On Saturday, the Ladies moved into 4th place in the East Area Premier League with a 3-1 home win over Dereham Ladies 1s. Twenty minutes in, Emily Holmes dispatched a penalty corner strike into the bottom corner to give Loughts the lead. Five minutes before the break it was 2-0 from another penalty corner as Stevie Southall’s superb pass was deflected home by Emily for her second.

Annie Wade-Jones in the Loughts goal made a number of fine saves to keep the Loughts lead intact and it was extended to 3-0 halfway through the second half. Katie Gleeson broke down the right and found Laura Oglesby at the back post. Credit to a good Dereham team who kept pressing and were rewarded with a consolation goal 3 minutes from time before having to make the two hour return trip to Norfolk.

On Sunday, Old Loughts faced a strong St. Albans 2s side who had been in good form coming into the match.

Loughts started superbly and were duly rewarded when Emily Holmes fed her sister Faye who finished calmly from an acute angle.

After 15 minutes it was 2-0 thanks to Chloe Menear’s thunderous penalty corner strike.
A short corner 8 minutes after half time saw St Albans reduce the deficit to a single goal. However within 2 minutes Chloe had restored Loughts 2 goal advantage to make it 3-1 with another unstoppable penalty corner.

Just before the hour mark the game seemed to be over as Lucy Price found Laura Oglesby at the far post whose calm finish made it 4-1.
St Albans refused to let the game peter out and 2 quick fire goals gave Loughts a nervous last 5 minutes.

Three wins on the trot since the mid season break have put Loughts up into 4th place and only 3 points off second place Norwich City who they travel to next Saturday.

The Ladies 2s were due to play Old Southendians 1s but the match was postponed. The Ladies 3s played top of the division Chelmsford 4s and were very unlucky not to come away with at least a point ultimately losing 1-2. Chelmsford were 2-0 up but when Anna Dingle scored to make it 2-1 it looked as if a well deserved draw would be achieved but it was not to be.

The Ladies 4s faced Colne 1s in the top of the table clash and narrowly lost 4-3. Once again, what might have been. Ladies 5s were away at Upminster 6s and also lost by a solitary goal 1-0.

The Loughts men also faced tough opposition with the Men’s 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s all playing first teams. The M2s remain top of their division after a 4-2 win against Potters Bar 1s. The M3s Foresters squandered chance after chance against Southend 1s but squeezed in a 2-1 victory to stay second. The M4s Academy played very well against Thurrock 1s but lost narrowly 2-3. The M5s Loppers also performed well against first team Rochford but lost 1-3. League leaders M6s Willows had an emphatic 7-1 win against Saffron Walden 6s and in the same division the M7s Willows Woodsmen beat Chelmsford 7s 5-2 to stay third. The M8s Willows Rangers lost 1-2 to Southend 3s in another very tight match. The M9s were to play Basildon 2s but the match was postponed.