Giant killing acts are rare enough in hockey but, like buses,
three come along at the same time.
There was a clutch of upsets in the Men’s Cup quarter finals
this afternoon, but probably the most remarkable was the match between Sevenoaks
and Hampstead & Westminster at Hollybush Close. H&W are currently seventh in the
NOW:Pensions Premier Division, and Sevenoaks are outside of the England Hockey
League, currently lying third in the South Premier. The warning signs were
already there, Sevenoaks had already dispatched North Conference Bowdon in the
previous round.
From the first whistle Sevenoaks came at Hampstead &
Westminster like a bullet out of a gun, and were camped out in their half for
much of the first 30 minutes. They got their reward when Mike Holland converted
a penalty corner in the 14th minute.
Surely this was going to be Sevenoaks’ token goal before being taken to
the cleaners? And so it seemed after
Hampstead’s Oliver Didham powered a shot into the ‘Oaks goal ten minutes later.
Not dispirited, the home side kept up the pressure. And the
pressure paid off when Will Goulstone found the net. So was this when the Londoners’ would assert
themselves? But Sevenoaks remained fired up and another attack resulted in Mike
Barber making it 3-1 before half-time.
The second half saw Hampstead assert themselves a little more.
Their Nick McLaughlin pulled one back for them to bring the score to 3-2. The
last nail biting minutes saw the ‘Oaks down to 10 men after their captain was sent
to the naughty seat, and they faced a series of penalty corners. But somehow
H&W failed to build on their temporary advantage, and the score remained
stubbornly at 3-2. And that is how the
match ended, with Sevenoaks through to the semi-finals.
Not wishing to take anything away from Sevenoaks, it was more a case of H&W losing the match
than Sevenoaks winning it. Some extremely sloppy passing resulted in H&W
giving away possession more times that you would expect from a Premiership
side, and they paid the price. Hampstead & Westminster have a history of
getting through to finals but doing it the hard way, particularly against
lesser opponents. This time, a lesser
opponent stopped them in their tracks.
Hampstead’s traditional opponents in the Finals has been
Beeston, but they will be noticeable by their absence too. They were knocked out 4-3 by North Conference
Brooklands MU.
The other Premier Division side, Cannock, finished their
match against East Conference Oxted 1-1. Oxted then went on to win the shoot
out 12-11.
The all-East Conference match between Old Loughtonians and
Bromley & Beckenham ended 3-1 to the Loughts’.
Photographs from the match between Sevenoaks and Hampstead
& Westminster will appear on our Pictures web site soon.
