Hawks dash Marlow’s hopes with late winner
Marlow Hockey Club: Disappointment as women's 1sts lose entertaining clash
It was a disappointing weekend for both the Marlow’s men’s and women’s 1sts but for differing reasons, with the men’s game called off and the women losing 4-3 to closest rivals Oxford Hawks 2nds.
The men now have two games to make up on their title rivals and will have desperately wanted to play on Saturday against a Reading 2A side they defeated 8-0 earlier in the campaign.
Rivals Oxford Hawks 2nds could only draw but Basingstoke won and move top of the table.
The ladies’ 1sts fell behind after only five minutes but responded well with Zoe Clarke equalising two minutes later. But the hosts’ first half pressure paid off with them scoring twice to take a 3-1 lead into the break.
Player-coach Jane Smith got Marlow back in the game from a penalty corner and three minutes later, Kesia Richardson levelled the scores from another penalty corner, but with both teams pressing for a late winner, it was the Hawks who found it to dash Marlow’s hopes in an entertaining and even clash.
There were no such worries for the ladies’ 2nds team who beat the Oxford Hawks 3rds 4-0.
Results elsewhere saw the 3rds draw 1-1 with Sonning 2nds, the 4ths play out a goalless draw with Oxford University 3rds, the 5ths beat Newbury & Thatcham 3rds 3-1 away and the 6ths defeated Wycombe 5ths 2-1.
There was also a comfortable 3-0 win for the 7ths over Wycombe 6ths.
With the men’s game having been called off the Men’s 2nds took centre stage against Sonning 2nds at Pound Lane.
Unfortunately, they found the Sonning keeper in fine form as they fell to a 3-1 defeat, Lewis Goodman scoring the hosts’ only goal with a well-taken penalty stroke with 15 minutes to play.
Elsewhere the 3rds lost 2-0 away at Oxford 2nds, the 4ths were beaten 1-0 by Amersham & Chalfont 5ths, the 5ths lost 4-3 at Bicester 2nds, the 6ths drew 1-1 at Windsor 3rds and the 7ths lost 4-2 at Eastcote.