Hockey round-up: Marlow HC allow momentum to slip through their grasp – Photo 1 of 1

Marlow’s Law of Mating

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Marlow HC

After putting themselves back in contention for the title with a 2-1 win at Bournemouth on Saturday, Marlow lost momentum as they were beaten 2-1 by Henley on Tuesday night.

Despite missing a few key players, Marlow played well on the South Coast on Saturday, taking the lead in the ninth minute through Tom Sheldon’s well-taken penalty.

Bournemouth equalized before the break and left the Reds fighting for all three points, but the visitors showed great determination and defensive discipline in the second half, winning the game with Matt Law’s goal – his first for the club – after a short shot corner.

Banbury drew 2-2 at home to Winchester on Saturday but played again on Sunday, beating Slough 3-0 to put a sizeable lead over Marlow. Only one team will be promoted this season.

The 2nd men’s team also had to rearrange their pack for the home game against Newbury & Thatcham on Saturday, but was able to beat the guests 5:1.

Despite being overwhelmed at first, the hosts took the lead through a Sammy Lee goal before Sam Gavin could add his name to the scorers’ chart.

Newbury pulled one back but Dan Field struck from the edge of the D to make it 3-1 at the break.

Marlow was ahead for most of the second half and they scored twice more through Anthony Wiliamson – who rattled the post as he blocked a superb Lewis Goodman cross – and Field again to make it 5-1.

Other results saw the 3rd place men defeat British Airways 4-0, the 4th place win 3-2 away at the Oxford Hawks 4th and the 5th place play a 1-1 away at Wycombe 3rds.

On Saturday there was a stunning win for the Marlow women’s first place finishers at Amersham & Chalfont after the visitors weathered an early Amersham storm.

Helena Sykora scored the opener with an impressive reverse stick shot and after Mabel Daw made a crucial save down the line to thwart their hosts, Marlow began to dominate. With about 15 minutes remaining, Beth Halbard found the net and deflected Nat Riches’ shot from the top of the circle.

Five minutes later, Riches scored the third with a venomous shot from a penalty corner – a goal that earned her the Player of the Match award. The visitors then showed their teamwork and scored a fourth goal, with Ellie Yeoman’s passing to Zoe Clarke who scored Sykora for their second goal of the game. The team plays Henley in the middle of the week.

The second team also got the maximum number of points from their games at the weekend. 1-0 against Milton Keynes on Saturday and 2-1 against Banbury on Sunday. Ellie Lane and Julia Westnedge hit the bull’s eye in Sunday’s win.

Women 3rd team beat Witney 2nds 1-0, 4th team lost 3-2 to Oxford University 3rd team, 5th team defeated Wallingford 2nds 2-1 away, 6th team split 1:1 by Slough 3rds.

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Maidenhead HC

The Maidenhead men’s first team will have been disappointed not to put more points on the board from this weekend’s double-header against Staines and Basingstoke.

Phil Cowell’s men were held at home by Staines to a 2-2 draw

Saturday, a side they defeated 2-0 at the start of the season, while 24 hours later they stumbled again on home soil as they suffered a surprise 6-2 home loss to second-placed Basingstoke.

Cowell had hoped his side would pull out a strong squad for both games and build on their impressive 4-2 win over Bournemouth last weekend.

But it wasn’t to be and they picked up just one point from a possible six to remain seventh in the table ahead of Saturday’s trip to sixth-placed Henley.

The women’s first team are also seventh in their division after suffering home defeats to leaders Fareham and away to Trojans in their double header. The side were beaten 3-0 by Fareham before losing 2-1 away at Trojans.

They hope to bounce back at 12.15pm on Saturday at tenth-placed Southampton.