Hockey round-up: Welwyn Garden City and Potters Bar grab wins

WGC will be happy about that too and there will be fingers crossed that the 2-0 win for the men's first team at home to Bishop's Stortford thirds is the sign of things to come.

It was their second victory in a row, and fifth of the Division Two South West campaign, lifting them up to sixth and now eight points clear of the bottom three.

Welwyn started with the confidence of the victory one week earlier, intercepting passes and making strong tackles to have lots of possession.

However, Stortford were defending their D well and it led to the home side looking for more hopeful through balls.

When they took a little more care in their approach, it brought some close calls and good saves from the Stortford keeper.

That pressure paid off when a long corner was taken quickly by Nick Reilly and passed across the pitch to Peter Mullens.

His ball in, looking for a Bryn Evans deflection, hit the post and bounced out, but fortunately Dave Allmand-Smith was there to stick away the rebound.

The pace of the game slowed after that and combined with turnovers being conceded by WGC, Stortford were able to have a few half-chances of their own.

Pete Mullens was involved in the build-up to the first Welwyn goal. Picture: KARYN HADDON (Image: Archant)

The half time talk was an acknowledgement that Welwyn were not playing anywhere near their best and despite spending most of the half attacking, they had not won a single penalty corner.

Minor improvements followed but there was still too many silly mistakes in the second period that meant Welwyn could not get any rhythm going.

The visitors were able to win several penalty corners and it needed WGC skipper Dan Klinger in goal to deal with them.

The hosts eventually won some of their own corners but thy too were unable to convert them.

But they were able to make the game safe, however, from open play, Stuart Stephen passing to Dan White who beat his man and crossed from the byline for Allmand-Smith to tap in.

A win is a win though, regardless of how unpretty it was, but Welwyn will know they must play better on Saturday when they go the Oaklands College and a game against St Albans.

The men's third team also beat Bishop's Stortford, 3-1 this time, while the fifths drew with the east Herts club 2-2.

The women had three teams in action, two against Hertford which both lost, the firsts going down 2-0 away and the seconds 3-0 at home. 

Mark Turpin was one of the scorers for Potters Bar against Bedford. Picture: TRACY LEVY (Image: Tracy Levy)

Down at Dame Alice Owens it was cold but the pitches were perfectly playable.

There was an early start for the ladies as they picked up a 5-1 victory over WGC fourths, keeping them second in Division Seven.

Chris Field and Nikki Hughes got two each with Alice Goff the other scorer.

The conditions were also fine for the men's first team as they made it two wins from two with a 3-1 success over fellow strugglers Bedford.

The result, courtesy of goals from Louis Anastasiou, Mark Turpin and Adam Croutear, lifts them out of the bottom four in Division One South.

The fourths also won, 3-0 at home to Saffron Walden with goals from Scott Alexander (two) and Danny Becker.

The seconds lost 4-2 away to Blueharts, Warren Edmondson and George Wickham the scorers, and there was mixed result for the thirds as they played twice.

Saturday saw them draw 3-3 against Shefford & Sandy. Debutant Harry Milton was among the goals as was Si Kelly and Aryan Walia.

One day later though and they were celebrating a 6-0 romp away to Broxbourne in a rescheduled fixture.

Kelly and Walia were again on the scoresheet, the former getting two as did Ben Cade.

James Atkinson got the other as they cemented their second place in Division Four, four points behind leaders Hertford but eight clear of third-placed St Albans.