Happy Christmas for Harts

Blueharts fought back from a three-goal deficit to draw with Cambridge City in their final East Premier A league match before the Christmas break.

An unsettled start by Harts and some missed opportunities led to Cambridge taking the lead and a second followed as the score was 2-0 at half time.

Harts began the second half full of optimism, although Cambridge furthered their ascendancy by scoring another well-worked goal.

The visitors ignored the scoreline and persevered by playing positive hockey, which resulted in a goal converted by John Barrett.

This move started in defence with a ball up the line from Danny Fair to Barrett who engineered a perfect one- two with Andy Slack which split the defence and resulted with a one-on-one with the keeper which Barrett passed into the net with ease.

The second was a superbly executed drag flick by Colin Burnell from a short corner.

At this stage the game was being totally dominated by Harts, Gillan Ide and Matt Gardner resisting any of the Cambridge attacks.

Ashley Hammond and Simon Shorter were linking well up front and John Sapsed created havoc in Cambridge's half.

Harts finally equalised through Jimmy Lewis who found himself free in front of goal and smashed a reverse stick hit into the roof of the net.

They enter the Christmas break in third spot in the league.

Letchworth dominated their last league game before the break but had only a draw to show for it. Both goals came from penalty corners in their 1-1 draw with Chelmsford thirds.

Other scores: Bishop's Stortford II 2 Letchworth II 1 (Brian Ward); Letchworth III 4 (Matt Wade, Mark Bozdogan two, Tom McIntyre-Brown) West Herts IV 0; Luton III 1 Letchworth IV 4 (Gordon Hewlett hat-trick, Tony Major); Letchworth V 0 Harpenden IV 3; Hertford IV 2 Letchworth VI 1 (James Stroomer).

Stevenage's run of poor results continued with a 7-4 defeat at Ford.

The visitors started brightly and enjoyed most of the possession for the first quarter of the game.

Stevenage eventually took the lead when Olly Holt found Jon Oliver in acres of space, and he in turn crossed for brother Ben to fire home.

Then it all went terribly wrong in a 10 minute period for Stevenage. Ford equalised, then a minute after that they took the lead.

Before long it was three after the ball hit the Ford striker's foot and he smashed it home. On the half time whistle Ford got a fourth.

The second half saw Stevenage increase the tempo and begin a amazing fightback.

From a flowing attacking move, Holt crossed for skipper Danny Blackburn to fire home.

Moments later, Stevenage got a third when Chris Strickland put Holt straight through on goal.

Then came the goal of the game when a great move involving Jon Oliver, Strickland and Blackburn put Ben Oliver in and he calmly lobbed the keeper from the edge of the D to equalise.

Then it all collapsed in the final five minutes of the game with Ford netting a further three goals to win with a flattering scoreline.

Other scores: Stevenage II 1 (Scott Reid) Hertford 3; Rickmansworth III 0 Stevenage III 3 (Harp Mann, Will Havelenge, Ian Brown); Southgate Adelaide IV 5 Stevenage VI 2 (Geoff Trew two).

MBDA enjoyed a late win over a strong Bedford Town 5ths side in their last game before the festive break.

Much of the action was end-to-end. In the first half, Darryl Jones saved expertly to deny Bedford two clear chances. At the other end MBDA were unable to capitalise, even when faced with a 10-man Bedford team after a deliberate foul prevented what would have been a certain goal.

Parry Rao and Chris Hose combined well in midfield for MBDA, although the latter received a suspected hand fracture.

Paul Lawman, Adrian Monks and Ross Revers continued to push for a goal. But it was not until the dying stages when Monks secured the three points with a good shot from a well-worked penalty corner.