Wimbledon 3 East Grinstead 5
Ben Marsden remains optimistic despite Wimbledon’s reversal to league leaders East Grinstead at a rain-soaked King’s College on Sunday.
The Dons shipped early goals to Chris Griffiths and Mark Pearn but Marsden and Declan Spencer had them level going into first-half injury-time before Pearn pounced for his second.
East Grinstead dominated thereafter and went further ahead through Andy Bull and Ashley Jackson and, despite a late consolation goal from Ben Hawes, the away side ran out deserved winners.
Marsden said: “There are a lot of positives we can take, but we just didn’t get out of the blocks as well as we normally do.
“Our good starts have been the best part of our last four games so it’s disappointing because we made some early individual errors which cost us.
“I think it shows that we’ve got good belief and that we can come back from deficits and we’ve proved that over the last three weeks.”
After severe downpours the game was switched to Pitch 1 with floodlights in operation from the start despite the early afternoon start.
Players found the testing conditions very problematic and poor control was evident in a game that often resembled their ice hockey counterparts.
The much-heralded Wimbledon defence was unlocked inside three minutes when Pearn excellently scooped over James Bailey.
East Grinstead nearly doubled their lead immediately but the Wimbledon keeper excellently denied Wesley Jackson from close-range.
Griffiths capitalised on hesitation in the home defence to double their lead before former GB international Marsden finished off a great team move for Wimbledon.
With Alistair Brogdon to the fore, the Dons began to gain a foothold and a free flowing move involving Marsden and Johnny Kinder resulted in Australian recruit Spencer neatly finishing and leveling matters.
The table toppers always looked dangerous on the counter attack however and Pearn got the game’s decisive goal when unmarked at the back post, as his side led 3-2 at the break.
Marsden added: “The goal before half-time was the story of our game really.
“We made errors but it was frustrating to be 3-2 down after working hard to respond to their two early goals.”
East Grinstead never looked back and started the second-half brightly with Bull scoring from a tight angle after a mis-controlled penalty corner was excellently recycled by the influential Jackson.
Bull then turned provider from a penalty corner as GB international Jackson lashed home an unstoppable goal with the away team now in cruise control.
David Bunyan’s side never gave up and their efforts were rewarded as skipper Hawes made it third time lucky from a penalty corner with a smart finish but it was East Grinstead who exacted revenge for an early season defeat.
Marsden said: “It’s a blip on an otherwise decent record for the last few games.
“We’re not going to let this phase us, we’re going to push forward and turn our focus to Southgate.
“Our goal is to finish in the top three if we can. We’re very optimistic and feel like we’re playing good hockey.”
Meanwhile, in the Women’s Conference East, Wimbledon Ladies got an impressive 1-1 draw away to Ipswich.
The Dons took a surprise lead just before half-time when an unmarked Rosie MacPherson scored against the run of play.
Ipswich teenager Hattie Sunderland drew level and despite incessant late pressure the Dons held on bravely to gain a well-deserved point.
