A successful weekend for both Mens and Ladies' 1st Teams

The England Hockey premier League is back and with it, our two sides in their opening fixtures.  With Ladies away at Clifton and Men at home to debutants Oxted, it was an exciting way to begin the season.  Click through for more 

On Saturday September 19th, EG Ladies travelled to Clifton, a side with great pedigree, as they looked to start their league campaign the way they left off back in March.  With a stable squad welcoming Laura Myers in goal and Jason Lee to the coaching setup, the team was aiming to make a better start than in the 19/20 season when the opening three matches did not deliver a point.  This season the outcome was far improved in match one, with Tess Howard opening the scoring early on, and like clockwork, a winning goal from Sophie Bray.  We look forward to welcoming the squad home next weekend when they will host Beeston.

On Sunday, our Men's 1st team opened their league programme with a home fixture against Premier League newcomers, Oxted.  With Oxted fielding several former EG players, and EG fielding a squad with a number of changes, the match was set for some drama.  The drama did unfold with Oxted applying quite some pressure in the early stages with strong territorial advantage and penalty corners, however EG settled supporters' nerves with an open play goal in the 4th minute well taken by Luke Emmett who played well throughout.  EG and Oxted continued to battle, sharing the cards between them, but managed to consolidate their lead in the 4th minute with a goal from Louis Gittens at a short corner.  Although Oxted managed a consolation goal EG finished winners 2:1 and with encouraging debuts from Sam Lloyd, Geronimo Clement, Valerian Knauer, Gurmukh Bhamra and Barney Bithel.  Luis and Samad Suleman returning from spells away at other clubs.

Match gallery is here:  https://www.eghockey.co.uk/teams/performance-gallery-men/event/20200920EGM1vsOxted