England Women’s Premier Division Round 4: Surbiton Score Nine, and Durham Match Them Win for Win

Nine goals. In one game. Surbiton aren’t just winning the Women’s Premier Division, they’re turning it into a scoring contest nobody else entered.

East Grinstead were the visitors on Saturday and they left with a 9-0 defeat, Amy Costello helping herself to a hat-trick. England Hockey’s numbers tell the wider story: 27 goals in four matches for Surbiton, two conceded. That’s not a good start to a season. That’s a warning to the whole league.

Durham are perfect too

The other half of the story sits in the north. Durham University beat Buckingham 5-0, Katie Birch scoring in the first minute, and Durham, like Surbiton, have won all four of their matches.

Two perfect records, four rounds in. One of them belongs to the league’s established power. The other belongs to a university side who were not supposed to be here this fast. Something has to give when they meet, and the rest of the division is playing for third until then.

The rest of Saturday

Loughborough Students won the day’s wildest game, 5-3 against Hampstead & Westminster, eight goals and eight different scorers across the two teams. Reading beat University of Birmingham 3-2. Wimbledon beat Bowdon 3-2, Flora Fletcher, Becky Manton and Hannah French scoring for the hosts. And University of Nottingham picked up their first point of the season, a 0-0 draw with Teddington, which will feel a lot better in their dressing room than it looks on paper.

Round 4 results — Saturday 17 October 2026:

• Surbiton 9-0 East Grinstead
• Durham University 5-0 Buckingham
• Loughborough Students 5-3 Hampstead & Westminster
• Reading 3-2 University of Birmingham
• Wimbledon 3-2 Bowdon
• University of Nottingham 0-0 Teddington

Our take

Surbiton are the team to beat, that’s obvious. But don’t sleep on Durham. Four wins from four with a 5-0 in the bank is not a university side riding luck, it’s a side that belongs in this conversation. The title race everyone expected to be a procession might actually have two horses.