National men’s hockey player Teague Marcano was on target for Holcombe, but they squandered an early 2-0 lead to share points with Wimbledon in a 2-2 draw in the England Hockey League Men’s Premier Division Phase II Top Six at Holcombe on Sunday.
Marcano fired Holcombe into the lead as early as the fourth minute with his 16th goal of the season, and seven minutes later Robert Field doubled the lead for the host, who are coached by former T&T standout Kwandwane Browne, with fellow ex-national player Dillet Gilkes as his assistant coach.
Wimbledon managed to reduce the deficit in the 25th minute through Sam Hooper, but Holcombe managed to hang onto the lead until five minutes from the end of the 70-minute match when Duncan Scott grabbed a share of the points for the visitors.
With the drawn result, Holcombe moved to 29 points from 15 matches, 16 adrift of leaders Old Georgians, while Surbiton is second with 35 points, followed by Wimbledon with 30, Hampstead & Westminster, fifth with 22, and Oxted, sixth with 17.
On Saturday, Marcano, who was a member of the T&T men’s indoor team at the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup held at the Plava Resort Sports Centre in Porec, Croatia, in February, also scored the opener for Holcombe in a 2-3 loss to his former employers, Hampstead & Westminster.
Marcano netted in the 18th minute from a penalty corner before Jolyon Morgan replied for Hampstead & Westminster in the 32nd for a 1-1 score at half-time.
Nicholas Steffens put Hampstead & Westminster ahead for the first time in the match in the 46th minute, but 11 minutes later Mubashar Ali got Holcombe back on level terms, only for Matt Richards to fire home the decisive item for Hampstead & Westminster in the 64th.
When the second phase of the competition began on March 8, Holcombe went under to Old Georgians 3-1, while they were trounced 4-0 on March 15 in their second match.
With their back-to-back wins last weekend, 6-2 over Oxted and 4-2 against Surbiton, their 14th and 15th straight wins, respectively, Old Georgians, led by tournament top scorer Sam Ward (29 goals) and Tom Carson and Alan Forsyth with 14 each, also secured their European place.
In their final match on March 29, Holcombe faces Oxted at Caterham School, at the end of which the final standings in the ‘Top Six’ determine how many home games teams have in the Phase Three play-offs with the first and second having three matches each, the third & fourth having two matches each, and the fifth & sixth having one each.
The pools will be divided via first, fourth, fifth and eighth and second, third, sixth and seventh, with no points being carried forward from Phase Two.
Latest Phase II Top Six standings
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Old Georgians 15 15 0 0 87 24 45
Surbiton 15 11 2 2 70 29 35
Wimbledon 15 9 3 3 49 31 30
Holcombe 15 9 2 4 50 35 29
Hampstead & Westminster 15 7 1 7 52 35 22
Oxted 15 5 2 8 38 54 17
England Hockey League Phase II Lower Six standings
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Beeston 15 6 4 5 34 34 22
Cardiff & Met 15 6 1 8 32 45 19
East Grindstead 15 4 4 7 39 48 16
Southgate 15 2 4 9 28 50 10
Bowdon 15 2 1 12 20 59 7
Richmond 15 1 2 12 14 68 5
