Hampstead & Westminster resumed the second half of their season in the men’s Premier Divison on Sunday, earning an important 2-1 win away against basement boys Canterbury which took them away from the bottom two.

The visitors started strongly with England internationals Richard Alexander and Iain Mackay in particular enjoying lots of the ball in long spells of possession.

However, Canterbury broke to score against the run of play and, spurred on by their large home crowd, they pushed to extend their lead before the break, only being denied by a number of fine saves from H&W goalkeeper Harry Gibson.

Hampstead flew out of the blocks after the restart and good work down the left was rewarded with a penalty corner which South African international Matt Botha expertly converted.

The game was now end-to-end as both teams searched for the win. And, with five minutes to go, Mackay won another penalty corner and Botha rifled home again.

Canterbury poured forward as they attempted to move off the foot of the table, but Hampstead held on, moving up to sixth place, and they will head into Sunday’s home game against Beeston full of confidence.