Most of today's action was in Round 2 of the Men's Cup Round 2, but there was match in the West Conference which saw Guildford beat Whitchurch 1-0 away. This moves Guildford into fourth place, but they have played one more game than all bar Whitchurch.
There were no surprises in today's Cup games, although one or two England Hockey League sides were given a fright by their opponents. TalkHockeyRadio was at Fareham to see the hosts play St Albans. The first ten minutes were not promising, with St Albans taking all of ten minutes to pay their first visit to the home side's twenty-three metre line. Both sides were guilty of sloppy passing, careless trapping, and there were more turnovers than you could make out of a box of apples.
Steve Hurworth's 19th minute goal for St Albans put a flame under the match, and from that moment on it became addictive watching. Fareham soon recovered, and gained a 3-1 lead thanks to goals from Paul Hilton, Richard Jenkins and Luke Cornish. But St Albans responded strongly and Fareham were on their way out when, at 3-4, Fareham's Craig Peel scored an equaliser, pushing the match into golden goal extra time. It was Peel who settled the issue three minutes into extra time. Final score 5-4 to Fareham. Pictures from this match are on our sister web site at www.HockeyImages.co.uk
Elsewhere, Olton & West Warwicks scored two late goals to reduce Cannock's final win to 3-2, whilst at Rugby and East Warwickshire there was also a late rally against Beeston, who finally won 4-3. Canterbury found themselves trailing 3-2 at West Herts, but a second half hat-trick from David Matthews put the Kent side through to Round 3.
As usual in the early rounds of the Cup, one or two sides came away with uncomfortable results. Brooklands MU beat Didsbury Northern 9-0, whilst struggling Bowdon put ten past Belper for no reply.
Full results can be found here: http://www.talkhockeyradio.co.uk/page51.html.
