TROJANS v Hamble! It's the biggest game of local hockey in years.

The outcome of Saturday's derby at Stoneham Lane (1.30pm) is sure to have a major bearing on who tops the Hampshire/Surrey Regional League at the Christmas break.

With seven wins out of eight, Trojans are three points clear at the top - but Hamble, after five straight wins, have been on a new high since the double injection of Egyptian magic into their ranks.

"It's a massive game," forecasts Trojans skipper Campbell Williams. "They beat us 3-1 at Stoneham last season and we won at Hamble, but they are a talented side, with the two Egyptian lads complementing an already useful team."

Trojans suffered their first setback of the season when they lost 6-0 to Old Loughtonians in the EHA Cup on Sunday but, significantly, they are still unbeaten in the Regional League.

"We did ok in the cup. They are in the top five in the country, but it took them some 25 minutes before they eventually broke us down. I thought the final scoreline flattered them," Williams said.

"Any success we achieve in the cups is a bonus and without doubt our key result of the weekend was the 5-3 win in the snow at Epsom."

Trojans predictably had their work cut out and it needed late strikes by Paul Hilton and Colin French to keep the unbeaten Stoneham record intact.

They went behind before Hilton levelled matters before the break.

Trojans began to dominate and surged into a 3-1 lead though Pete Wiles and Wayne Shepherd. But Epsom levelled at 3-3 before Hilton and French scored vital late goals.

"Sunday was really all about testing yourself against one of the top sides.

"Footballspeak, it was like Arsenal playing Aldershot, but Old Loughts only won four short corners in the game and we did pretty well," Williams added.

Trojans will need to get that solitary loss out of their system for Saturday lunchtime, as Hamble are on fire after five successive wins have lifted them to second place in the table.

Hamble tore Winchester apart with a slick first-half show in which they scored four times to set up a comfortable 4-2 win.

Egyptian duo Ahmed "Ezz" El-Din Metually and Mohamed Gamal Abdel Nasser (Hamosa) prised Winchester open for the first and Steve Barber touched in a deflection from Hamoza's shot to make it 2-0.

Some intricate ball skills from Dave Kelly set up a third for Barber, while Ezz tucked away a penalty flick after a shot from Rory Marsh had been blocked on the line by a Winchester boot.

Hamble could easily have scored six or seven before the break, but Winchester - who have now lost six matches in a row - came back strongly in the second half with Rob Craddock and Pete Rowland trimming the deficit.

Southampton are still without a win, but collected a third point from a disappointing 3-3 draw against basement side Old Cranleighans at the Sports Centre.

Glyn Treagus masterminded Trojans II's 2-1 win over Sevenoaks - a result which ended a five-match losing Open Premier League, Division 2 sequence. Treagus laid on Tom Cornick's opener and then bagged a second-half winner.