Last season’s runners-up East Grinstead made a great start to their campaign in the Women’s Super Sixes Indoor Championship at the Phoenix Sport and Leisure Centre in Telford, beating Slough and Surbiton on Saturday.
Goals from Zoe Burrell, Ruth Gordon and captain Joanna Davis gave EG their win over Slough, while against Surbiton Emma Lee-Smith hit a hat-trick, Malou Pheninckx scored twice and Gordon and Davis got on the scoresheet again.
Canterbury are the only other unbeaten team following wins over Sutton Coldfield and Slough. In the last match of the day at Telford, they won 6-1 against Slough with goals coming from Sarah Kerly (2), Anna Kolarova (2), Lizzie Neal and Anna Baker.
Meanwhile, reigning champions Bowdon Hightown suffered a set-back on day one, losing to the University of Birmingham in a 6-5 thriller in the second match of the day. They went on to beat Reading 4-2, but that defeat will be a big dent to their hopes of successfully defending the title.
Goals from Georgie Blackwood and Emma Scriven gave Reading a 2-0 lead over Bowdon at half time, but last year’s champs hit back to win with Tina Cullen scoring two and others from Sally Walton and Michelle Liptrot.
Earlier in the day, Reading had won three-nil over Surbiton with goals from Blackwood, Ellie Cockburn and Rebecca Van Berkel, while Sutton Coldfield edged to a 3-2 win over Leicester before a narrow 2-1 loss to Canterbury.
Leicester have also won one and lost one, as they bounced back from their opening loss to beat the University of Birmingham 2-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Top scorer at the end of day one is the University of Birmingham’s Erica Sanders, who scored five goals, while Bowdon’s Sally Walton and Tina Cullen are second and third in the table with four and three respectively.
Saturday 12 December 2015
| Sutton Coldfield | (0) | 3 | – | 2 | (1) | Leicester |
| Univ of Birmingham | (3) | 6 | – | 5 | (3) | Bowdon |
| Reading | (1) | 3 | – | 0 | (0) | Surbiton |
| East Grinstead | (3) | 3 | – | 2 | (0) | Slough |
| Canterbury | (1) | 2 | – | 1 | (1) | Sutton Coldfield |
| Leicester | (0) | 2 | – | 0 | (0) | Univ of Birmingham |
| Bowdon | (0) | 4 | – | 2 | (2) | Reading |
| Surbiton | (2) | 2 | – | 7 | (6) | East Grinstead |
| Slough | (0) | 1 | – | 6 | (3) | Canterbury |
Fixtures – Sunday 13 December 2015
| Univ of Birmingham | () | – | () | Reading | ||
| East Grinstead | () | – | () | Canterbury | ||
| Leicester | () | – | () | Bowdon | ||
| Surbiton | () | – | () | Slough | ||
| Sutton Coldfield | () | – | () | Univ of Birmingham | ||
| Reading | () | – | () | East Grinstead | ||
| Canterbury | () | – | () | Leicester | ||
| Bowdon | () | – | () | Surbiton | ||
| Slough | () | – | () | Sutton Coldfield | ||
Women’s Premier Division Table
| P | W | D | L | GD | Pts | ||
| 1 | East Grinstead | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| 2 | Canterbury | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| 3 | Bowdon Hightown | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | Reading | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | Leicester | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | Sutton Coldfield | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | Univ of Birmingham | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 3 |
| 8 | Slough | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -6 | 0 |
| 9 | Surbiton | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -8 | 0 |
* For goalscorers and full competition details, including live updates click here – https://englandhockey.altiusrt.com/competitions/8
This report courtesy of England Hockey by Snowdon Sports.
