Surbiton Hockey Club's men 1st XI repaid Reading’s hospitality in agreeing the venue of the two clubs’ national premier division fixture to be switched, because of the continued incompletion of the visitors’ Sugden Road waterbased pitch, by snatching a late winner on Saturday evening.

Surbiton’s new-look side, with two internationals in Delhi and two out injured, came back twice against opposition with five players at the Commonwealth Games and four absent injured.

Initially the Surrey side were kept in the game by a third successive world-class display of the season from goalkeeper Chris Bristow and eventually by a Reading penalty corner conversion rate of none from seven compared to Surbiton’s two from five. Their captain Tim Pinnock scored a penalty corner equaliser two minutes after Warren D’Souza’s 21st-minute free-play opener, only for Andy Watts to put Reading ahead again two minutes later.

Then visitors put in a much-improved second-half display, encouraged by Pinnock equalising for a second time when he rocketed a penalty corner into the roof of the net three minutes after the interval. Then, with both sides having gone close to another goal, Surbiton’s Nick Cooper darted into the circle for Sam Middleton to divert home a decider from close range with two minutes left.

The result moved Surbiton up from sixth to fourth in the 10-team elite league and dropped Reading down from seventh to eighth. This Saturday the Long Ditton-based club have to play a fourth successive match on the road, this time in the outskirts of Manchester (3.45pm) courtesy of their opponents, currently bottom-placed Brooklands MU.