Bishop’s Stortford Hockey Club round-up: Ladies 2s pull off stunning win over leaders St Albans 3s to ease relegation fears

After a disappointing defeat at previously winless Upminster II the week before saw them drop into the East Women’s Hockey League Division 1S relegation zone, Bishop’s Stortford II climbed out of trouble – for the time being at least – with a stunning 4-0 home win over leaders St Albans 3s.

Following a win earlier in the day for Sudbury, the hosts went into the game knowing they needed points to keep the relegation battle in their hands.

The visitors to the Herts & Essex Sports Centre, who had lost only twice and been top of the league for most of the season, started strongly with most of the possession, requiring excellent saves from Ali Martyn in goal.

However, Stortford matched St Albans for intensity. An accurate ball up the line from Emma Hynds to Amelia Leach led to a strong run down the right and the ball was crossed to captain Fiona Mulder, who calmly lifted the ball over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net to open the scoring.

Soon after, another ball went up the line to Leach who skipped round a couple of St Albans players before entering the D, running along the baseline and passing the ball into the goal from a tight angle, wrongfooting the St Albans goalkeeper, to make it 2-0.

The remainder of the first half was a close-fought encounter, with player of the match Sophie Higgins working tirelessly in midfield and the Stortford defence keeping out St Albans’ short corner attempts.

The high intensity from both sides continued in the second half. Both sides failed to convert short corners until Nicky Bareham stepped up and buried a well-hit straight strike into the corner of the goal.

St Albans continued to put pressure on the Stortford defence, with the whole team committed to not conceding, notably a goal-line stop from Hynds.

In the final seconds, Hynds played a long-range ball through to Alice Lowe, who picked it up alone in the final quarter and smoothly rounded the St Albans keeper to make the final score 4-0.

Stortford are two points clear of third-from-bottom Sudbury going into Saturday’s final fixtures. Stortford are away to Letchworth, who are one place and one point above them, while their Suffolk rivals travel to fourth-placed Blueharts.

In the Premier Division, Stortford firsts’ sorry end to the season continued as they lost 1-0 at Norwich City, despite enjoying the majority of the possession in the first half. With one match left, the one-time leaders are third, 12 points behind champions Harleston Magpies 2s.

In Div 2SW, Stortford 3s beat Harpenden’s firsts 2-1 while in 3SW the fourths drew 3-3 with Hertford 2s and, in the same division, Hannah Wynne scored the equaliser for Stortford 5s as they drew 1-1 with Stevenage 2s.

Stortford 6s secured their Div 3SE status with a dominant 6-1 victory over Chelmsford 4s at Chelmer Park in a crucial relegation play-off.

Despite conceding an early goal, the visitors responded with determination, with Emma Cox netting five goals – including two before half time – and Sarah Alderson the other. Sophie Powell was player of the match.

In Div 5SW, Stortford 7s came from behind to win 3-1 away at Broxbourne 4s to move up to sixth in the table. Conceding against the run of play, Megan Laws equalised before half time, Holly Haslam made it 2-1 and Harriet Turner sealed the win with her first goal in ladies’ hockey. Debutante Harkierat Gill made a strong impact and was player of the match.

In 7SW, Stortford 9s lost 2-1 to Bedford 7s Development while Stortford 10s Development – a side drawn from Back to Hockey graduates and emerging teen talent – finished their inaugural season with a 5-1 win at Letchworth 5s.

Going a goal down inside two minutes, they equalised through Catherine Smith. Tory Foot and Cecily Morgan added early second-half goals and, in the final minutes, Annie Johnson netted with a penalty corner strike and Emily Fowke notched the fifth.

Men’s results – East Men’s League Premier Division: Bishop’s Stortford 4 Bedford 6. Div 2SW: Stortford 2s 0 Welwyn 1s 4. Div 2SW: Stortford 3s 2 Stevenage 1s 3. Div 4SW: Stortford 4s 2 Stevenage 2s 7. Div 5SW: Stortford 5s 6 Bedford 5s 2. Div 6SW: Stortford 6s 0 Welwyn 3s 1.