1’s v Saffron Walden 1’s
2-4

Jamie Brooks (2)

Bishop’s Stortford Hockey Club suffered a 4-2 home defeat against Saffron Walden in a hard-fought encounter on Saturday.

Stortford began brightly, taking the lead early in the first half with a well-worked goal from Jamie Brooks, However, their advantage didn’t last long, as Saffron Walden responded, capitalising on a defensive lapse to level the score.

Saffron Walden grew into the game, adding two more goals to take a commanding 3-1 lead. Stortford found themselves struggling to regain a foothold in the match as the visitors continued to pile on the pressure in the second half, extending their lead to 4-1.

Despite the scoreline, Stortford never gave up and battled hard in the closing stages. Butch making a save from a penalty stroke. Their perseverance paid off, Brooks with a second and a late consolation goal in the dying moments of the match, reducing the deficit to 4-2. Unfortunately, it was too little too late, and the final whistle blew, confirming a disappointing result for the home side.

Photo | Kenny McLeish

2’s v Stevenage 1’s
7-2

Scorers: Freddy Petar (2), Harry McKerrell (2), Oli Leonard, Tom Nash, Dave Roberts

The mens 2s travelled to Stevenage hoping to build upon the previous week’s solid performance.  In a game with multiple chances for both sides, Stortford came out on top with quality at both ends of the pitch.  Goals from Freddy Petar (2), Harry McKerrell (2), Oli Leonard, Tom Nash and Dave Roberts led to. 7-2 victory, but it was joint players of the match Manny Richards and Si Martyn that ensured the 3 points.

3’s v Broxbourne 2’s
1-6

Stortford Men’s 3’s had a tough game against a quick and direct Broxbourne side in unpleasant and rainy conditions. After a strong start from Stortford, some chances went begging and Broxbourne broke away twice on the counter to take a 2-0 lead into half time. A snoozy Stortford allowed Broxbourne to make it 3-0 early in the second, but with wizard Steve Beel bossing the midfield, Stortford knew it was only a matter of time until they broke their duck in this game.In Stortford’s first short corner of the match, Mark Taylor fired a bullet of a shot towards goal, but due to a rogue raindrop affecting his field of vision, the ball agonisingly sailed mm wide of the corner flag. This miserable attempt didn’t deter Taylor or his unwavering and deluded confidence from stepping up for a second short corner a few minutes later, where he elegantly found his way through the defensive runners with some beautiful skill before being hacked down by a thoroughly embarrassed defensive unit. Penalty stroke awarded. Fred Cooke, being the entertainer he is, took this as a chance to show his ingenuity, and cooly and smartly powered the ball into the keeper’s chest, looking for an emphatic deflection into the roof of the net. Naturally, he succeeded, and the crowd were rightly impressed by the showman’s display of class and audacity, with cheers of “Cookey! Cookey!” ringing from the stands. This was where Stortford really began to believe in the cause and knew without a shadow of a doubt that they would pull things back and claim some points from this match. Unfortunately, they were sadly mistaken and collapsed to a 6-1 defeat, but sometimes that just how the Cookey crumbles.

5’s v Hertford 5’s
4-1

Match report pending – goal scorers James Brock (s) James Nash, Will Fox

6’s v Saffron Walden 6’s
5-1

7’s v Hertford development team
2-4

Mens 6’s | Photo Kenny McLeish