First wins for hockey teams at Blueharts and Stevenage

Blueharts men’s first-team collected their first win of the East League Premier Division at the third time of asking with a 2-1 win at Broxbourne.

Goals from Harvey Walton-Adams and Chris Gadsden put the Blues in control, though they were given a scare when the home side hit the post late on.

Debutant goalkeeper Cameron Gregg was outstanding for the twos against Hertford, even if his efforts were in vain as they lost 2-1.

Paul Buckland opened the scoring but despite being in the ascendancy, Blueharts were hauled back level before half-time.

Gregg made a string of fine saves in the second half and it looked like the Blues would be the ones to grab a winner, until Hertford grabbed an unlikely winner just before the end.

There was a thrilling 4-4 draw for the thirds against recently-demoted Hertford seconds, with Ashley Hammond, Barry Hann, Matt Maylin and Oscar Hammond on target, and in the same division, the fourths beat Hertford thirds 3-0.

The fifths picked up their first point of the season against Luton Town, Pete Mitchell on target, while the performance of the day came from the sixths who beat Hertford 10-0.

The prolific Paul Krishman scored four, Gav Bidgood and John Russell got two apiece with Charlie Moore and Mark Russell completing the rout.

An inexperienced seventh side were beaten 4-2 by Bedford, their goals coming from Stuart Gadsden and Andy Devey in a match that saw the debuts of 13-year-old Harry White in goal and 15 year-old Joshua Bell.

The eighths still haven't tasted defeat after drawing 1-1 at league leaders Bedford.

Tom Payne scored the goal in a game in which the dominant Blueharts side racked up 15 penalty corners.

For the ladies, the firsts maintained their unbeaten start to the season in Division One South with a 1-1 draw against Old Loughtonians at Lucas Lane.

The visitors took a first-half lead with a scrappy goal but the home side hit back after the break, a brilliant pass from Rebecca Woodgate being expertly finished by Jay Livermore.

The twos were beaten 2-0 at Bishop's Stortford but the thirds collected a point in a 1-1 draw against the same club, Izzy Rutter opening the scoring with a thunderbolt of a shot before Stortford equalised from a well-executed short corner.

Another game that featured eight goals was the fourths at Berkhamsted & Hemel Hempstead.

They had a player-of-the-match performance from Aimee Bartley and goals from Lydia Buckland, Niamh Krishman and Lyla Thomson-Wells but lost 5-3.

An Izzy Marshall strike earned the fifths a 1-1 draw against Letchworth thirds but the sixths lost 3-0 to Bishops Stortford and the sevenths were beaten 5-1 by Saffron Walden.

Their consolation came from Faye Lindsay.

The ladies' second team. Picture: STEVENAGE HC (Image: Stevenage Hockey Club) Stevenage's men picked up their first win of the Division Two South West season - beating Letchworth seconds 5-1 at home.

Dan Farnan gave them a great start and then three goals in five minutes from Niall Trimble made it 4-0 by the interval.

They got a fifth through Aiden Parker before Letchworth grabbed a consolation on 58 minutes.

The seconds were also in action against Letchworth, playing away to their thirds, and they returned after an entertaining 4-4 draw.

The thirds were also involved in a high-scoring game, although they were on the wrong side of a 7-0 loss at Hertford.

The fourths had a walkover win against Southgate Adelaide.

In a polar opposite to their male counterparts, the ladies' first team lost for the first time this year, beaten 4-2 at Berkhamsted & Hemel Hempstead.

The hosts took the lead on 16 minutes and doubled it four minutes later before Stevenage got it back to 2-1 at half-time.

Berkhamsted made it 3-1 13 minutes into the second half but stevenage cancelled that out two minutes later.

The clinching goal came nine minutes from time, ending Stevenage's 100 per cent record.

The seconds won 4-3 at home to Hertford

Some wonderful work on the right from Carys Burchall, Steph Oliver and Kate Mouncey allowed Alfie Gunther to open the scoring on two minutes.

The visitors did equalise but more attacking play gave Stevenage a short corner.

That was injected by Claire Weston and played back in from Lara Gavillet who had picked up the movement from Bec McGrellis.

She slotted home for 2-1.

Yet, despite this, it was Hertford who led at the break and it meant Stevenage had to come out fighting.

Lots of possession and pressure was eventually finished off by McGrellis and a succession of short corners in the final five minutes ended with Weston's pass to Holly Portingale thundered home into the bottom corner.

The thirds lost 7-0 away to Luton Town while the fourths and fifths were up against Broxbourne.

The fours won 2-0 with a second-half double by Sarah Hoar and the fives drew 0-0.