Struan Walker put in a star turn to send Surbiton into the ABN AMRO FINAL8 as his two goals helped his club defeat near neighbours Wimbledon 3-2 to the delight of their home crowd.
They led from the front but never fully shook off their rivals in a lively contest. Luke Taylor set the ball rolling with a powerful early penalty corner.
And they were 2-0 up when Walker got in behind the last defender on the end of a superb David Goodfield pass. The Scottish international calmly rounded the goalkeeper and struck home on his reverse.
The Wombles steadied the ship after that and started to force a series of penalty corners, one of which Samuel Hooper rocketed into the backboard down the right channel.
Walker restored the two-goal difference when he added another corner strike for Surbiton with time running out in the third quarter.
But it was set up for a grandstand finish when Ed Horler ghosted his way along the baseline and picked out Fred Newbold to finish off at close quarters.
Wimbledon kept pushing with Liam Ansell to the fore but Surbiton stood firm to take up their place in the FINAL8.
Before that, Tomi Domene’s penalty corner seven minutes from time ground out a 2-1 win for Waterloo Ducks over Scotland’s Western Wildcats to earn the ranking points on offer for Belgium.
It was a serious battle from start to finish for Ducks as the rain began to pour in Surbiton as Wildcats produced a rousing performance but could not find the equaliser from late corners.
Charlie Langendries broke the deadlock in the second quarter with a powerful reverse-stick shot from the left of the D.
But they were back on level terms just before half-time when Nikki Homfrey brilliantly batted in a high ball from a corner rebound on the left post.
An even Q3 remained level before WatDucks stepped up the pace in the closing quarter, a spell which ended with Domene scoring what proved the winner.
Gavin Sommerville made a wealth of great saves during that time before the Wildcats had their openings but could not find a way to force a shoot-out.
