Old Loughtonians Women’s 1s returned to action after the winter break in the England Hockey Women’s Conference East with the toughest of fixtures against the unbeaten league leaders Teddington.

Loughts were under pressure from the start and with only 4 minutes on the clock a Teddington penalty corner was powered home to give them an early lead. Phoebe Menear in the Loughts goal made several fine saves to keep the lead down to a single goal in the first quarter.

Loughts settled and grew into the game but were dealt a blow midway through the second quarter as play was allowed to continue after Adele Sammons appeared to be fouled and when the ball was fed across the Old Loughts D it was cooly slotted home for a 2-0 Teddington lead. Old Loughts almost pulled a goal back before half time but were denied by an incredible goal line clearance.

After the break Loughts were on top for large periods and Sammons penalty corner strike almost made it 2-1 but iwas adjudged to have entered the net just above the backboard.

The final quarter saw no let up in Loughts attempts to rescue the game with player of the match Violet Gray tireless in her forward play.

Final mention to Phoebe Menear whose outstanding penalty stroke save towards the end was something to behold.

Loughts travel to Kent next Saturday to take on Canterbury W1s in an important bottom half of the table clash.