Hockey: Old Loughtonians men topple Teddington rivals

The Loughts-Teddington fixture is one of the oldest and most contested games in the England Hockey National League, with encounters rarely dull.

And the latest clash at Teddington School was no exception on Sunday, on what should have been a double-header, but the women’s midday match was postponed due to a frozen pitch.

The men’s match started at a fast pace with Teddington struggling to match the Loughts speed of pass and within 10 minutes Teddington were down to 10 men after the first green card of the match.

Two minutes later Loughts were awarded their first penalty corner and Mark Loughrey’s shot was too good for the Teddington keeper to open the scoring.

Within minutes of the second half, Max Sydenham scored a second for Loughts, but Teddington pulled one back two minutes later from a penalty corner.

Conor Caplan made it 3-1 only two minutes after that and Loughts determination was rewarded when Loughrey scored his second goal following a well-worked move down the left.

Loughts could have scored more but four penalty corners in a row were charged down by the Teddington defence.

Teddington were then awarded a penalty corner themselves, but Loughts goalkeeper Jack Tranter made a fine save to deny them.

The win moves Loughts up to third in the table, with league fixtures set to resume at the beginning of February when Loughts play host to Brighton at Luxborough Lane.