There was a large expectant crowd at Luxborough Lane to watch a thrilling encounter between Old Loughtonians and Spencer, the top two teams in the England Hockey Conference East League. with both seeking promotion to Division 1 South. At the start Loughts were six points clear and with this being the penultimate league match, knew that a draw would be enough to gain promotion but expected to have to play at the top of their game to prevail against opponents with over 400 international caps between them.

After a slow start it was the Loughts team that got into its stride quicker and began to show some fast passing moves. They began to find and exploit pockets on both flanks and were able to launch a number of promising attacks into the penalty area. Spencer, however, were dangerous on the counter and Loughts needed disciplined and organised defence to keep out long raking balls and aerials from the back.

Loughts went ahead in the 13th minute through their leading marksman Tom Watson. They doubled their lead in the 25th minute after good build up play from Max Heaver. They secured a short corner that Harvey Edwards slotted under the Spencer keeper. Spencer fought back and at one stage had 4 penalty corner attempts in a row all of which were repulsed by Dan Browne and the stalwart Loughts defence.

At half time, despite a 2 goal advantage Loughts knew the game was far from over and that they needed to play with the same desire, discipline and commitment for the next 35 minutes. Coach Lee Ible, extolling the merits of his new video equipment, moved his magnetic pieces across his lightweight board with pace and subtlety.

In the 38th minute Max Heaver fired in an instinctive goal after a typical weaving run from Watson. A minute later Spencer were awarded a penalty corner which, after much consultation, was upgraded to a penalty flick and at this level those are not missed. 3-1 with half an hour to play.

Loughts had a golden chance to regain the 3 goal advantage but the gaping goal somehow eluded everyone. With ten minutes to play Old Loughts conceded another short corner which Spencer converted. Game on! At 3-2 Spencer still had to score 2 more goals to prevent Loughts winning the title but with under 5 minutes to go they scored again from another penalty corner to make it 3-3.

The last minutes of the game were frantic with Loughts looking to hold on and Spencer surging forward. Nathan Gladman showed his prowess, no doubt learnt from his father, to take the ball into the corner and deny Spencer valuable minutes. Spencer removed their keeper to give them numerical advantage but still Loughts held firm.

When the final whistle sounded the crowd went delirious. It was a high quality match between two excellent teams from start to finish and well done to Spencer for such a courageous fight back. Congratulations to Old Loughts who deservedly won the League having lead the way since the beginning of the season.

As a result the men’s 1s as champions, men’s 2s as champions, men’s 3s as runners up, men’s 6s as champions, ladies 2s as runners up and ladies 4s as runners up are all promoted. A great season for the club.

The top 8 men’s sides won or drew on Saturday. The M2s won 10-1 against Chelmsford 2s in front of the large home crowd gathered for Old Loughts Club Day. In an uneven contest bets were taken on who would score the 6th goal of the match and 101st goal of the season for them. The clever money was on Toby Gayler who scored it with a penalty flick with the other goals coming from Archie Crowley (3), Walter Forsey, Luca Gormley, Elliott Smith (2) and Max Sydenham (2).

lready promoted M3s Foresters won 3-0 away against Braintree 1s, The M4s Academy won away against local rivals Crostyx 3s and should finish the season in 5th. The M5s Loppers won 3-1 at home to Old Southendians 3s and finish in 3rd. The M6s Willows did not play as Braintree 4s conceded the match but finished the season with 22 wins from 22 and a remarkable 156 goals for and 8 against. Clearly not in the right division!

The M7s Willows Woodsmen won 4-0 against Havering 4s to finish 3rd in the same division 6SE as the Willows. In division 7SE the M8s Willows Rangers drew 1-1 with Old Southendians 6s to finish 8th in the table and it was all 11s for the M9s Willows Axemen in their inaugural season finishing 11th after a disappointing 11-0 loss away at Thurrock 2s.

COACH MAZZA HAS THE FINAL WORD
Bishop’s Stortford L1s 2 – 1 Old Loughtonians L1s
Old Loughts Ladies 1s finished their league campaign away at league champions Bishop’s Stortford. In a tight affair both defences were on top for most of the first hour of the game with chances few and far between.

Player of the Match Stevie Southall was, as ever, constantly thwarting Stortford’s attacks whilst launching Loughts’ counters down the left.

A disputed penalty corner award finally broke the deadlock with 13 minutes remaining and Stortford then doubled their lead to 2-0 within 4 minutes with a 3 on 1 break away. However Loughts showed the spirit that has been so evident all season and with the final play of the game won a penalty corner which Head Coach Miranda Baldwin dispatched in ferocious style to give Loughts a much deserved consolation goal.

An excellent season for the Ladies 1s saw them finish in 4th place in the East Area Premier Division and perfectly positioned for a big promotion push next season.

The ladies 2s should have been playing Basildon 2s on Saturday but Basildon conceded. On Sunday, having already secured 2nd place and promotion they played away at Old Southendians 1s and won 2-0.

The ladies 3s were at home to Romford 1s but without a keeper and despite it being a very close match, finished with a 0-4 scoreline and Romford were promoted as runners up in division 3 SE. Loughts 3s finish their good season next week away at Thurrock 2s.

The L4s looked to have been promoted from division 5SE as runners up last week only to find that results had been misrecorded but won 2-1 against Romford 2s to secure promotion (again) with goals from Jill Bowyer and Deeya Arora. The L5s also finished the season with a win away at Southend and Benfleet. whom they beat 3-1 to finish the season in 3rd spot in division 6SE.

As another season nears its end thank you to the Ilford Recorder for the coverage.