Blueharts were disappointed to come away with a dramatic draw from second placed Harleston Magpies. An early mistake in midfield created an easy chance for Magpies to take the lead. Harts came back and Oliver Hammond beat three players before finding John

Blueharts were disappointed to come away with a dramatic draw from second placed Harleston Magpies.

An early mistake in midfield created an easy chance for Magpies to take the lead.

Harts came back and Oliver Hammond beat three players before finding John Barrett alone in the circle who kept his composure and flicked the ball into the top corner to level.

Another mistake in midfield allowed Magpies in for their second just before half time.

Ten minutes into the new half, Barrett turned provider, driving down the left wing before crossing the ball for Jimmy Lewis to run in and deflect the ball high past the keeper.

Disaster struck as a series of umpiring decisions meant the men in blue played the rest of the game with only 10 men - Joel Ide, Ashley Hammond and Barrett all receiving yellow cards.

Harleston were awarded a penalty corner on the sound of the final whistle which resulted in a further short corner and finally a penalty stroke.

With no time left on the clock, Will Pugh made a superb save to ensure Harts came away with a point.

The seconds were involved in a 10-goal thriller against their counterparts from Broxbourne.

A shoddy start saw two scrappy goals conceded after 10 minutes but Phil Britton and Adam Wells levelled the scores.

Broxbourne scored two quick goals to make it 4-2 before Wells got his second from a well-worked short corner.

Then Devon Woolley's pinpoint penalty flick brought matters level after Britton's goalbound strike was met by a Broxbourne foot on the line.

Broxbourne were soon awarded a flick of their own to make it 5-4.

Despite having two men sin binned and going down to nine, James Moore slammed home a short corner to restore parity at 5-5.

Tim Price scored both as the thirds drew with Hertford firsts.

Letchworth kept their promotion hopes alive with an impressive away win at Ford.

Ian Heywood, Matt Scott and Scott Apps were on target in the 3-1 success.

The seconds remain second after a comfortable 3-0 victory over Rickmansworth thanks to goals from Preetam Rayat (two) and Dane Hirst.

But the poor run of the third team continued with a disappointing 3-1 defeat at Hertford seconds.

Despite coming back twice, the fourths were squeezed out by two late breakaway goals and are still looking for their first victory since the Christmas break. Gary Puttnam and Jack Fraser scored in a 4-2 defeat by Bishop's Stortford fourths.

The fifth and sixth teams were unable to play due to poor availability of players and conceded their games (3-0) to the fourth teams of Harpenden and Hertford respectively.

Stevenage were beaten again - 2-1 - away at Old Southendians.

Pillaging heavily from the third eleven, the makeshift travelling side were looking to get something to cheer about from their relegation scrap.

The cheer came early when a quickly worked short corner saw captain Danny Blackburn fire home.

Their newly shaped defence of veteran Seb Rose, young Joe Stafford, Matt Oliver and James Hamilton soaked up a lot of pressure from a fast forward line

But Old Southendians eventually found a way through. And near the end of the half, disaster struck when Stafford was hit across the hand, meaning he did not return for the second half.

Ten men against 11 was never going to be easy for Stevenage.

Despite line clearances and good work from the Stevenage side, overall numbers won out when Old Southendians scored a winner.

Other scores: Stevenage II 2 Harpenden II 3, West Herts V 4 Stevenage III 1, Winchmore Hill and Enfield III 2 Stevenage IV 1, Southgate Adelaide III 0 Stevenage V 3, Stevenage VI 2 (Terry Ashby, Chris Hall) Southgate Adelaide VI 1.

MBDA were forced to concede their away game with champions-elect Bishop's Stortford fifths.

They received a standard three-goal penalty, denting their fragile positive goal difference. A late start time, coupled with several injury concerns for key players, meant that MBDA's excellent winning run came to an unfortunate end.