UK hockey

PHIL ROPER was the Man of the Match with two goals as England League winners Wimbledon upset the form book with a 3-1 win over three-time champions UHC Hamburg at the Euro Hockey League KO16 in Eindhoven.

Under coach Ben Hawes, Wimbledon’s progress into KO8, the quarter-final stage, on their second appearance at the EHL, was the best performance by an English club since Reading in 2013 and banished the memory of last year’s 3-1 defeat by Amsterdam at the KO16 stage.

ANDY WATTS, the Reading player-coach, played what is likely to be his last home game for the club in a 4-2 win over Brooklands MU in the Cup semi-final, in which he scored his side’s first and third goals, as he contemplates his future in the game.

Watts, 31, is director of sport at Magdalen College School, Oxford, and has been Reading’s player-coach for the past three seasons.

He has decided he will not play Premier hockey next season but is still weighing his options of staying with Reading or moving to another club.

SAM WARD banished the memory of Great Britain men's failure at the Rio Olympics by scoring twice in Holcombe's 3-2 win over Surbiton on the opening day of the English league season.

SIMON MANTELL’S double in the last 10 minutes clinched Great Britain’s 2-2 draw against Belgium and ensured they remained unbeaten after their final  game at the four-nation ERGO Masters in Dusseldorf on Sunday.

Reading’s Mantell, 32, was only selected as a traveling reserve for the Rio Olympics but made a telling contribution in GB’s last match of their pre-Games preparations.

Helen Richardson-Walsh was named by the Hockey Writers' Club as Britain’s best player in the 2016 women’s Champions Trophy at Queen Elizabeth Park in East London.

She was the most consistent player in a British team that failed to live up to expectations at the event.

Helen is the first person to receive the the Marjorie Pollard Salver three times, having won the award in 2009 and 2011.

It has been decided that the Marjorie Pollard and Chris Moore Awards will this year be given to the two outstanding UK players at the women's and men's Champions Trophy tournaments in London. Voting is open to members who are at the tournaments or who watch the games on television.

Voting for the men's Chris Moore award closes at 10pm on Thursday June 16, 2016 - after the conclusion of the GB versus Belgium game.
The HWC intends to present the award at the venue the following day.

SURBITON teenager Evan Kimber hit a hat-trick in his side’s 6-3 win at Cannock which consolidated their second place and condemned Cannock to automatic relegation.

HOLCOMBE keeper George Pinner produced a superb display in the 1-1 draw at Surbiton to maintain the Kent club's unbeaten record.

This season’s title race in the South League Premier Division One – with automatic promotion to the England Hockey League for the winners the prize – is being closely contested by Havant and Old Georgians, spearheaded by their leading scorers, Old Georgians’ James Tindall and Havant’s Sandeep Singh.