UPSETS GALORE IN THE ENGLAND HOCKEY LEAGUE. A round up of results in today's league and cup matches.

There were upsets galore in the men's England Hockey League, with the leaders dropping points to sides from the bottom half of the table.

Brooklands were eighth in the Premier Division this morning and pulled off something of a coup when Charlie Brooke scored a 70^th minute goal against leaders Beeston to finish the match 3-2 and dent Beeston's 100% record. Likewise, second placed Canterbury lost 2-1 away at Southgate. 

Despite the defeats, there is a substantial cushion between second and third place in the Premier Division, helped by the defeat of third placed Cannock by East Grinstead. Cannock had gone into half time with a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Peter Jackson and David Harris. Harris scored another 10 minutes into the second half, his second from the penalty spot. 'Grinstead's Rick Gay got his side back into the match with two penalty corner conversions, and this was followed by a golden five minutes which saw Mark Gleghorne, Mark Pearn and Andy Piper, give EG a 3-5 win. East Grinstead move up one place to fifth.

Surprisingly, after eight matches, the bottom five clubs are separated by only three points, so we could see some shuffling around in the remaining matches before Christmas. Loughborough Students were in fourth this morning and remain there after a 2-2 draw against Reading. Reading slip down to sixth as a result the draw and East Grinstead's win. The big losers this afternoon were Hampstead & Westminster. Their 2-2 draw against bottom placed Surbiton sees them drop from seventh to the relegation play-off spot. But, as we said, it's very close amongst the bottom five clubs.

Upsets were not confined to the Premier Division. Wimbledon, who have been at the top of the East Conference since week one, surrendered their place to Holcombe after losing 2-3 to Bromley and Beckenham. Holcombe travelled to Chiswick where their two East Grinstead exiles, Gareth Carr and Danny Hall, contributed two in their 0-4 win over Richmond.

In the North Conference, the top of the table tussle between Sheffield Hallam and Bowdon was settled when the two sides met. Hallam emerged as the 3-1 winners and they move into top place.


Today's results in the West Conference sees three sides on 15 points, with a fourth on 14. University of Exeter could only draw 1-1 against Havant, and have been caught by Guildford after Guildford beat Cardiff 1-0. The current top of the table reads; University of Exeter, Guildford, Cardiff. Bath Buccaneers slip to fourth after being beaten 2-1 by struggling Whitchurch.

There were four Premier Division sides in the last 16 of the Investec Women's Cup.  That number has been reduced to three as a result of the draw pitting University of Birmingham against Clifton. Despite two late goals from the University, it was clifton who progress through to the quarter finals on the back of a 2-4 win.

The other Premier Division sides playing in the Cup saw Bowdon Hightown beat Harrogate 2-0, and Sutton Coldfield beat Cannock 0-6.

TalkHockeyRadio was at Hollybush Close to see East Conference Sevenoaks play Firebrands from the West Conference. Despite being a reasonably balanced match, Firebrands failed to capitalise on their chances and goals from Nicky Lloyd and captain Jet Van Zalen gave Sevenoaks a deserved 2-0 win. We hope to have a few images from this match on our sister site at www.HockeyImages.co.uk later.

Others going through to the quarters finals are Wimbledon, Liverpool Sefton and Chelmsford.
FULL RESULTS AND TABLES CAN BE FOUND ON OUR MAIN WEB SITE AT: www.TalkHockeyRadio.co.uk.