Bishop’s Stortford Handball Club beat Brighton 27-26 in Men’s Regional League South East 2
Promotion-chasing Bishop’s Stortford edged out Brighton 27-26 to increase their lead at the top of England Handball Men’s Regional League South East 2.
They took the spoils in a competitive and physical encounter to go four points clear of their opponents at the summit.
Both goalkeepers produced some impressive saves in the opening exchanges and Stortford, who were wasteful with some shots, led 12-10 at half time.
Stortford also made some defensive mistakes in the first half, something they repeated after the break which led to a few two-minute suspensions.
Despite this, they had a four-goal lead with five minutes remaining and managed to hold on as Brighton gave everything to level matters.
David Robalo was named Stortford’s player of the match.
Meanwhile, the club fielded a boys’ team in the England Handball U14 National League - South East for the first time.
They battled hard in their opening contest as they went down 20-10 to a strong West London Eagles side.
Ron Freeman scored five goals, Blake Newman and Luke White bagged braces and Reuben Morley also netted.
The team looked more confident when they took on Chelsea and claimed an 18-9 success.
Freeman, who was player of the match in both games, scored nine goals and was joined on the score sheet by Newman (four), Freddie Rice (three), Harley Fryer and Lloyd Scott (both one).
The players also took it in turns to play in goal as they did not have a dedicated goalkeeper on the day.
The under-14 girls were also in league action and, despite having no substitutes with a relatively new squad, performed exceptionally well in a narrow 17-14 defeat to West London Eagles and a 21-13 victory over Chelsea.
Across the two games, Sophie James scored 16 goals, Orlaith Morris netted 12 and Beth March notched seven.
James was player of the match against West London Eagles while Morris took the award against Chelsea.
If you are interested in joining the club, which has members aged four to 50-plus, visit www.stortfordhandball.co.uk.