The two debutantes in the Men’s Premier Division were without a win at the start of the weekend but Havant went into their match against Bowdon this afternoon buoyed up by a good win against Canterbury yesterday. Bowdon’s trip south had been less successful, suffering a 6-2 defeat against East Grinstead. But watching this afternoon’s match one was left wondering why either club were swanning around in the lower reaches of the Division. Bowdon got off to a lively start but it was Tim Davenport who opened the scoring for Havant in the eighth minute. Havant’s second goal, sixteen minutes later, can from a penalty corner……against them! A well off-target injection resulted in the ball being intercepted and taken down the length of the pitch for Thornton McDade to put Havant two up. Bowdon had the game by the scruff of the neck for much of the second half but several shots at goal were off target or fended off by Chris Bristow in the Havant goal. It looked as if the score was going to remain at 2-0, but Tim Daventport (Picture shows him celebrating his second goal) struck twice more in the final minutes. Bowdon had the last word after Ali Ghazanfar was stick tackled in the Havant circle, but Simon Egerton’s conversion from the penalty spot was only a consolation goal and it leaves Bowdon three goals adrift and still without a point.
Havant’s second win of the weekend leaves them in seventh place as the two teams ahead of them, Loughborough Students and East Grinstead, both won today. Surbiton had been second behind Reading and only separated by goal difference at the start of the weekend. Yesterday’s defeat by Beeston was followed up by a 5-2 setback against Cannock and they slide from second to sixth.
Slazenger Premier Division Results:
Canterbury 2-6 East Grinstead
Havant 4-1 Bowdon
Loughborough Students 2-1 Hampstead & Westminster
Reading 3-1 Beeston
Surbiton 2-5 Cannock
Southgate’s revival looks on course as they beat Old Loughtonian’s 1-0 at home, the goal coming from Dan Shingles. They are one of three clubs at the top of the table on nine points. Second are Old Georgians where a goal from Nicky Thompson was enough to give them the three points against Chelmsford, who are now trailing at the bottom of the division. Third place Brooklands visited Guildford and came away with the three points. The Surrey club, who were relegated last season, look to be in trouble after a good start to the season.
Not entirely unexpectedly, Holcombe moved into the top place in the National South Division, with Dave Matthews scoring a hat trick in their 6-0 win over Ipswich. Also in hat-trick mode was Philip Balbirnie who scored four times in Cambridge University’s 6-2 win against Whitchurch. In the North Division, Birmingham University consolidated their place at the top of the division with a 5-1 win over Sikh Union Nottingham. High flying City of Peterborough suffered a surprise 4-1 defeat at Barford Tigers. Peterborough are second in the division and Barford are elevated to eighth from their former bottom place.
PICTURES OF THE MATCH BETWEEN HAVANT AND BOWDON WILL APPEAR ON OUR MAIN WEB SITE TOMORROW (MONDAY) TOGETHER WITH FULL UPDATED LEAGUE TABLES. GO TO www.talkhockeyradio.co.uk
