Article courtesy of England Hockey. Photo courtesy of David Kissman.
In a historic first for the Men’s Premier League, in which Nick Irvine and Steve Musson commentated on televised coverage of the Beeston v Sevenoaks clash on Apple TV, live from Nottingham Hockey Centre, Gareth Griffiths scored two field goals in the second half to help Beeston to a 4-0 win over Sevenoaks on Sunday.
Richard Lawrence and Nick Park had scored field goals on 15 and 18 minutes, before Griffiths found the net in similar style on 47 and 55 minutes.
Elsewhere in the Men’s Hockey League, Chris Griffiths scored twice as East Grinstead beat top flight newcomers University of Exeter 4-1 in their opening match of the season in the Men’s Hockey League Premier Division on Sunday.
Griffiths scored his first in the 17th minute before Liam Ansell doubled East Grinstead’s advantage in the 45th minute from open play.
James Ferguson hit back for University of Exeter in the 46th minute, but David Condon restored East Grinstead’s cushion on 50 minutes before Griffiths scored his second eight minutes later.
Elsewhere, reigning champions Surbiton picked up where they left off, winning 3-1 at home against Wimbledon on Saturday.
Scotland and Great Britain international Alan Forsyth scored twice from open play with his first coming in the eighth minute. Tim Atkins then doubled their lead from open play in the 16th minute, before Forsyth bagged his second on 29 minutes to make the score 3-0.
Wimbledon hit back with a Ben Arnold goal from open play in the 38th minute, but it was in vain as Surbiton held out for the remainder of the game to secure the points.
Holcombe produced a good performance away from home as they defeated Brooklands Manchester University 3-1 on Sunday.
Holcombe took an early lead in the 13th minute when Nicholas Bandurak scored from open play.
Robert Field then scored their second in the 50th minute before Daniel Webster made it 3-0 when he scored from open play around the hour mark.
Brooklands MU did score a consolation when Sam Perrin found the net in the 69th minute but it wasn’t enough to stop the points going the way of the visitors.
Reading suffered a defeat at home to Hampstead and Westminster as they lost 2-1 on Saturday.
Jonny Gooch opened the scoring for the visitors when he scored from free play in the 14th minute.
Matt Richards then hit back for Reading in the 28th minute when he scored his first goal of the season from open play.
Going in to half time the score was level at 1-1 but Hampstead managed to find an early lead in the second half when Anton Pohling scored from open play in the 36th minute.
Results – Men’s Hockey League Premier Division: Beeston 4, Sevenoaks 0; Brooklands MU 1, Holcombe 3; Reading 1, Hampstead & Westminster 2; Surbiton 3, Wimbledon 1; University of Exeter 1, East Grinstead 4.