Preview: european qualification and top scorer honours up for grabs

The race for Europe reaches the final lap this weekend, with three clubs chasing the second automatic place for continental competition next season. Surbiton secured their eighth Vitality

Women's Premier Division title in a row last weekend and face a final home Top 6 fixture against Wimbledon, who head the three-way tussle for the second European berth. As it stands,

Wimbledon are on 38 points, Hampstead & Westminster 37 and East Grinstead 36. Victory for Wimbledon will rubber stamp the Londoners’ passage to Europe in their first full season in

England Hockey’s top flight. Suzy Petty, who joined Wimbledon in 2016, said: “We have to go for the victory. If we win it's in our hands.” Wimbledon have won six from nine since

Christmas, while they lost to Surbiton 1-0 at home in February and drew 1-1 in the corresponding fixture at Sugden Road in October, a match which marked their first meeting in league

competition. “Everyone is really excited and it will be a huge day,” added Petty, who will be 30 on Saturday. “The fact that we are vying for a European spot in our first full season is

pretty cool. Surbiton will be going at this game like any other and will come out all guns blazing.” Brett Garrard, Surbiton’s coach, said that his side will be aiming to finish the season

on a high ahead of their Euro Hockey League campaign next week. He said: “I’ve billed it since Christmas as 10 Cup finals, this is number 10 and there will be no let up. We let ourselves

down when we played Hampstead & Westminster [losing 2-0 in their last home game] and I was very pleased we managed to dig deep last weekend. “It will be an important league game first

and foremost and a final preparation before the EHL next week. We need to do our best because it’s the final fixture and we need to do it in the spirit of what everyone else is fighting

for.” There are several permutations if Surbiton prevail on Saturday. Should either Hampstead & Westminster or East Grinstead win at Paddington Rec, then one of them will finish above

Wimbledon. With a healthy goal difference of at least 13 better than their rivals, a draw will likely be good enough for Wimbledon if East Grinstead beat H&W.  Kate Richardson-Walsh and

Sarah Kelleher’s side beat East Grinstead 3-2 back in September - Sophie Bray has scored in each of their three previous visits - before EG won 3-0 at home in February. East Grinstead coach

Mary Booth, on the back of three defeats in a row, said: “We were disappointed after Saturday [1-0 defeat to champions Surbiton] as we played exceptionally well and we lost to Beeston and

Clifton when it was in our hands.  “This weekend is a Cup final, it’s winner takes all and it would be superb to play in Europe.” The final Top 6 match of the weekend sees Beeston take on

Clifton Robinsons at 2pm. Beeston have shown some great form since the league restart, despite falling short of fighting for a European spot.  The Nottingham side have won their last three

fixtures and have proved a real handful against the Premier Division elite. James Sordillo, Beeston’s coach, said: “We’ve had a really good second half of the season. We’ve done a lot of

building and we knew it was time to raise our standards.  “We aimed to have an impact and to challenge the more traditional top sides. It’s all coming together and gives us a really good

platform moving forwards.” Beeston will be aiming for a hat-trick of victories over Clifton this season. Clifton have won just once at Nottingham Hockey Centre. Meanwhile, in the battle for

top goalscorer honours, Surbiton’s Darcy Bourne and East Grinstead’s Bray are both level on 18 goals apiece. For the second-placed team in the Women's Premier Division, it is yet to be

determined which European competition they will be entered for. At the moment, it hinges on European ranking points for two clubs to be entered into the EHL, while the format for next season

is yet to be finalised. SAT 9 APR (ALL 2PM) Beeston v Clifton Robinsons Hampstead & Westminster v East Grinstead Surbiton v Wimbledon