By Lucas Ball

Holcombe Men are looking to return to winning ways in the Premier Division as they head to winless University of Nottingham on Saturday evening.

Barry Middleton’s side will face the university outfit at the Nottingham Hockey Centre after a mixed double-header weekend, when they won 7-1 at East Grinstead but were beaten 3-0 at home by Wimbledon, the Londoners’ first win in Medway for three years.

Holcombe sit third in the table following those results, behind reigning champions Old Georgians and Surbiton, with both of those sides winning big on both Saturday and Sunday.

Old Georgians beat Beeston 12-4 on Saturday before thrashing Cardiff & Met 9-1 on Sunday, while Surbiton beat Oxted 6-0 before their own romping of Beeston, winning 9-1 against the Nottingham side.

Middleton’s side sit above Hampstead & Westminster on goal difference, having scored the same number of goals but conceding two less, maintaining the joint-second-best defensive record in the league.

The University of Nottingham, meanwhile, have lost all seven matches so far this season including most recently losing both double-header matches to the two newly-promoted sides.

Cardiff & Met ran out 4-3 winners at the Nottingham Hockey Centre on Saturday, while Kwan Browne’s Southgate romped to a 5-1 win on Sunday.

The two sides met just once last season, in Phase One, as Holcombe won 6-3 at Holcombe Park - the goals coming from Nick Bandurak (4), Jake Owen and Hayden Phillips.

Holcombe Women are looking for their fourth consecutive win in all competitions as they travel to Trojans on Sunday afternoon (12pm) in the first round of the England Hockey Cup.

Nick Bandurak’s side are currently second in the Vitality Division One South as they aim for an immediate return to the Vitality Premier Division having won four of their first five league games, only losing to table-toppers Surbiton 2s, who cannot be promoted.

Wins over Sevenoaks, Slough and Harleston Magpies in their last three have seen Holcombe put 12 goals past their opponents, including six against Harleston last weekend.

New Zealand international Deanna Ritchie has been lively in the last two particularly, as well. Having come close to scoring in her first three Holcombe matches, Ritchie got off the mark with a hat-trick against Slough, which was followed up by a brace against the Magpies.

Trojans, meanwhile, have made a good start to their own season and sit top of the Vitality Conference West, looking for promotion to the Vitality Division One.

They opened up with a 5-0 win at Basingstoke before drawing 2-2 with Witney, beating Oxford Hawks 2-0, losing 2-1 to Cheltenham and beating Exeter 5-4.