Surbiton went down 4-3 to East Grinstead in their final Slazenger EHL National Premier Division away fixture of the season on Saturday.

It was a match they should have won.

The Sussex side had five players yellow-carded, meaning the visitors were playing against 10 men for 23 of the game's 70 minutes.

To add insult to injury, the home side scored two of their four goals when a man short - their opener by Mark Justice after 17 minutes and the killer goal through Ashley Jackson's penalty stroke in the 50th minute.

On top of this, Surbiton wasted eight penalty corners.

Jackson got East Grinstead's second after 25 minutes, before veteran James Wallis, who had a superb game off the bench, netted an opportunistic strike to make it 2-1 at the interval.

Ben Payne got EG's third in the 44th minute, while James Tindall took advantage of the home side's indiscretions with two goals while they were a man short.

Surbiton's chances of snatching a point were not helped when the umpire forgot to stop his watch when calling the two captains together to cool things down for the second time in the game.

Saturday's defeat meant Surbiton will have to settle for finishing fifth in the 10-team elite league, regardless of the result of their final fixtures on Sunday, when they host eighth-placed Hampstead & West- minster.

The sides fought out a 4-4 draw at Paddington Rec early in the campaign.

Hampstead can climb to seventh if they win and Beeston lose at Canterbury, while Surbiton will be keen to avoid injuries or suspension ahead of their EH Cup semi-final against Cannock at Reading HC the following Saturday (4.45pm).

If they progress - unlikely on their current form - they will meet the winner of East Grinstead's clash with Bowdon in the final at 3pm the next day.