Hattie Jones is hoping to kick off her birthday celebrations with three points for Holcombe today.

Holcombe Women bid to make it two wins from two when they head to Sugden Road to face Surbiton 2s in the Vitality Division One South (3:30pm).

By Lucas Ball

Nick Bandurak's side were victorious at Southgate on the opening day, winning 2-1 courtesy of goals from Emma Bandurak and Jones' fellow Kiwi Phoebe Steele.

Barry Middleton's Men’s Premier Division outfit follow their clubmates on Saturday, with their Premier Division clash against Surbiton pushing back at 6pm.

The victory at Southgate was the perfect start for Holcombe as they aim for an immediate return to the Vitality Premier Division.

Jones said: “It was a really good start. I suppose the main objective is to always get three points out of a game which we did so that was great. However, there’s still lots of areas to improve on.

"The first half of the game was quite shaky and we struggled to find our flow but thankfully we managed to score a couple of penalty corners either side of half-time which made it better and got us the win in the end, three points is three points no matter how you get it.

“I think a lot of its was an unknown situation. Some of us had never played in that league before so you’ve got no idea idea what Southgate are going to be like, we’ve never played against them and they’ve just come up.

"Also, we didn’t know how big an event it was going to be - the club made it into quite a big event which was nice but it was a bit of an unknown entity again. As a team, we hadn’t played a proper league game together either so that was another unknown.

"I think that had a lot to do it and nerves are always going to be there but the boys did really well in terms of settling us and getting us up for the game, which I think we were but there’s areas that we can still definitely improve when we are under the pump a bit more.

“I think from a field goal perspective, there were definitely a number of good opportunities which we probably would execute on another day and didn’t but we are creating them, that’s the main thing and we’re sitting at around 50% on our corner conversion rate and corners win you games a lot of the time if you can defend them, which we did.

"We conceded four but there were no goals and scored two of our own so that was the difference for us. Field goals will come with confidence and time - our forward line is very new so they’re getting to know each other, where they want the ball.

“I think double-headers are fantastic and I think England Hockey are trying to make them as much of a thing this year as possible which is great.

"It just creates an atmosphere that is worthy of the game of hockey because there are times when there’s a really good game of hockey being played but it might be three o’clock on a Sunday and there’s not many people out watching so I think double-headers on a Saturday afternoon/evening are fantastic.

"For us, the boys - we’ve got three of them coaching us, but a lot of the team will come early for their meet time to watch us which is quite nice. It was a cool environment to play in and Southgate as a hockey club - as Banders says - are doing all the right things and have created a really cool atmosphere and environment up there and it’s a really good set-up.

“I’m definitely excited and I think the way that they play in terms of being a very aggressive, attacking, high-pressing team will be quite similar because there’s a lot of youth in their team traditionally, particularly in the forward line.

"We’ve done a lot of work this week on how to outlet in this sort of situations so hopefully we’ll be better-prepared for that. It should be another good atmosphere and it’s my birthday on Saturday so very much looking forward to that!

“It’s also Tilly Tillings’ birthdays so a double birthday for a double-header. It should be really good.

“It’s definitely just another game. I don’t think any of us under-estimate them because it is such a large club and they have such strong depth in their top tier of the club.

"I think a lot of them also played for the first team on the opening weekend because of all the England girls being away. It doesn’t really change anything but it’s nice knowing going on that you’re probably the favourites whereas traditionally when we’ve played the Surbiton first team, we’re definitely the underdog.

"It’s a different place to be but we’re not under-estimating them at all and I think they finished in the top-three last year and we’re wanting to win it so it’s going to be a good game.”

The Men’s team lost 2-1 at home on Thursday night, against Old Georgians.

Prior to that, Middleton’s side started with two convincing wins, beating Reading 4-0 at Holcombe Park before heading to Southgate and winning 5-2.

New signing Alex Pendle, speaking before their midweek match, believes there is more to come from the side as they bid for Premier Division glory.

Pendle said: “It’s been really good. We’ve got off to a good start in the league and pre-season went really well - it was a little bitty with some of the boys being away but we’ve really settled nicely into the league games and have got a big few weeks ahead of us now.

“It’s been brilliant, it’s always good to see lots of goals going in at the right end. We’ve done a lot of work on that in training, we’ve been working a lot on our circle work and it’s good to see it paying off really well. Off the back of what the boys did last season, it’s nice to come in and get amongst it with them and the goals flying in is always good fun.

“It’s frustrating that one hasn’t gone in yet for me but it’s really positive to be getting close already. Hopefully I’ll stick a couple in to get the ball rolling.”