Old Loughtonians men have too much firepower for Havant

With four senior players missing, coach Lee Ible put his faith in youth and was rewarded with an excellent performance from the team.

After the floodlights failed at Brighton last weekend, with Loughts leading 4-3, they were determined to secure the three points against last season’s Conference West champions.

Matti Thomas, returning to his old club, was particularly keen to impress and Loughts started well, spraying the ball around.

Conor Caplan opened the scoring after only 11 minutes and indiscipline from Havant led to two green cards in close succession, but Loughts were unable to take advantage of the extra man and it remained 1-0 at half time.

Havant put pressure on Loughts at the start of the second half with former Old Lought Maciej Janiszewski particularly determined to score, but Will Smith was a fine match for the Polish international.

Eight minutes into the second half, Max Sydenham doubled the Loughts lead but Havant pulled one back only three minutes later.

As had been the case a week earlier, Loughts started to dominate in the final quarter and Jack Moffat scored his first National League goal to make it 3-1 before Sam Lowe finished off the scoring with a fourth.

A very good performance will leave Loughts with a welcome selection dilemma for their home match against Sevenoaks this weekend.

Having lost a number of players to the first team, a depleted M2s were unlucky to lose 3-2 against Letchworth 1s on a day on which decisions did not go their way.

The M3s also had a narrow loss against first-team opposition, going down 2-1 at Upminster, while the M4s lost 3-0 to Upminster 3s.

The M5 Willows drew 1-1 at home with Brentwood 3s, while the M6 Willows Woodsmen lost 1-0 to Brentwood 4s and the M7 Willows Rangers lost 2-1 at Crostyx 4s.

But the M8 Development side won 2-1 against visiting Upminster 6s, while the Supervets won 5-3 at home against Indian Gymkhana.

Old Loughts women trekked across London to Chiswick to play London Wayfarers in their latest Vitality Conference East fixture and started well.

Pressing high from the front and creating pressure in the Wayfarers D on numerous occasions, they took the lead just before the end of the first quarter, when a great trap by Tash Patient on the attacking 25 led to a flurry of shots on goal before new recruit Sophie Sexton opened her account by calmly lifting the ball over the keeper.

The second quarter was keenly contested as Loughts retained their slim lead at half-time.

And Loughts had to weather a growing swell of pressure after the restart, with keeper Phoebe Menear in fine form.

Wayfarers levelled four minutes into the final quarter, running onto a lifted ball on the right wing before a driven cross into the D was duly turned home.

And the hot conditions made the going hard for the rest of the match, with Loughts under relentless pressure, but they held on for an excellent point against experienced National League opponents thanks to resolute defence and expert shot stopping by player of the match Menear.

Loughts return to Luxborough Lane to host fellow newly promoted side Old Georgians on Saturday.

The W2s beat Havering 1s 2-0 with Ella Dowling scoring both goals but the W3s lost 5-1 at Chelmsdford 3s despite playing well.

The W4s lost 2-1 at Upminster 4s but the W5s remain unbeaten after a 2-1 win against Brentwood 3s.

The under-16 girls lost 5-2 to Chelmsford in the cup, as the under-14 girls went down 9-2 against local rivals Crostyx.

But the under-16 boys beat Ipswich 5-0 in the league, as the under-14s lost at Wimbledon in the Tier One cup.