Letchworth Ladies entered the mid-season break in high spirits with a sparkling 3-1 away win in the East Premier League against Cambridge University. The students had no answer to Letchworth s pace and team work and barely had any possession in the openin

Letchworth Ladies entered the mid-season break in high spirits with a sparkling 3-1 away win in the East Premier League against Cambridge University.

The students had no answer to Letchworth's pace and team work and barely had any possession in the opening 20 minutes.

Letchworth were rewarded midway through the half when youngster Justine Lucas netted following a right-wing cross from Leonie Cherry.

Despite their lack of possession, however, Cambridge equalised before half time when they squeezed in a cross at the near post.

Letchworth continued to dominate in the new half and were rewarded by a brace of goals within a few minutes from another young Letchworth forward Rachel Williams.

The first saw her calmly chip the Cambridge keeper, and the second when she tipped in a Charlie Gibson shot on goal.

Although Letchworth always looked likely to win, keeper Emily Whiting also pulled off some fine saves to ensure the Whitethorn Lane team took all three points.

Other scores: Letchworth Ladies II 1 (Ros Clamp) Chess Valley 2; third and fourth team games postponed due to frost.

Stevenage Ladies won 1-0 in a local derby at St Albans following their 8-2 thumping by league leaders Sevenoaks the previous week (Lucy Harvey and Jude Weston on target).

In a bright start from the visitors, a succession of penalty corner awards saw Stevenage produce some good moves but they were unlucky not to be able to capitalise.

As the half drew to a close, it was Stevenage who held the upper hand and continued to press the Saints defence up to the whistle.

In the second half, Saints found their feet and began to control more of the play. Stevenage's defence was tight and turned over a number of moves into penetrating counter attacks.

The match standard slipped as fatigue started to show with both sides making mistakes.

Stevenage capitalised as a late ball into the D found Steph Fanthorpe who swept home to the relief of the team and their supporters.

Other scores: Tring 0 Stevenage Ladies II 2 (Debbie Church, Maria Perrazzoli), Stevenage Ladies II 9 (Debbie Church four, Tash Howe hat-trick, Steph Fanthorpe, Sophie Warden) South Herts 0; Stevenage Ladies III 4 (Nic Biggs two, Reb Hemmings, Angela Erskine) Saffron Walden II 6, Stevenage Ladies III 1 (Nicki Reynolds) Bedford III; Stevenage Ladies IV 1 (Annabel Reilly) Queenswood 4, Stevenage Ladies IV 2 (Annabel Reilly, Lizzie Siddall) Rothamsted 2; Stevenage Ladies V 0 West Herts 10.

Blueharts Ladies secured a fantastic win against second in the table Saffron Walden.

Harts started the game strongly with much of the attacking play in the first 20 minutes putting the home side unexpectedly on the back foot.

The pressure on the Saffron Walden defence eventually led to a short corner being awarded and Jo Floor and Carol Lamey combined to put Harts ahead.

After the break, Saffron Walden were unable to find a way through the defence with Heather Abbiss and Kirsten Barnett thwarting several attacks down the middle of the pitch.

Harts stepped up the pressure again with some great attacking play and Lamey stole a second goal after sweeping home a cross by Jay Livermore past the Saffron Walden keeper.

The home side clawed a goal back with about 10 minutes to go but Harts held on to win 2-1, largely due to an amazing display in goal by player of the match Rho Keen.

The league leading second team won 3-1 at Saffron Walden 4ths with goals from Gina Joseph and two for Hannah Ross.

# The different ages of Blueharts Hockey Club were playing over the weekend.

Harts took part in a ladies' veterans' tournament on Sunday at Milton Keynes.

Despite the weather, there was a great atmosphere and all 10 teams enjoyed themselves sipping on mulled wine and hot chocolate!

The games were 15 minutes long and Harts played Wallingford first and won 2-0, both goals set up by Jay Livermore and scored by Gina Joseph. Their second game was against Long Buckby which Harts won 1-0 with a well-taken goal from Livermore.

The third game against Vauxhall Chiltern ended in a stalemate although Harts had plenty of shots at goal, Carol Lamey and Sarah Edwards unlucky not to score.

Harts were joint first at this stage in the tournament but lost 3-0 to Wellingborough to go out.

The club's thriving mini hockey section entertained Harpenden in a series of matches at under-11 and under-nine level.

Their under-11 team won 9-4 with goals scored by Kieran McQue (hat-trick), Niamh O'Connor (hat-trick), Robert Baxter (two) and James Lamond.

Also contributing were Emma Baxter, Matthew Else, Bob Holt, Eleanor Jordan, Carrie Shipley and Jo Weeks.

The under-nines were making their hockey debuts and shared the spoils with two wins apiece and two draws.

The squad was Adam Auld, Callum Buchanan Jamie Buchanan, Christopher Davies, Robert Donald, Jasmine Goold, Joe Jordan, Pieter Roden, Eleanor Rolt, Lucie Russell, Molly Stephens and Ellen Wright.

New players aged six to 12 are welcome to join their successful training programme. Call Mike Baxter for details on 01462 812019.