Hockey: Hawks' wings clipped

LAST season, Oxford Hawks were riding high, winning the Premier Division of the Peroni South League and narrowly losing the last National League place to Old Kingstonians, writes Bill Colwill.

Surprisingly beaten at home by Anchorians in their first league match of the season, they were thrashed 6-1 on Saturday by Bournemouth with goals from Ian Russell, Danny Greenslade (2), Chris Pollard, Tim Stainer and Jim Moseley.

Worse was to come on Sunday when they were knocked out in the first round of the Royal Bank of Scotland Hockey Association Cup by Staines, losing 4-1 on penalties after drawing 1-1.

Maidenhead were in the doldrums last season, but the arrival of Suti Khehar, the former Great Britain centre-half, as player-coach, plus Kuljit Dhak and Karter Davatwal, has helped turn the tide.

On Saturday, they beat Old Whitgiftians 3-0 in the league, with goals from Peter Langham, Richard Cawthorpe and their captain, Ashley Banner.

They followed this up with a 3-0 win against Worthing in the cup. Worthing never recovered from Adrian Hurley's goal in 16 seconds and another from Francois Toussaint after eight minutes - all brought about by the promptings of Khehar, who collected the third. Maidenhead now face Whitgiftians again in the second round.

Draw, Sport in Short, page 33