LIFE’S A BEACH AS LOUGHTS STAY TOP
Old Loughtonians Women’s 1s remain a point clear at the top of the East Area Premier Division with a solid 3-0 win away at Sudbury.
On a heavily sanded pitch Loughts struggled to move the ball with any real pace and chances were at a premium during a scrappy first half. However, 3 minutes before the break, an excellent through ball from Zara White found Siobhan Daley 1 on 1 with the keeper. Daley cooly rounded the keeper to give Loughts the lead and open her account for the 1st team.
In an increasingly fractious second period Old Loughts were prevented from creating any real rhythm by some robust Sudbury defending. A moment of real quality saw youngsters Siobhan Daley and Georgia Dawes combine brilliantly as Dawes’ effort rattled the Sudbury post. Em Davies showed her class to secure the points with 12 minutes remaining as she drove into the D and unleashed an unstoppable reverse strike to double the lead. In the last 5 minutes Faye Holmes won yet another penalty corner for Loughts. From the corner Chelsey Toms exchanged passes with Davies and although the keeper saved the first attempt, injector Adele Sammons was on hand to force the rebound home.
Old Loughtonians return to Luxborough Lane next Saturday for the visit of Havering W1s.
There were good performances and results across the club. The Women’s 2s won 2-1 against Braintree 1’s with Agnes Briscoe scoring both goals. The Women’s 3s drew 1-1 away at league leaders Waltham Forest 2s but are only 3 points adrift with two games in hand. Ladies club captain Sam Gayler scored from a short corner for Loughts. There was another 1-1 draw between the Women’s 4s and Waltham Forest 3’s. The Women’s 5s drew as well, 0-0 against Upminster 5s.
The Men’s 2s had a tough fixture away against Cambridge University 1s. Sam Lowe opened the scoring for Loughts after 7 minutes and Loughts were in control until Cambridge scored with 3 minutes to play and somehow pinched all the points with another goal in the last seconds of the game. The Men’s 3s were also playing 1st team opposition Potters Bar and won well 5-2 away. Men’s 4s aptly played out a 4-4 draw with Saffron Walden 3s. Men’s 5s won 2-1 away at Brentwood 3s. Men’s 6s played very well away against Witham Academy but eventually lost 2-1. Men’s 7s drew 1-1 with Havering 4s whilst Men’s 8s lost 3-0 to Redbridge & Ilford 3s.The Supervets played Epsom Old School and won 3-1.
On Sunday the under 18 boys won 3-1 against Oxford Hawks in the quarter finals of the cup with goals from Toby Gayler, Archie Crowley and Jack Moffat. The u16 boys were away at Beeston in the Tier 1 league and won 5-1 with goals from Oscar Britt, James O’Malley Kumar, Dominic West, Gus Peddy and Sam Bond.
The men’s 1 restarted the season with a home match against Bath Buccaneers. Bath went ahead early from a penalty corner but Tom Watson equalised for Loughts in open play. Loughts had a lot of good chances approaching half time but some inspired goalkeeping and defensive work kept Bath in contention and it was 1-1 at half time. A lapse in concentration early in the second half presented another shorter corner goal to Bath and with 8 minutes to go Loughts were still chasing the game and still unable to take their chances. On the break Bath were awarded another penalty corner despite an apparent stick tackle and scored again from a neat routine. Loughts responded immediately to make it 3-2 with a goal from Mark Loughrey from yet another penalty corner and it looked as it was only a matter of time before Loughts scored an equaliser and even perhaps a winner. Instead three quickfire clinical finishes from Bath left Loughts stunned and a scoreline of 2-6. Next week they play Old Cranleighan and will hope to get back to their free scoring ways.