A Matt Ramshaw hat-trick helped ensure Southgate M1’s remain riding high in Division 1 South as the team kick on to a 6 point advantage over nearest rivals. A mammoth tally of 38 goals having been put into opposition goals over the past 7 games suggests the positive and attacking style of play favoured by coach Kwan Browne which once again entertained the busy Southgate balcony on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon in Trent Park.

The University of Bristol side led by captain Kincaid Ingram travelled looking to record their first win of the season, the newly promoted team from the South West have shown flashes of real threat in their games especially against Sevenoaks and Bath but have struggled to convert these into points on the board.

It took just two minutes for Southgate to get on to scoreboard with Giulio Ferrini recording his first of the season to get the hosts off to another flying start. This was followed just two minutes later from a Ramshaw flick at our first PC which left Oliver Evans in the Bristol goal wrong footed as the ball flew past him and the number 1 runner into the bottom right corner. There followed a period of sustained Gate pressure with a succession of PC’s which were superbly seen off by the Bristol postmen keeping Southgate’s top scorer Teague Marcano off the score sheet.

The dying moments of the first quarter saw Matt Ramshaw convert his second through the goal keeper’s legs with another PC meaning after 18 minutes the score was a healthy 3-0 lead to the men in red and black.

Drew Burkin in the number 2 shirt has made a welcome return to the M1’s this year after converting over 30 goals for the M2’s last season. Burkin converted 2 goals in 2 minutes with some brute force and power helping him double his goals tally as Evans couldn’t quite get enough on either to keep Burkin at bay.

The best goal of the afternoon followed in a fine example of free flowing counter attacking hockey as Charles Hamilton finished a ball which had been run out from a Bristol attack by Karan Sofat charging the right channel before shipping left to captain John Sterlini who cut back right eliminating two Bristol defenders before finding Charles Hamilton who had led hard from the half way line and who slotted the ball past the advancing Evans. The score was now 6-0 after 26 minutes and a double figures scoreline looked as if it could be on the cards. Yet towards the end of Q1 Bristol managed to scramble a ball in past Savas Hadjigeorgiou in the Southagte goal and the game went into half time at 6-1.

W3 coach Lucca Bilyard and Jennie Stephens delighted the half time crowd with the first successful cross bar hits in the cross bar competition and set the stage for an enticing second half. Yet Bristol sat back more and contained the Southgate threat more successfully for the best part of the remaining minutes. It took until the 57th minutes for the dam to break and Guilio Ferrini converted nicely bagging his brace making it 7-1.

The final quarter saw Bristol get another back in the 68th minute with Damian Isnott successfully eliminating the Gate defensive wall at a Bristol PC, yet Ramshaw determined to ensure the visitors didn’t have the last laugh summoned his remaining energies from top D with a real attackers goal on his reverse into the bottom left corner which left Evans outfoxed and secured Ramshaw’s first Southgate hat-trick.
It was a a consummate team performance, but it was central defender Robbie Gill who won the balcony MVP vote with yet another strong performance on the pitch.

This weekend the team travel to Sevenoaks as they look to increase their lead in what is always a competitive fixture.