Old Georgians took the laurels from their pre-EHL showdown with fellow Barcelona-bound side Holcombe with a 2-1 Thursday night win in the English Premier Division.
James Carson broke the deadlock with an excellent strike before James Albery made it 2-0 before the end of the first quarter from a country-attack.
Ollie Payne made a number of big saves to limit the damage and, eight minutes into the second half, Nick Bandurak cut the gap when his lovely first touch opened the space to powerfully shoot home.
Bandurak had the ball in the goal once more in the closing phases but it was disallowed as Old Georgians bounced back from last weekend’s 3-2 loss to Surbiton.
OGs complete their pre-EHL schedule with a date with unbeaten Wimbledon while Holcombe are up against Surbiton.
Then it is on to Barcelona where Old Georgians will face Mannheimer HC and Holcombe meet Racing Club de France.
For OGs, they will be looking to lean on their experience of last season to help negotiate this new challenge. They feature current GB internationals Sam Ward, James Albery, Liam Sanford, Lee Morton, Alan Forsyth and Chris Griffiths.
In addition, their line-up also has Ireland defender Kyle Marshall, South African Matt Brown and former GB players Ashley Jackson, George Pinner, Tom Carson and Dan Shingles.
Scottish goal machine Forsyth was the big summer addition following a couple of seasons in the Hoofdklasse with HGC while James Tindall and Nick Page moved on from.
Jackson has taken on the coaching duties from Mike Hughes having played with the club since 2019.
For Holcombe, they announced their travelling squad last week which you can read here: https://ehlhockey.tv/2023/09/20/holcombe-announce-ehl-ko16-panel/
