Hockey: Old Loughts women earn point, but men left in dark

Loughts started superbly and thought they had an early lead as Maddy Newlyn’s penalty corner strike was deflected home by an Ipswich defender. But the strike was deemed high and disallowed.

For all their first quarter dominance, including hitting a post, Loughts were hit on the counter as Ipswich took the lead.

Midway through the second period it got worse as an Ipswich penalty corner was turned home to make it 2-0 but a dazzling run into the D by Hannah Bloy found Lucy Price whose reverse strike was deflected home by Newlyn to reduce the deficit just before half-time.

The second half started as the first had, with Loughts driving forward and Newlyn’s mazy dribble and cross was finished in front of goal by Tash Patient to level within two minutes.

From then on it was a case of what might have been as chances came and went for Loughts, with Adele Sammons inches away from a winner at a short corner.

Loughts travel to Chiswick for a midday fixture against London Wayfarers this weekend.

The men were leading at Brighton when the floodlights failed with seven minutes to go and the match was abandoned.

The start was delayed due to earlier matches overrunning but Mark Loughrey converted a penalty stroke in the third minute to calm Loughts down.

Brighton restored from a penalty corner in the 19th minute, but Tom Watson stepped up with a goal of the season contender just before the break as he went on a weaving run down the right, cut in and managed to squeeze the ball into the net.

Loughts increased their lead to 3-1 as Mattie Thomas poked home in the 41st minute after a fine run by Jack Moffat only for Brighton to claw one back from a penalty corner.

The hosts drew then level in the final quarter but Loughts enjoyed a strong passage of play where they passed at speed and were awarded a number of short corners, with Conor Caplan slotting into the bottom corner to put them 4-3 up, before the lights went out.

Younger players Jack Moffat, Theo Jayaraj and Luca Gormley showed promise, with Watson back to his best and Thomas finding his goalscoring touch, ahead of a trip to Havant.

The M2s lost a nine-goal thriller at Bishop Stortford 1s, 5-4, but the M3s slumped to a 7-0 defeat against Broxbourne 1s.

The M4s drew 1-1 with Braintree 2s and the M5s Willows had a good 2-0 win against Witham 3s as Phil Beauman and Michael Hawkes scored.

The M6s Willows Woodsman also won 2-0 at Braintree 4s, but the M7 Willows Rangers lost 5-0 to Chelmsford 6s.

The M9s Development team drew 2-2 with Thurrock 3s and the Supervets won 1-0 against Spencer Vintage as Waheed Ahmed netted.

The W2s drew 2-2 at derby rivals Crostyx 1s as Chloe Stack and Emily Holmes scored, but the W3s lost 2-1 to a very good Upminster 2s, with Karen Leach netting.

The W4s beat Colne 1s 3-1 as Callula Dunne scored twice and Korobi Sen also struck, while the W5s kept up their good start to the season with a 2-1 win over Waltham Forest 3s.

Olivia Collins opened the scoring after only eight minutes and Keira Keogh added the second early in the second half.