A fast start from Loughts immediately put Upminster on the back foot winning a penalty corner in the opening minutes. From the resulting corner Emily Holmes’ fierce strike was superbly turned home by injector Tash Patient to give Loughts an early lead.

Tash made it 2-0 with her second of the game 7 minutes into the second half. Chloe Joarder breaking down the right and finding Tash with an excellent cross which she duly turned home.

Loughts Ladies 1s have a double header next weekend with Saturday and Sunday home games.

The Ladies 2s completed the double over local rivals Crostyx 2s with a 1-0 win, Ladies 3s defeated Upminster 3s by 4-1, Ladies 4s won 4-0 against Braintree 3s and Ladies 5s completed the impecable winning streak with a 2-1 win against Ilford and Redbridge 2s.

The men complemented a fanatstic set of results with no teams losing to another club.

Loughts men’s 2s were relieved to maintain their margin at the top of division 1 South after they managed to repel a determined and plucky second placed St Albans 2s at home on Saturday.

Many of the senior players initially appeared to have been following an intensive personal training regime over the festive season (!) as their normally deft touch and pace sometimes seemed missing. The covers came off the Rolls Royce for the first time this year and the bodywork showed some signs of rust although the engine began to purr as the game progressed.

St Albans could have taken the lead within the first few minutes after the back line started sluggishly. Fortunately Toby Gayler was on hand to steady the ship; he showed growing maturity throughout the game and put in a fine performance for the team .

The Purples took the lead in the 9th minute from a short corner that was slotted home by captain Gabriel Inch. The Tangerines countered with a deflected goal after Loughts could not prevent a rising hit entering the circle. Loughts scored a second from a short corner after the foxy Inch pushed the ball to the injector, Elliott Smith, who stroked the ball into the net with a deft touch. St Albans again struck back after a stroke was awarded for a goal line infringement. 2-2 at half time.

At half time, manager Oxo urged the team to continue to maintain discipline and shape and to close down players outside the circle and prevent hits going into the penalty area. The closing down worked but as the game became more frenetic a number of cards were handed out in quick succession for reasons hard to fathom from the stands. At one stage Loughts had 3 players playing musical chairs on the side line!

With player advantage the Tangerines were given a second penalty stroke which, after much reconsideration by the umpires, they scored to take the lead. Feeling somewhat aggrieved, Loughts regrouped and began to find their pre Christmas rhythm and to exert pressure. They forced another short corner and when Inch crashed the ball against the post Rahul Karri was on hand for the rebound to fire the ball into the top corner of the net. The team came to life and could have snatched victory at the end. Final score 3-3. An incident filled game but most importantly Loughts remain six points clear at the top of the league.

Elsewhere the M4s Academy also drew. 2-2 the final result against Saffron Walden 3s. The M5s Loppers beat Saffron Waldens 4s by 5-2. The other men’s teams played each other with the M6s Willows winning 5-1 against the M7s Willows Woodsmen and the M8s Willows Rangers drawing 1-1 with the M9s Willows Axemen.

On Sunday the u14 girls lost 1-0 to Chelmsford, the u16 boys beat Cambridge City 5-0 but the u16 girls lost 6-2 to Wimbledon.

It was also the weekend for the National indoor hockey championships and both the boys u16s and boys u18s were in action as East Area Champions playing against the champions of the other 7 Areas. On Saturday the u16 boys played very well and qualified from their pool for the semi finals but despite leading at half time eventually lost 4-2 to Repton who went on the beat Cheltenham 8-2 in the final to be crowned champions.

The u18 boys went one better and after a slow start losing their first pool match 3-5 to Brooklands MU went on to beat East Grinstead 4-1 and Winchester 7-2. In the semi final they defeated Repton 4-1 and went on to play recent Copperbox champions Surbiton having recently lost 5-4 to them in the semi finals of that competition. Goals from Fred Cooke and Harvey Edwards sealed a 2-1 victory and the boys are National champions. A fabulous performance from all the boys who played on Sunday and in the East tournament and thanks to the coaches, parents and helpers for contributing to a magnificent success for the club.