4-0 L

Match Report by Simon Parker

For their first fixture in Phase 2, Southgate travelled south of the river to face Surbiton at Sugden Lane for the first time since 2015, buoyed by the two recent performances that impressed Coach Kwan Browne.

With Dan West, Charles Hamilton and Iain Gordon all out through injury, the re-jigged Southgate side had a new look to it welcoming Rob Shearer into the side to make his Premier Division debut.

The first quarter started at a high tempo and with both sides throwing plenty of early aerials, the spectators were left wondering exactly what type of match would be played out in front of them. It was Southgate who created the first real opportunity after Karan Sofat beat two defenders along the baseline before pulling the ball back to the p spot, but unfortunately it was just beyond the reach of Rohan Bhuhi.

The fast paced game continued from both sides, with chances at both ends. Surbiton opened the scoring after Rob Gill stepped out to intercept the ball, but unfortunately failed leaving Straun Walker with both plenty of time and space to beat Anton van Loggerenberg in the Southgate goal. The half finished 1-0 to Surbiton but with Southgate still very much in the game.

Two minutes in to the second half, Surbiton extended their lead via a Luke Taylor penalty corner which dissected van Loggerenberg and the post man to find the back of the net.

Despite the scoreline, Southgate continued to press forward but couldn’t find a way past man of the match Surbiton and GB goalkeeper James Mazarelo, who made two top draw saves to deny Matt Ramshaw.

Struan Walker got his second on the stroke of third quarter time, after Rob Gill had again stepped out but couldn’t get to the ball leaving Walker to hammer the ball past van Loggerenberg. Walker completed his hat-trick eight minutes later to make the score 4-0.

A game of fine margins with Southgate left to ponder what might have been if they had converted one of their early chances.