Old Loughtonians Women’s 1s were beaten away at East London on Saturday evening by a side that belied their current position at the bottom of the England Hockey Women’s Conference East with an excellent performance.

Loughts were on the back foot from the start with Phoebe Menear making the first of multiple saves in a tremendous performance after only 3 minutes. Four minutes before the end of the first quarter a neat penalty corner routine saw East London take a deserved lead.

The second quarter proceeded in a similar vain with Loughts stretched by East London’s pacy attacks and Phoebe coming to their rescue along with her sister Chloe whose goal line clearance kept the lead to a single goal at the break.

A galvanized Loughts were much better after the break and Adele Sammons’ penalty corner strike seemed destined to level the game only for the East London keeper to brilliantly save with the ball deflecting wide off her helmet. Another penalty corner 10 minutes into the third quarter saw the ball fall to Maddy Newlyn who swiveled and smashed the ball home to level the scores.

However East London were not to be denied a vital victory in their battle against relegation and a break down the middle saw the ball fall to them a few yards out where they made no mistake for the winning goal.

Lucy Price went close to equalizing late on as her scooped finish fell just wide. Loughts will need to regroup for next Saturday’s mid-table clash with Spencer W1s at Luxborough Lane.