East Women’s Hockey League Premier Division leaders Bishop’s Stortford lose 4-2 to Broxbourne
Bishop’s Stortford’s lead at the East Women’s Hockey League, Premier Division summit has been cut to two points after they suffered a 4-2 home defeat to mid-table Broxbourne on Saturday (February 8).
Some uncharacteristic errors resulted in the leaders trailing 3-0 at half time, with the visitors converting all of their shots on goal.
The hosts fought back after the break and both Liv Smerdon and Sally Powell scored from short corners.
Stortford created several chances to equalise, but it was their opponents who struck again to condemn them to only a third defeat of the season.
The second team suffered a 4-0 reverse at their Bedford counterparts in Division 1S.
The visitors, for whom Emma Hynds was named player of the match, could not take any of their chances.
Zoe Barford got a consolation goal in the third team’s 2-1 defeat at Stevenage in 2SW.
It was a good weekend for the fourth team as they recorded 2-1 and 5-1 victories over Luton Town and Rickmansworth respectively in 3SW.
Jessica Ashford-Green got both goals in Saturday’s home win over Luton while Lois Wright led the way with three goals in Sunday’s away success against Rickmansworth.
In the same division, the fifth team produced a gutsy performance when losing 3-1 at table-toppers Bedford Town IV.
The visitors, who travelled with 11 players, two of whom had stepped up from the seventh team, equalised before half time through Kate Cullinan.
They showed bags of resilience after the break, but the leaders struck twice to take the points.
Izzy Jones took the player-of-the-match prize when the sixth team lost 3-0 at home to Southend II in 3SE.
The goalkeeper made a series of outstanding saves, but the visitors got the better of her three times in the first half.
Megan Laws scored four goals and Sophia Vasey hit a hat-trick as the seventh team thumped title-chasing Hertford III 7-1 at home in 5SW.
They followed up their first win since mid-November with a 1-0 defeat at Luton-based Chiltern the following day.
Ava O’Neill bagged a brace to help the eighth team triumph 4-0 at Royston II in 6SW.
Harkierat Gill and Eileen Adams were also on the score sheet for the visitors, who played without a goalkeeper.
The 10th team (development) won 1-0 at home to Bedford VII in 7SW.
In the East Men’s League, the first team went down 4-2 at Saffron Walden in the Premier Division.
There was a 2-1 defeat to Stevenage and a 5-1 loss to Broxbourne II for the second team and third team respectively in 2SW while the fourth team succumbed 7-2 to Vauxhall in 4SW.
The fifth team had better fortune as they won 2-1 at Hertford V in 5SW, the sixth team were 2-1 victors at Royston III and the seventh team (development) lost 7-0 to Saffron Walden VII in 7SW.
