Report: Colin Pike
13 October 2019
Men’s Hockey League Premier Division
University of Exeter 2 Surbiton 8
Without several international players, Surbiton won 8-2 at the University of Exeter with youngster Josh Redstone scoring twice on his national league debut.
Goalkeeper Harry Gibson, Alan Forsyth, James Gall and Tom Sorsby were all unavailable after playing for Great Britain in Spain, but Redstone joined Nikolaus Habbel, Scott Evans and in the squad with Ore Ogunlana playing in goal after returning to Surbiton following time spent at the University of Durham and East Grinstead.
Exeter also included two former Surbiton players who played major roles in the game: Taylor Seager-Green faced his former teammates in goal and prevented Surbiton from attaining a double figure tally in their third successive away league match and Max Lowrey, the scorer of the first Exeter goal.
Surbiton took the lead through Zach Wallace in the fifth minute after a passing move towards the Exeter goal and quickly doubled their advantage, Redstone scoring within two minutes of coming on as a substitute in the sixth minute.
Exeter fought back in added on time at the end of the first quarter, Sam Hooper passing to Lowrey to find the backboard from the home team’s third penalty corner.
Redstone struck again in the 27th minute to re-establish Surbiton’s two goal advantage as Surbiton led 3-1 at half time.
Exeter came close to pulling a second goal back late in the first half when an aerial ball caught out Surbiton’s Rob Farrington and found its way to Rhys Bradshaw, whose lob went just wide of the right post guarded by Surbiton’s Habbel.
Ben Boon found the backboard in the 38th minute to put Surbiton 4-1 ahead with David Goodfield following suit four minutes later to score Surbiton’s fifth goal.
Boon’s angled shot from the right of the circle in the 48th minute gave Surbiton their sixth goal before Luke Taylor finally managed to convert a penalty corner with seven minutes remaining, having previously been denied by Seager-Green.
To their credit, Exeter scored a second goal in the 66th minute through Tom Brooks before Taylor worked his penalty corner magic for a second time to complete the scoring with two minutes to play.
Old Georgians, having played a game more, lead Surbiton by a point after a 2-1 win at Beeston. Holcombe lost ground, drawing 3-3 with Wimbledon. Hampstead & Westminster beat Brooklands Manchester University 2-1 with East Grinstead having beaten Reading 2-1 on Saturday night.
University of Exeter:
Scorers: Max Lowrey 18+-PC, Tom Brooks 66-F
Squad: Taylor Seager-Green (GK); Rhys Bradshaw, Duncan Scott (Capt.), George Carson, Tom Butler, Max Lowrey, Kiran Patel, Sam Hooper, Tomek Bruhl, Dan Jackson, Archie Winter.
Subs: James Fergurson (9 mins), Tom Brooks (9), Alex Sweet (13), Owen Evans-Evans (13), Kieran Walton (16).
Cards: None
Surbiton
Scorers: Zach Wallace 5-F, Josh Redstone 6-F, 27-F; Ben Boon 38-F, 48-F; David Goodfield 42-F, Luke Taylor 63-PC, 68-PC.
Squad: Luke Taylor, Rob Farrington, Ben Boon, Jonny Gall (Capt.), Arjan Drayton-Chana, Jonty Griffiths, Zach Wallace, James Royce, David Goodfield, Sam Spencer, Ore Ogunlana (GK).
Subs: Josh Redstone (4 mins), Scott Evans (5), Nikolaus Habbel (7), Theun De Leeuw (10)
Match Official: Richard Hill
Umpires: Gareth Perry and Nick White
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