Two local national league clubs each had to cope without one of their England internationals over the weekend.

Conference East team Wimbledon were missing injured new signing Ben Hawes for the second game in succession, having played just three times for them after missing their first three fixtures before returning from Delhi ahead of the Commonwealth Games, for which he had been a travelling reserve.

However, their second international signed from Surbiton during the close season, Rob Moore, was appearing for the third time - after missing the first five fixtures while participating in the Games - and helped his side to a 1-1 draw at King’s College School in a 5pm Saturday start.

Sam Pike scored the Wimbledon equaliser from a penalty corner – and took himself to league joint top scorer with ten goals – three minutes after Holcombe had taken the lead 12 minutes into the second half, also from a penalty corner. The result dropped the two teams from second and third to fourth and fifth respectively, with Holcombe still one point ahead.

The bad news for Wimbledon is that Hawes will also miss the last two fixtures before the winter break, hoping to return when the league resumes on 6 February. Meantime his team play their penultimate fixture before Christmas away on Saturday (Roding Sports Centre, 3pm) to sixth-placed Old Loughtonians with whom they are level on points.

But it will be a quicker return to action for Surbiton’s Richard Alexander, unable to play, after just two appearances since his return from Delhi, in his team’s 5-1 Sunday afternoon home loss to Premier Division leaders East Grinstead. He will be training with the rest of the Great Britain pre-2012 squad at Lilleshall National Sports Centre from Wednesday to Friday this week and hopes to feature in at least one of the two full internationals there against Argentina on Wednesday (12.30pm) and Thursday (10am) as well as for his club this Saturday away to 7th-placed Hampstead & Westminster (Paddington Rec, 2pm).

The only two good things to come from Surbiton’s Sunday loss was that other results kept them in fourth position (just two points ahead of Hampstead in the 10-team elite league) and captain Tim Pinnock’s solitary goal – a 52nd-minute penalty corner conversion when his team were already trailing 0-4 – which took him to top on his own of the league goalscoring chart, a position he ended up in last season.