Tough defeat for men
NEWBURY & Thatcham Men’s 1st XI fell to a 3-0 defeat against Oxford Hawks 2nd in Premier Division 2 of the South Central League.
Lawrence McCabe was named player of the match, but the first team had to leave Oxfordshire empty-handed.
Elsewhere, Piers Cunliffe scored a brace for the men’s 2nd team as they drew 2-2 at home to Thame 1st.
At Tilsley Park, the Newbury & Thatcham men’s 3rd team recorded an emphatic 5-1 victory over Oxford University 4th.
Ben Grindley scored twice for the home side, while Henry Durie, Joe Ruggiero and Matt Wylie were also on the scoresheet.
However, Newbury & Thatcham 4th fell to a 7-2 away defeat to Reading Knights in their Thames Division 1 clash.
Newbury started brightly, with Guy West causing the Reading defence real problems and scored the opening goal.
Reading countered with fast and effective hockey and they equalised immediately.
Despite valiant work from man-of-the-match Francois Killian and Mark Chapman in midfield, the waves of Reading attacks continued to flow and home side ran out worthy winners.
The men’s 5th side also tasted defeat on Saturday as they lost 5-0 to Henley 4th.
Newbury had a good attack in the early stages, but failed to convert it which opened up the field for Henley to push forward
The game progressed with Newbury unable to stop the Henley press and at the end of the first half Henley were 4-0 up against Newbury.
Newbury were again on the back foot in the second half and Henley struck again to seal the points.
Dean Jordan scored Newbury’s only goal as the men’s 6th team lost 5-1 to Henley 5th.
However, the men’s 7th team beat Sonning 6th 3-1 at home as Bobby Brown, Paul Fowler and Simon Hannam were all on target.
Elsewhere, Andy Hastings and Richard Pool both netted braces for Newbury Vets as they beat Winchester Wizards 6-3.
Blue Nolan and Stephen Davies were the other two players to find the back of the net.