Weekend 2 of the Super6s Division 1 saw Southgate travel down to the University of the West of England in Bristol with all to play for, entering the weekend they were lying in second place behind fellow outdoor Prem team Beeston with every chance of securing promotion and possibly the Division 1 title as well.

Report by Simon Parker

Match 5 – Beeston

First up on Saturday were probably our main rivals for the title in Beeston, but they didn’t know what had hit them as Southgate were quick to pick up from the previous weekend and in the flash of an eye were two up within the first minute with first John Sterlini scoring, quickly followed by Rohan Bhuhi with the second. Beeston got one back in the fifth minute before that man Teague Marcano stepped up once more to score a first quarter hattrick, end of Q1 it was Southgate 5-1 Beeston. Another five goals followed in the second quarter with Marcano getting another two, and one each for Simon Walker, Matt Ramshaw and John Sterlini, giving a half time score of 10-2.

The second half was more even but the damage was done, the match ending 12-5 with Ramshaw and Bhuhi both getting their second of the match.

Match 6 – Loughborough Students

After last week’s father v son battle, this was a battle between the brothers Bhuhi, Yuvraj in goal for Loughboro against Southgate’s Rohan. The battle turned out to be rather one sided as John Sterlini opened the scoring for Southgate in the second minute followed somewhat invitably by Teague Marcano with the second a minute later. End of Q1 and it was 4-0 with Marcano getting his second, and Rohan Bhuhi beating his brother to get on the score sheet. With only a single Southgate goal scored in Q2 by Bhuhi the half time score was 5-0.

More was to follow in the second half with another three goals for Sterlini, and one each for Marcano, Bhuhi and Rob Schilling. Loughboro answered with two of their own to give a final score of 11-2.

With other results going their way, Southgate retired to their hotel knowing promotion was guaranteed and only a small miracle would prevent them from being champions.

Match 7 – Oxted

After the highs of Saturday, it was always going to be tough ask to replicate that, and it was a somewhat subdued Southgate side that took to the court on Sunday morning. It soon becam clear that Oxted were not going to roll over and Southgate would have to fight to keep their unbeaten record. It was level at the end of Q1 at 3-3 with the Southgate goals coming from Bhuhi and a brace for Sterlini. Into the second quarter and Southgate managed to edge in front and slowly began to exert their dominance with another two goals from Sterlini and one for Bhuhi against a single goal for Oxted to give a half time score of 6-4.

Southgate continued to dominate the second half with another two goals from Sterlini to make six for the match, three for Marcano, one for Ramshaw and one for Bhuhi to complete his hattrick to give a final score of 13-7 in what was probably their poorest perfomance of the weekend.

Match 8 – University of Exeter

With the league sown up and confirmed as champions, Southgate came out for their final match determined to maintain their unbeaten record against a student team determined to make life as difficult as possible.

A half time score of 2-1 confirmed it was going to be another battle, the southgate goals coming from Marcano and Ramshaw. Two goals in the third quarter from Marano and Rob Gill getting on the score sheet for the first time, were followed by three in the fourth quarter from Marcano (again!), Sterlini and Bhuhi to complete the victory with a final score of 7-4.

After two hard fought weekends scoring 80 goals and conceding 35, Southgate are promoted to the Premier league indoors for the first time in this reporter’s memory where we will do battle against some familiar foes from the outdoor league, and with the chance to qualify for the biggest day of hockey in this country; Finals Day.

We also finished with the highest individual goal scorer in Teague Marcano with 31, and two more players in the top ten; John Sterlini with 16 and Matt Ramshaw with 14.

A big thank you to all the staff and players who made this possible.

Squad: van Loggerenberg, Gill, Sterlini, Ramshaw, Sofat, Lum, Walker, Marcano, Bhuhi, Foster, Schilling, Palaniappan, Stevens.