Surbiton Away

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SURBITON 6 - 4 BEESTON

England Hockey League- Premiership

Tim Pinnock, the former England junior international, proved a more than adequate deputy for injured Olympic striker Matt Daly as Surbiton swept past Beeston with a 6-4 win at Long Ditton to retain top place in the England League.

Pinnock scored four which included two corner goals. England gold medallists, James Tindall and Ben Hawes scored Surbiton's other goals.

The sides shared six goals in the first half but Surbiton then raced into a 6-3 lead. Daly will miss England's unofficial matches against Belgium at Bisham on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Beeston started strongly and David Griffiths swept them into an early 2nd minute lead. Chris Seddon put the Bees into a 2-1 lead in the 22nd minute following some clever work by Sam Ward on the National League debut. Surbiton took the lead on the run up to half time before David Griffiths connected with a long pass from Martin Jones, two minutes from the interval and rocketed home a reverse hit from the top of the circle, to equalise at 3-3 at half time. Beeston played some superb hockey in the first half and looked confident at the break.

The second half turned out to be a different affair. With Beeston using a different system as they prepare for Europe, it became obvious that some of the defenders were not comfortable with the task they had been given. This was compounded by Adam Dixon being dispatched in the 42nd minute on a yellow card, and many poor defensive errors. There followed a five minute period where Surbiton hit three past George Pinner in the Beeston goal and by the time Dixon re-entered the game the result was already cast in stone. Tim Whiteman was given his marching orders in the 60th minute. Beeston secured their second penalty corner of the match in the 66th minute, and Australian, Andrew Monte, on his league debut, flicked home to give a consolation goal.

Beeston manager, Graham Griffiths, commented, "I thought we played really well in the first period. We have only just assembled the squad and we performed at pace and with intensity. This was a major step forward from our performance in Manchester. We obviously had our eye on other things in the second half and we probably cost ourselves the points today. Having said that, Surbiton are on fire at the moment and will challenge all the way for a European spot, at the end of the season. We are going into Europe next week knowing what we can do and what we can't. The squad is in good spirits and we are now looking to find fifth gear in training this week."

Beeston travel to St Germain, Paris, where they represent England in the Euro Hockey League. They play KHC Leuvan (Belgium) on Saturday 24th at 4.30pm (GMT) and play St Germain (France) on Sunday 25th at 4.30pm.

Beeston progress and matches can be viewed on, www.ehlhockey.tv