T&T’s Teague Marcano and player/coach Kwandwane Browne both played key roles in helping Southgate Hockey Club battle back from 3-1 down to earn a 3-3 draw at the lowly University of Bristol to win the English Hockey League Division One South Outdoor crown at the University of Bristol on Sunday and with it promotion to the Premier League.
Second, from the bottom of the table, the University of Bristol took the lead against Southgate but Dan West fired in the equaliser for the visitors, only for the University of Bristol to score a goal in the second and third periods to lead 3-1 with one quarter left.
Charles Hamilton managed to get a second item for Southgate before Drew Burkin scored the equaliser which earned their team a vital point to carry their tally to 40 from 16 games, seven ahead of Old Loughtonians who missed a chance to extend the title fight, after a 4-2 loss at third-placed Teddington who sits third with 32 points with two matches left for each club.
With the win, Browne who is serving as player/coach for the team in his first year back at the club, and Marcano who has netted 21 goals have taken Southgate men back to the top flight of the English Hockey League for the first time after almost a decade out of the top flight.
The rest of the standings see Canterbury, Browne’s former club in fourth spot with 29 points followed by Sevenoaks with 25, Team Bath Buccaneers with 22, Old Cranleighan with 15, Brighton & Hove with 14, the University of Bristol with ten, and cellar-placed Oxford Hawks, with nine.
The T&T duo of Browne and Marcano will close out the regular season against Sevenoaks on Sunday, March 26, and then their final encounter, against Old Cranleighan, on Sunday, April 2.
Earlier this year, Marcano scored a tournament-leading 30 goals, 19 in the divisional round playoffs to lead Southgate Hockey Club to one of the two promotion spots when the six-club England Hockey League Adult Super 6s Indoor Championships Men’s National Division Two concluded at Repton School, Derby, England, on Sunday.
Under the supervision of player/coach, Browne, who featured for T&T in more than 400 international matches, Southgate ended the National Division Two Championship with a 4-1 win-loss record and 12 points, the same as Beeston who finished top of the table with a superior goal-difference of plus-27 to Southgate’s plus-20, while Bowdon ended third with nine points from a 3-2 record.
During the first phase of the competition, in the Men’s Division Two South round-robin series, Marcano’s 19 goals included four beaver tricks to lead Southgate to the top spot with a maximum of 15 points, five more than fellow qualifiers Guilford, and the University of Bristol.
Overall, Marcano’s 30 goals tally included 16 field goals, ten penalty corners, and four penalty strokes, four more goals than Simon Egerton (26) of Bowdon, while Ammad Butt was third with 23 goals.
