Holcombe Women secure Premier Division return with 3-1 home win over Wimbledon 2nds; Holcombe men’s side see off Beeston 5-2

By Lucas Ball

Holcombe secured a return to Premier Division hockey at the first attempt as Nick Bandurak’s side beat Wimbledon 2nds 3-1 at Holcombe Park courtesy of Leisa Randall’s brace and a Phoebe Steele goal on Saturday.

With promotion following on from Holcombe’s Super 6s Division 1 triumph in January, the club are now one of just two teams in the country to support two first-teams who play Premier Division hockey in the indoor and outdoor set-up.

Bandurak’s team also became the first outfit – men’s or women’s – to make an immediate return to the top-flight since Buckingham.

Randall’s first-quarter goal calmed the nerves slightly, with Holcombe knowing a win made other results irrelevant as Barnes, even if they beat champions Surbiton 2nds – which they did – could not catch Holcs.

It was two before half-time as Randall doubled her and Holcombe’s tally with her seventh goal of the season before Steele added her 13th of the campaign shortly after half-time.

The visitors pulled a goal back with seven minutes to go through a Petra Barr penalty stroke but Holcombe comfortably held on for promotion to kick-start the party.

Deanna Ritchie had already forced a save from Katherine Don-Wauchope with a close-range snapshot before the opening goal. Lottie Bingham drove through the heart of the Wimbledon defence and found Tilly Tillings, the forward unselfishly passing across goal for Randall to tap home.

The game was temporarily halted in the second quarter due to hail before play restarted with around 11 minutes to go in the second period, Randall adding her second five minutes later with the slightest of deflections past Don-Wauchope from Emma Bandurak’s hit.

Two minutes later, it could have been three. Bingham was again