Epsom Ladies 3 Surbiton Ladies 5

With six regular players unavailable, Surbiton Ladies reorganised their squad and came away from Epsom College with a win that, combined with other results, leaves them eight points from a place in an England Hockey League regional Conference.

Katelyn Aitchison and Sophie Newton both made their first team league debuts; with Stephanie Addison and Lizzie Sedgman returning to first-team duty.

Surbiton were pinned back in their own half for the first six minutes but, once in the opposition half, forced a penalty corner. Following the injection, the umpires judged that a goal was illegally prevented, resulting in a penalty stroke award. Emma Jones stepped up to give Surbiton the lead in the seventh minute.

Epsom’s penalty corner routine was initially inconsistent, with the ball bobbling; but was effective twice in a three-minute spell. First, Fiona Bettesworth equalised with a clinical strike in the 16th minute; followed by Sammie Archer’s 19th-minute conversion.

Trailing 2-1, Surbiton remained patient, and began to make progress in the last 10 minutes of the first half. Helen Grant drew Surbiton level with a fine individual effort in the 28th minute, leaving all to play for in the second half.

The momentum continued to shift in Surbiton’s direction in the second half, as it was the visitors’ turn to demonstrate their penalty corner conversion expertise. Jones regained the lead with a dragflick in the 37th minute; then four minutes later, Kate Holmes was handily placed to give Surbiton a 4-2 lead.

Epsom remained competitive, Bettesworth converting her second penalty corner in the 54th minute to reduce the deficit to 4-3; and proved a thorn in Surbiton’s side, having also scored Epsom’s goal at Sugden Road in October.

Any hopes Epsom had of salvaging a point were ended in the 58th minute, when Grant scored her 16th league goal of the season to seal Surbiton’s 5-3 victory.

Second-placed Reading 1A beat Havant 4-3 at home and Southampton lost 2-1 at Hampstead & Westminster. Surbiton now have 34 points from 12 games and, with Southampton now able to claim a maximum of 41 points, need just eight points from their last six games. Realistically, seven points should be enough, as Surbiton currently have a goal difference to plus 42, compared with Southampton’s plus nine.

Next Saturday (20 February), Reading 1A are the visitors to Sugden Road (pushback 1 pm). The game will be eagerly anticipated, as not only did Surbiton score twice in the last three minutes to snatch an exciting 6-5 win in the first meeting, but Surbiton’s defence will have to cope with Reading’s double strike force of Chiara Clarke and Chloe Lyons.

SURBITON LADIES: Heunis (GK & Capt.); Jenkins, Heptonstall, Jolly, Royce, Aitchison, Taylor, Grant, Jones, Tait, Holmes. Subs: Addison, Newton, Sedgman

On February 7, Surbiton Ladies’ second team reached the national cup semi-final for the second season in succession, winning 5-1 at Wycombe. Jo Firth and Georgia Curtis both scored twice, with Emma Elsom converting a penalty corner. Wycombe’s consolation goal came from a penalty stroke scored by Lois Speakman.

Surbiton’s opponents on March 7 will be Kettering, who will return to Sugden Road after losing 2-0 at the quarter-final stage last season. The winners will face either Teddington or Lewes in the final at Chelmsford Hockey Club on April 25.

All four of Surbiton’s Colts teams progressed to the quarter-finals of their national cup competitions on Sunday. In their Plate competitions, the U16 Girls won 5-1 at Sunbury; and the U16 Boys won 5-0 at home to Oxford Hawks. In the Cup, the U18 Girls avenged their 4-2 defeat in last season’s competition, thrashing Southgate 9-0; and the U18 Boys won 4-2 at Canterbury.