First Teams Notch More Important Wins

Both Surbiton first teams continued their perfect starts to the 26/27 season with their seventh consecutive wins on Saturday.

Women’s 1s 6 - 1 University of Nottingham 1s (H)

The W1 were back on big scoring form again on Saturday with a comfortable 6-1 win over visitors Uni of Nottingham. The goals were spread relatively evenly through the match, with half from penalty corners and half from open play.

Maddie Axford opened Surbiton’s account late in the first quarter with a fierce backhand strike, with Izzy Petter (FG) and a Darcy Bourne drag flick through the post player taking the score to 3-0 at half time.

Petter’s sharp reaction allowed her to finish a penalty corner rebound in the 49th minute before the students grabbed a consolation field goal a minute later. Ellie Mackenzie bottom right finish and a late Amy Costello penalty corner from an adapted routine made it six.

Ava Findlay was voted Player of the Match. The W1 retain a three point lead at the top of the table going into an away game at 24/25 champions Reading next Saturday.

Men’s 1s 3 - 1 Beeston 1s (A)

The Men’s 1s faced a tricky trip to Beeston on Saturday evening, and despite hitting the post in the opening minute and going up through Max Anderson in the third, the scoreboard remained tight throughout the game.

Surbiton’s MVP James Oates struck a rocket high into the Beeston net in the 12th minute, but Beeston nabbed a field goal two minutes before the half time whistle to keep things tight and put some pressure on the Seals to maintain their lead and their winning run.

Nick Bandurak ultimately made sure of the points with a field goal in the third quarter ensuring that the M1 take a 100% win record into a mouthwatering top of the table clash against Wimbledon next Saturday at Sugden Road.

Premier Division: Women’s Review: 31st October 2026

Surbiton maintained their one hundred per cent record in the Women’s Hockey League Premier Division with a 6-1 home win over the University of Nottingham. Maddie Axford opened the scoring, in an unlucky thirteenth minute on Halloween for her former club, who trailed 3-0 at half time thanks to Izzy Petter and Darcy Bourne extending Surbiton’s lead. Petter struck again in the third quarter, with Ellie Mackenzie and Amy Costello scoring in the fourth quarter. Sammy Digby-Duell netted Nottingham’s consolation goal in the 50th minute as Surbiton beat their opponents 6-1 for the third time in seven meetings. Costello, Bourne and Petter are joint top of the Premier Division top scorers’ chart with six goals apiece.

Loughborough Students are just three points behind after Niamh McIvor’s second minute goal proved enough to earn all three points in a 1-0 win at Teddington. Loughborough kept their fourth clean sheet in seven games and Teddington suffered a second successive defeat by a single goal margin.

Durham University and the University of Birmingham are level on fifteen points after Birmingham won 1-0 at Durham courtesy of another early goal as Caitlin Witham’s winner came in the sixth minute.

Wimbledon are eight points off the lead after a 3-1 home defeat to East Grinstead, who joined them on thirteen points. Ellie Rayer put East Grinstead ahead on the stroke of half time, but although Maddie Long levelled early in the third quarter, Tess Howard and Chloe Brown earned the victory for the West Sussex club.

East Grinstead have a buffer of four points over seventh placed Reading, who travelled to basement side Buckingham and won 3-0 with Madeleine Goodman scoring the second hat-trick of the season at Stowe School, Amy Costello having scored the first in Surbiton’s 9-0 home win over East Grinstead.

Hampstead & Westminster got off the mark with a point in a 1-1 draw at Bowdon, Catherine Ledesma equalising six minutes after Annabel Mills gave Bowdon the lead in the eleventh minute. Hampstead are three points adrift of tenth placed University of Nottingham, with the teams set to meet next Saturday at Paddington Recreation Ground.

Surbiton head to Reading next Saturday (push back 1600). Reading have struggled over the last two seasons following their 1-0 triumph at Nottingham Hockey Centre in 2024-25 which saw them become league champions. Surbiton won all three meetings last season, 4-1 at Sonning Lane, and 1-0 and 6-1 at Sugden Road.

Premier Division: Open-Men’s Review: 31st October 2026

Surbiton and Wimbledon will go into next Saturday’s top of the table clash in the Open/ Men’s Hockey League Premier Division with maximum points after Surbiton won 3-1 at Beeston and Wimbledon defeated East Grinstead 6-1 at home. In spite of having a one hundred per cent record, Wimbledon trail Surbiton by three points having played one game less due to their Euro Hockey League participation and will catch up with a double header on 14/ 15 November.

Surbiton have dominated recent meetings with Beeston and led 2-0 at Nottingham Hockey Centre after just twelve minutes through Max Anderson and James Oates. Abdul Reeman halved Beeston’s deficit two minutes before half time and Nick Bandurak scored Surbiton’s third goal in the 42nd minute.

In the Premier Division Top Scorers chart, Ali Empey and Sam Hooper have eight goals and Fred Newbold is on seven. All three players were on target against fourth-placed East Grinstead, Empey opening the scoring, Hooper scoring the hosts’ second goal and Newbold scoring twice. Jules Bournac and Louis Tipper were Wimbledon’s other scorers while Max Lowrey scored for East Grinstead in the second quarter.

Third-placed Old Georgians’ Sam Ward is the division’s top goalscorer with ten goals, but only one of them came in a clinical 8-1 victory at the University of Exeter. Charlie Rowe scored a brace, but the remaining goals were shared between Henry Croft, Phil Roper, Ed Carson, Andrew McConnell and Alan Forsyth. Exeter were level at 1-1 at half time after Oliver Bennett equalised for the students. Exeter drop to eighth.

Hampstead & Westminster moved up to fifth as they also had a big win on the road, 7-1 at Bowdon. Karan Sofat scored a hat-trick, Rupert Shipperley scored twice and Jolyon Morgan and Jake Glew both scored as Hampstead scored three goals in a two minute spell. Jack McAuliffe spoiled the visitors’ hopes of a clean sheet with a last minute goal.

Reading are clinging on to sixth place after coming out on top 3-2 at Cardiff & Met. Maks Wyndham-Smith joined the Halloween hat-trick club, with Jack Pritchard and Hari Bhogal scoring for Cardiff.

Tim Guise-Brown scored four goals for Oxted, but still came out on the losing side, as Holcombe won 6-5 at Caterham School. Charlie Axford scored Oxted’s fifth goal in the penultimate minute, but Holcombe were on the way to victory as Teague Marcano and Rohan Bhuhi both scored twice, with Mubashar Ali and Matt Ramshaw also finding their way through the home defence.

Guise-Brown scored a hat-trick at Old Georgians in 2020-21, but Oxted lost 10-6 after leading 5-4 at half time.

Old Georgians beat Southgate 6-5 in March 2024, and the University of Exeter beat Brooklands Manchester University 6-5 in March 2023, but the home teams were the victors in both cases. East Grinstead won 6-5 at Surbiton in March 2014, a victory which saw East Grinstead finish in first place on goal difference over Beeston and has so far proved to be the West Sussex club’s most recent victory at Sugden Road.

Surbiton and Wimbledon have plenty of history, having met in Championship Finals, the Euro Hockey League and the OMHL Premier Division in which Wimbledon dominated in their first years in the top-flight, whilst Surbiton have been more dominant in recent years, although there was a thrilling 5-5 draw in 2021-22 and a 4-4 draw followed by a 3-1 shootout win for Surbiton in a League Finals pool match in 2022-23. And the teams even met on a Thursday night in 2024-25, ending in a 2-2 draw.

But after Surbiton beat Wimbledon 3-0 and 5-0 during the 2025-26 regular season, Wimbledon ended Surbiton’s league title defence with a 4-2 win in the playoff semi-finals.