The NOW Pensions Championship Final between Beeston and
Surbiton at Reading yesterday was....and we hesitate before using the
words.....a game of two halves. Surbiton
found themselves on the rack early in the match, facing waves and waves of
attacks from Beeston, and going down 2-0 within 14 minutes thanks to goals from
Martin Jones and Ollie Willars. Surbiton
made a token effort to get back into the match with a token goal from James
Tindall, but Beeston had notched up two more before the break, courtesy of
Craig Boyne and Simon Egerton.
Surbiton were far more effective in the second half,
dominating long periods of play. But the Beeston defence held firm and, despite
the pressure, it was their turn to finish of the afternoon with a late goal
from Boyne. After the match the Surbiton
coach, Todd Williams, commented on the effect that playing in the EuroHockey
League had had on Beeston. Coming second means that Surbiton will join the
ranks of English EuroHockey League teams from England next season. And just
think – Surbiton spent most of the first half of the season in the relegation
slot at the bottom of the Premier Division.
Final score 5-1 to Beeston.
The 3rd/4th place match decides which
is the third English team to enter the EuroHockey League, so it was an
important match. In stark contrast to
the Final, the match between Reading and Cantertbury was finely balanced for
most of the 70 minutes. Darren Cheesman
had given Reading an 11th minute lead, but the single goal was all
that stood between the sides for the next 51 minutes. But in the dying minutes
of the match Reading added three more to their tally, the scorers being Craig
Peel, Harry Slater and Simon Mantell.
It was a busy match for cards, with Reading’s Richard
Springham and Simon Mantell, and Canterbury’s Stuart Goodman and Huw Stevens
paying brief visits to the naughty seat. But long yellows for Goodman and Kwan
Browne meant that Canterbury were playing two short when their late collapse
started. Surely lessons to be learnt there. Final score, 4-0 to Reading and the
host club will take their enormous European experience back into the EuroHockey
League next season.
The last matches in the Promotion Play-offs saw a moment of
drama when Sheffield Hallam scored a late goal against Wimbledon, only to see
it disallowed. It had been scored after the final hooter. The loss of the goal made no difference to
Sheffield, but a huge difference to Wimbledon. A 2-2 draw would have meant that
Cardiff and UWIC were promoted.
Southgate’s earlier match against Cardiff had seen them get off to a
bright start with John Sterlini scoring an early goal, but the match eventually
ended 1-2 in Cardiff’s favour. Wimbledon’s 2-1 win over Sheffield Hallam sees
both sides promoted to the Premier Division next season. Southgate are relegated and Cardiff and UWIC
failed to gain promotion.
PICTURES FROM ALL YESTERDAY’S ACTION AT READING WILL BE ON
OUR WWW.HOCKEYIMAGES.CO.UK WEB SITE
SOON.
