THE USUAL SUSPECTS WIN DESPITE DEPLETED SQUADS

It was the men’s turn today to kick off the Premier and First Divisions of the Slazenger England Hockey League this afternoon. With members of the England squad unavailable and resting after Manchester, there was some pre-season speculation about how robust some of last season’s front runners’ squads would be. East Grinstead and Reading both fielded depleted sides at Saint Hill but both were bolstered by former England and GB players. Reading had the double problem of having to re-integrate some of their Welsh internationals back into the side, newly returned from duties in Portugal. One wag was heard to comment that the Reading side had to be introduced to one another before the match. Simon Mason had been lured out of retirement to keep goal for Reading, whilst Grinstead had the benefit of their new signing from Guildford, Danny Hall (Pictured). In the opening exchanges EG looked marginally the stronger side and it came as no surprise when David De Prez found the net after eight minutes. But midway through the half Austin Smith converted a penalty corner to put the sides on even terms. In the second half, Reading came out a better organised side and had the lion’s share of the play. Reading’s Iain MacKay added two more to the tally from open play, and Reading could easily have gone three ahead when Dominic Male tripped MacKay in the Grinstead circle, earning Reading a penalty stroke and Male a yellow card. Having survived that scare, thanks to a very weak flick at goal, East Grinstead began to re-assert themselves using Hall as their target man. It was a last gasp penalty corner that earned East Grinstead their second goal and Hall’s first league goal for his new club. Before the season started we predicted that Bowdon would lose to Cannock and Beeston would lose to Havant. We got the Bowdon part of the prediction right but at Beeston we seemed to be completely wrong with the half-time score 4-2 in Beeston’s favour. But Havant came back strongly in the second half with goals from Ahmed Ezz Mohamed and Calum Giles (2) to end the match on a draw.

Premier Division results:
Beeston 5 – 5 Havant
Bowdon 1 – 4 Cannock
East Grinstead 2 – 3 Reading
Hampstead & Westminster 2 – 1 Canterbury
Surbiton 1 – 0 Loughborough Students

In Division One, Danny Hall’s old club earned themselves three points at Sheffield University Bankers. Southgate’s trip to Chelmsford proved profitable, with the North Londoners scoring six for a reply of one.

Division One results:
Belper 1 – 3 Bournville
Brooklands 2 – 4 Bath Buccaneers
Chelmsford 1 – 6 Southgate
Old Georgians 2 – 3 Old Loughtonians
Sheffield University Bankers 0 – Guildford 1.

In the South Divison, Firebrands go top after three games. Holcombe’s visit to Exeter Uni was marked by two David Matthews penalty strokes, both of which were saved. Final score there, 3-3. In the North Division, University of Birmingham beat Harrogate 13-0, leaving them as the only team in the division on maximum points and a very healthy goal difference.

FULL LEAGUE TABLES WILL BE UPLOADED TO OUR MAIN WEB SITE TOMORROW TOGETHER WITH PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE EAST GRINSTEAD v READING MATCH. Go to www.talkhockeyradio.co.uk