan Brown put the icing on Canterbury's cake with a 69th minute goal. Surbiton find themselves in the unfamiliar territory of bottom place with one point from four games.
It was a late goal at Highfields which kept Beeston at the top of the table. Playing East Grinstead at home, Simon Egerton scored a last gasp goal from a corner – his second of the game – to beat their visitors 3-2. EG slip two places down the table to fifth. Reading found themselves travelling in the opposite direction with a useful win at home against Southgate. Southgate staged a late rally with a Callum Burden goal, but with only two minutes left on the clock they were unable to capitalise on it. Reading move up to third, whilst Southgate stay in the play-off slot.
Loughborough Students must have been full of optimism as they went into the second half of their match against Cannock, 3-1 ahead. Their day was spoilt by a Peter Jackson hat-trick, which saw the match end 3-4 in Cannock's favour. Cannock move up from fifth to fourth, whilst the Students slip from sixth to seventh. Brooklands MU, who seemed to be having a better season than expected, found themselves on the wrong end of a 1-3 scoreline at home to Hampstead & Westminster. Brooklands go from seventh to eighth, whilst the West London side move up to sixth.
In the Conferences, Wimbledon lost their 100% record in the East when they played Holcombe yesterday evening. Ironically, their 2-2 draw keeps Wimbledon in top place whilst Holcombe slip down to third. In the North, Sheffield Hallam retain their 100% record by beating Belper 5-3 this afternoon. After a hesitant start to their season, Bath Buccaneers have moved into more familiar territory in the West Conference table. A 4-2 win over Firebrands promotes them to top place.
Round 1 of the Investec Women's Cup was played the afternoon. 13 turned out to be the unlucky number for Maidstone as they went down 13-0 at the hands of Surbiton, going one better than Sutton Coldfield who beat Old Halesonians 12-0. The other matches involving Premiership clubs saw Clifton beat Gloucester City 2-1, and Birmingham University beat Stourport 1-5.
