Olympic Hero To Open New Hockey Ground.

THE official opening of the new Southgate Hockey Centre in Trent Park will take place this Sunday with Richard Dodds OBE, captain of the gold medal winning Great Britain side at the 1988 Olympics, performing the official opening.The Vice Chancellor of Middlesex University, which is joint owner of the facility, will also be present at the opening ceremony at noon, along with other local dignitaries and celebrities from the world of hockey.There are a host of other events going on throughout the day, including Southgate's final National League game against Reading which starts at 2.00pm.As well as womens and youth games, the morning sees an exhibition match featuring Southgate's most famous players of the 70's, including former Great Britain manager Bernie Cotton.The exhibition game will start at 11.00am.Southgate were in league action at the weekend, and they managed a 4-4 draw with Doncaster on Saturday before going down 3-2 at local rivals Old Loughtonians on Sunday.Loughtonians are chasing Southgate for fourth spot and they were able to close the gap as Southgate slipped to defeat in a hard-fought derby.The Trent Park side made a good start and had the better of the early exchanges. They looked much the sharper in attack and it was no surprise that they took the lead midway through the first half through a well-worked goal from a short corner.Southgate extended their lead after the break, when a defensive mistake gifted them their second, and at that stage the visitors looked well on top.Loughts were allowed back into things though, and launched a wave of attacks as they chased the game. Southgate's relatively inexperienced defence couldn't cope with the onslaught and three quick goals saw them slide to defeat.