Teddington 6 Ipswich 4

Slazenger Men's EHL

South Division

Teddington 6 Ipswich 4

Teddington recorded their first win in over two years against an Ipswich team that put in, quite simply, their worst National League performance of the season.

Despite a 20 point gap between the two sides before the fixture began, Teddington were deserving victors, with Ipswich only having themselves to blame for a performance described by coach Ian Gall after the match as “truly shocking and simply unacceptable”.

Teddington are still favourites for relegation, as any form of recovery has surely arrived too late, but a victory for Ipswich would have all but guaranteed National League hockey for next season.

Ipswich got off to the worst possible start when their inability to defend penalty corners was exposed for the third week in a row, with Teddington's Jason Laslett being the beneficiary in the second minute.

The visitors were soon back on level terms thanks to a good open play strike from England U18 international Will Hearne, but Teddington moved into a 2-1 lead from another penalty corner when Gareth Mckeown scored the first of his four goals after Ipswich again failed to clear.

Ipswich were then struck down with an injury to right defender and penalty corner expert Kier Dixon, who was hit in the face by the ball and would play no further part in the match.

As the end of the first half approached, Ipswich began to look the side more likely to take control of the match and efforts from Ben Gallagher and Rich Stainthorpe were beaten away by the Teddington keeper.

This good spell continued at the start of the second half and Phil Messent soon grabbed an equaliser when he slapped the ball home from a tight angle.

A minute later, Ivan Smith received an accurate Ben Gallagher pass from the left that eliminated the goalkeeper, allowing Smith to tap in easily for a 3-2 lead.

At this point, Teddington looked to be there for the taking, but Ipswich did not take advantage and the home side soon found the net with a good open play strike from Ian Harris, masterminded by ex-England and GB captain Laslett.

It was Laslett, now 37, who was at the centre of everything for Teddington, winning plenty of tackles in midfield and starting the majority of their attacks.

Ipswich were struggling to contain their opponents, and when the home side won a penalty corner in the 55 minute, the visitors feared the worst.

The first strike was initially saved by Ned Martin in the Ipswich goal, but again Ipswich did not clear and Mckeown forced the ball over the line.

Mckeown then turned a 4-3 lead into 6-3 with two more penalty corners, leaving Ipswich stunned and Teddington within touching distance of victory.

Two minutes from time, Rich Stainthorpe pulled a goal back for Ipswich with a well-taken deflection from a Messent cross, but it was too little too late.

Ipswich can expect tough training sessions this week as coach Gall prepares his team for their next match, against Oxted on Saturday.

The side recorded a cracking away win over the Surrey-based team on the opening day of the season, but Oxted are a much improved outfit and will be a tough team to break down, with former South African international Justin King marshalling their defence. The match takes place at Tuddenham Road this Saturday at 1pm.