Old Loughtonians Women’s 1s rose magnificently to the challenge of hosting the runaway leaders of the England Hockey Vitality Conference East on Saturday. Guildford had started the season in imperious form with six straight wins, however they came up against a Loughts side who were in no mood to respect their 100% record.

The first quarter was a tight affair with Loughts pressing strongly from the front and remaining resolute at the back. The best chance of the half saw a cheeky lobbed finish from Lucy Price drop just wide. With 25 minutes gone Loughts broke the deadlock when Hannah Bloy drove down the Guildford left flank with amazing skill and pace. Her driven ball across the D found Chantelle Fernandes sliding in at the back post to make it 1-0. However Guildford were level 4 minutes before the break when a slick penalty corner routine was neatly finished. This only resulted in further galvanising Loughts efforts and just 50 seconds after the half time restart it was deja vu for Fernandes as this time Maddy Newlyn’s run and cross found her alone at the far post where she made no mistake for her and Loughts second. With 3 minutes remaining in the third quarter its was Newlyn’s turn to shine as her brilliant individual dribble was finished with a wonderful reverse strike which arced into the far corner to extend Loughts lead to 3-1.

The final quarter required incredible resolve from Old Loughts as Guildford threw everything at them to try and get back into the game. An outstanding double save from player of the match Phoebe Menear was the pick of her heroics between the sticks. Regardless Loughts were not to be denied and even though Guildford pulled a goal back from another penalty corner as the final whistle sounded the 3 points were staying in Essex. On the back of this impressive result Loughts climb to 5th in the table and will host Horsham at the Lane next Saturday as they look to build on this fantastic performance.
After a long trek to play Colchester W1s the W2s returned home with only a point despite dominating the fixture. Emily Holmes scored for Loughts in the 1-1 draw. The W3s were disappointed to lose 5-1 to Waltham Forest 1s. The score line did not represent the performance.
The W4s drew 1-1 with Braintree 2s. The W5s romped to a 6-0 win away against Waltham Forest 4s. Olivia Collins and Champa Halai made it 2-0 at half time and Hannah Kelly, Emily Harley and Erica Howlett (2) completed the rout.
The M1s faced another long M4 drive to play Bath Buccaneers. They went behind after just 4 minutes after conceding a penalty corner converted by Bath. Despite being down to ten men Loughts equalised just before half time through Max Heaver. A flurry of green cards in the second half hampered a resurgent Loughts performance but they finally managed to get ahead from a well taken penalty corner converted by Conor Caplan. With fifteen minutes to go Loughts continued to press for a third but were happy to settle for the three points. Next week they host league leaders Richmond with six teams still in close contention for promotion to the premier league.
It was a tight game away at University of East Anglia that saw old Loughts 2s as the better hockey playing team creating the bulk of the chances. UEA came back well in the second half playing on the break but only a mistake from Loughts allowed them their goal. Loughts responded with Jamie Askam playing an Emile Heskey role and getting a good equaliser from a short corner. Overall the 2s are playing some excellent hockey and finding some good form moving forward. Next week they are at home to Harleston Magpies.
The M3s also faced first team opposition and secured a 1-1 draw with Potters Bar 1s. The M4s lost 2-1 to Havering 2s. The M5s Willows met yet another first team; Tower Hamlets and were very unfortunate to lose 2-1. The M6s Willows Woodsmen lost to Basildon 2s and the M7s Willows Rangers lost 5-2 to Brentwood 5s but the M8s Development team won 4-2 against Braintree 5s.

The Supervets had a good 3-1 win against local rivals Southgate Titans.