Woking Ladies 1 Surbiton Ladies 6

Surbiton Ladies maintained their impressive record in recent seasons at Goldsworth Park on Saturday as they came away with a fourth successive win in round two of the South Clubs’ Women’s Hockey League Division One.

The previous Saturday, Woking had lost 5-1 at Havant, and again their defence struggled, Surbiton racing into a 4-1 lead after just first 13 minutes.

Victoria Heptonstall opened the scoring from the right of the circle in the second minute, before Hannah Oakes added a second from close range two minutes later after the home defence failed to clear.

Any hopes of a Woking comeback after Lindsay Harwood pulled a goal back in the ninth minute were soon ended after first, Helen Grant lifted a rebound into the net from Surbiton’s first penalty corner in the 11th minute; and, then, Sian Craze scored with a reverse stick shot two minutes later.

After the early goal-rush, there was no further scoring before half-time, although Surbiton forced four more penalty corners which the Woking defence successfully blocked.

Surbiton had an early chance to extend their lead three minutes after half-time, when they were awarded a penalty stroke. Heptonstall’s strike unfortunately hit the left post, but the visitors reacted by playing attacking hockey, with Kelly Taylor at the helm.

In the next 20 minutes, Taylor linked up with various players to set up scoring chances for Heptonstall and Grant, both saved by the Woking goalkeeper, Ali Black.

Other attacks forced the home defence to concede long corners but, although Surbiton came close to scoring with their open play shots, their final two goals were destined to come from penalty corners. In the 56th minute, Maddie Tait was at the right post to convert a Minnie James pass; and, with two minutes remaining, Emma Jones converted Surbiton’s ninth penalty corner to seal the 6-1 victory.

In the last 20 minutes, three yellow cards were shown to Rachael Bradshaw, and Oakes of Surbiton, and Harwood of Woking. Harwood’s dismissal meant that both teams only fielded 10 players for a short period near the end.

This Saturday, Epsom are the visitors to Sugden Road (push back 11.30am).

Surbiton: Heunis (GK), Jenkins, James, Heptonstall, Jolly, Taylor, Hanson-Akins, Tait, Oakes, Jones, Grant. Subs: Bradshaw, Craze, Philp, Sedgman.