OGs GRAB TOP DIV ONE SPOT WHILST READING PULL AWAY FROM PACK

Old Georgians moved into the top slot in the Slazenger Men’s Division One this afternoon with a 6-2 win over Sheffield University Bankers. A hotly disputed goal by OG’s Patrick Kelly in the sixteenth minute seemed to unsettle the Bankers and they were two down a minute late from a goal by Tom Doran. They slipped back further when Ryan Van Der Riet stepped up to convert a penalty corner in the 21^st, and veteran player-coach Nickie Tompson added another, putting the old boys in the second half with a 4-0 lead. Richard Beeching seemed to have started a bit of a revival when he found the net for the Bankers shortly after the restart and Steve Andrews added to the score with six minutes left on the clock but the home side had the last words with goals by Gareth Carr and a second by Van Der Reit (pictured, white shirt).

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THIS MATCH WILL APPEAR ON OUR MAIN WEB SITE (www.talkhockeyradio.co.uk) OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

Old Georgians elevation to the top spot came at the expense of Southgate who dropped two points by only managing a 1-1 draw at Bath Buccaneers. The two bottom place teams in the division were on the wrong end of some impressive scorelines, with Chelmsford scoring five at Old Louhtonians, only to lose 8-5 to the home side. Newly relegated Guildford continue to struggle, with third placed Bournville’s Chris Graham scoring at hat trick in his side’s 6-2 win over the Surrey side.

The Men’s Premier Division saw some considerable movement up and down in the wake of this afternoon’s matches. Reading are six points ahead of the pack following their 3-0 win at Cannock. East Grinstead, whose start to the season faltered, now seem to be motoring, as evidenced by their 8-3 win over Havant, with Dave De Prez scoring five goals in that match. Another team who got off to a slow start, Loughborough Students, saw off Canterbury 6-2, condemning the Kent side to bottom place. Bowdon recorded their first win of the season when they entertained Surbiton. Pakistan international, Ali Ghazanfar, and Alex Edmonstone were the scorers for Bowdon.

Bowdon’s women are still on maximum points at the top of the women’s EHL. The big news story there is that their victims today were second placed Slough and Bowdon’s Tina Cullen was not amongst the scorers. Leicester seem determined to prove that they can still cut the mustard even without their GB players, and they overcame the home side 5-1 on their visit to Poynton. Olton recorded their first win of the season in their 4-1 win over Ipswich, Denise Marston-Smith and Rachel Walker scoring two apiece.

FULL EHL TABLES WILL APPEAR ON OUR MAIN SITE TOMORROW.