England Women Matchday 8: Surbiton Hit Reading for Six as Loughborough Run Riot

Seven goals at Loughborough, six at Reading, and a first win of the season for Hampstead. Matchday 8 of the England women’s Premier Division had a bit of everything — Hockey World News has the full scorers from the round.

Surbiton were the headline act. They went to Reading and won 6-0, and it wasn’t even close. Darcy Bourne opened the scoring with a field goal, then the penalty corner routine took over: Amy Costello scored twice from corners, Lizzy Pocknell added another, and Izzy Petter and Ellie Mackenzie finished it off with field goals. That’s the kind of away performance that tells the rest of the league the gap isn’t closing any time soon.

Loughborough matched them for ruthlessness at home. Durham University were beaten 7-0, with Jessica Dyson scoring twice, the second in the 31st minute, and Hannah Boss also hitting a double. Amy Cradden converted a penalty corner, and Amy Birch and Niamh McIvor got on the scoresheet too. Durham never got a foothold.

Wimbledon dig themselves out of a hole

The best game of the day was at Teddington. The hosts were 2-0 up early through Freya Bellamy and Coca Hall, and Wimbledon looked beaten. They weren’t. Maddie Long pulled one back in the 37th minute, Olivia Chilton levelled in the 42nd, and Charlotte Watson won it in the 64th. Three goals, one comeback, three points.

Bowdon won 4-2 away at the University of Birmingham, with Grace Henderson scoring twice and Anna Mollenhauer and Alice Midgley adding the others. East Grinstead were comfortable at home against Buckingham, winning 5-1 behind two goals from Tess Howard and strikes from Millie Giglio, Ellie Rayer and Amy Thompson. Sophia Crawshay got Buckingham’s consolation.

And then there was Hampstead. They’d waited long enough for a win, and they finally got one: 2-1 at home against the University of Nottingham. Kitty Chapple scored after just two minutes, Catherine Ledesma converted a penalty corner, and that was enough for the home side’s first three points of the campaign.

For our money, the story of this round is the gap at the top. Surbiton are scoring for fun and conceding nothing, and nobody in the chasing pack looks ready to lay a glove on them. Hampstead’s win matters too, though. A season can turn on one result, and getting off the mark before the winter stretch changes the whole mood around a club.