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In front of a packed Whitgift Sports Centre, Southgate produced the shock of the 4 day tournament by beating old rivals Holcombe to take the final qualification to finals weekend in Derby on 26th January

Southgate came into their first games in the indoor Premier Division  as rank outsiders having enjoyed two years of successive promotions from the London regionals through to the elite division of English Hockey.

Their first games saw defeats to top teams Wimbledon and Old Georgians which saw Huw Stevens’ Southgate side all but written off with 6 games to play. Yet strong performances against East Grinstead (3-3 draw) and a last second win against Canterbury in a tight contest (5-4 win) set the stage for the final weekend.

John Sterlini fired Southgate to a 6-3 win over bottom of the table Bath before a nail biting game against Hampstead & Westminster ended in a 2-2 draw. This meant going into the final day Southgate could be relegated or finish as high as 3rd depending on their results and the games around them. Sevenoaks drew Holcombe early doors in a taut balanced game which Holcombe edged as 3-4 winners, just two hours later Southgate dominated a tiring Sevenoaks side a superb 5-2 showing which included keeper Calum Douglas saving two penalty flicks. This left the maths going into the final game against Kwan Browne’s Holcombe  simple- win, a draw or a loss would see Holcombe take 4th and qualify- anything less than 3 points for Southgate would see a 5th or 6th place finish.

Whitgift offers a great place to watch the action and the spectators from the various teams hung on to watch, craning on the balcony for a view as a strange hush descended on the opening salvos of the game which cranked up a gear when Karan Sofat put Southgate ahead with a superb finish from a long ball fed from Rob Schilling. The game then enjoyed a 10 minute spell of neither side being able to capitalise on a string of chances. Calum Douglas put in a fine performance fending off salvos from Marcano, Ramshaw and Tully. It was Gate skipper John Sterlini who was fed nicely from his defence in the 15th minute who left 1-1 with Lukas Egloff between the Holcombe goal posts fired the ball into the roof of the netting to give Southgate a 2-0 margin. The lead was further extended by a superb soo effort from Max Garner as the score board jumped to 3-0. Yet Felix Tully finished sublimely two minutes later to leave the game on a knife edge.

Karan Sofat who put in a sterling performance up front for Southgate drove the Holcombe D and drag flicked the ball into the top corner to the delight of the Gate supporters yet the celebrations were short lived when the next minute the Matthew Symonds finished well for Holcombe to bring the scores to 4-2. A succession of cards followed in the final quarter, Kwan Browne pulled his keeper in the last 5 minutes to leave his side with a 6-4 player advantage and former Southgate player Marcano duly capitalised with a customary piece of excellence in front of goal to close the game to 4-3. A nerve shredding last 3 minutes remained but John Sterlini returned from a sit down on the sidelines netting his brace and putting 2 clear goals between the sides and despite Browne throwing everything at the Southgate defence- the players held firm and fast and eventually the whistle blew on a famous Southgate victory.

The team now prepare for a semi final against Wimbledon on the 26th January in the famous ‘big day in’ for English Hockey at the Derby Arena. It represents the highest achievement for the club in many years and is testament to the work of Huw Stevens and his players and in some dramatic irony not lost on many, at least of the half of the Holcombe side who had helped their former team mates to successive promotions.

Such is sport and what a sporting occasion it was.