Mens 1s at their Clinical Best

Mens 1s 5 - 2 Eastcote Mens 1s

Maidenhead HC were back to their clinical best as they swept in five goals against Eastcote on Saturday to maintain their three point lead at the top of the table.

Aqeel Hussain took his tally for the season to seven with a brace, while Phil Cowell, Richard Mulvaney and Callum Turner also netted in a comfortable 5-2 win.

The win extends Maids' undefeated run to 11 matches and keeps them three points above Oxford OBU, who were 5-2 winners over Oxford Hawks on Saturday. PHC Chiswick are a further two points adrift but Maids skipper Chris Brown expects both to push his side right to the bitter end.

“We had some things we wanted to work on from our last game, when I didn’t feel we took enough of our chances,” said Brown. “But on Saturday we were much more clinical.

“They (Oxford OBU and PHC Chiswick) are two very good sides. We beat Oxford 4-2 in our first match of the season and picked up a very good draw at Chiswick a few weeks ago but I expect both will be up there at the end of the season.

“People think that because we haven’t lost a game yet, and have a points advantage, it’s going to be easy for us, but we haven’t even played half a season yet. Things can change very quickly and we won’t get too far ahead of ourselves because of that.”

Last season Maids led the way for much of the campaign before being pipped for the title in the closing weeks of the season.

He hopes the team, who’ve now been together for a few seasons, will learn from that lesson and not repeat the same mistakes. Saturday kicks off one of the busiest weeks in their season.

They go to Reading 3rds on Saturday (4.30pm start), before taking on Marlow in the England Hockey Tier 2 Cup on Sunday.

They’re also set to host Marlow in a re-arranged clash on Tuesday.

It’s likely that a number of first team regulars will be rested for Sunday’s cup clash.

“As a side we’ve developed and grown with each other,” added Brown. “We’ve had a number of near misses over the years and hopefully those have made us a stronger, more well-rounded side.

“The league is our main priority this season, so we won’t jeopardise that for Sunday’s league game, even though we want to continue winning and keep that momentum going.”