T&T international Teague Marcano ended a two-match scoring drought as Southgate Hockey Club, led by former national captain Kwandwane Browne narrowly defeated cellar-placed Oxford Hawks 4-3 in the English Hockey League Division One South Outdoor season at Banbury Road North Pitch, Oxford, England on Sunday.
However, early on it looked as though the host would spring a shock result when they took a 1-0 lead via a penalty-corner, before Jack Middleton, 22-year-old Marcano with his 17th of the season, and Drew Burkin all scored without reply for a 3-1 lead.
Oxford then netted a second item to trim the lead to 2-3 before Charles Hamilton restored Southgate’s lead to two goals at 4-2, only for the Oxford Hawks to net again in the late stages.
In the end, Southgate held on for the hard-fought win on the road to push their points tally to 36 from 13 matches at the top of the ten-club standings, eight ahead of second-placed Teddington while Old Loughtonians who they face next on Match 4 sits third with 27 points, four ahead of fourth-placed Canterbury, another former club of Browne while Team Bath Buccaneers is fifth with 21 points, level with Sevenoaks.
The duo of the University of Bristol, and Cranleighan both have nine points followed by Brighton & Hove with eight, and Oxford Hawks, with five.
Last month, Marcano scored a tournament-leading 30 goals, 19 in the divisional round playoffs to lead Southgate Hockey Club to one of the two promotion spots when the six-club England Hockey League Adult Super 6s Indoor Championships Men’s National Division Two concluded at Repton School, Derby, England, on Sunday.
Under the supervision of player/coach, Browne, who featured for T&T in more than 400 international matches, Southgate ended the National Division Two Championship with a 4-1 win-loss record and 12 points, the same as Beeston who finished top of the table with a superior goal-difference of plus-27 to Southgate’s plus-20, while Bowdon ended third with nine points from a 3-2 record.
During the first phase of the competition, in the Men’s Division Two South round-robin series, Marcano’s 19 goals included four beaver tricks to lead Southgate to the top spot with a maximum of 15 points, five more than fellow qualifiers Guilford, and the University of Bristol.
Overall, Marcano’s 30 goals tally included 16 field goals, ten penalty corners, and four penalty strokes, four more goals than Simon Egerton (26) of Bowdon, while Ammad Butt was third with 23 goals.
