Hockey teams gear up for the new campaign

THIS weekend saw the last friendlies before the new season.

Royston's men's first XI came away from their match against St Neots feeling they should have won by a greater margin.

Graham Mack gave Royston a half time lead after finishing calmly but the hosts equalised from the penalty spot after the restart.

Royston then launched a fast paced attack, retaking the lead within a minute as Mike Welding finished from a yard out, but it proved to be the last of the game as the Crows triumphed 2-1.

The men's seconds played St Neots thirds and won 10-1 in a dominant performance with Nick Freeman scoring four, Darren Hocks three, Joshua Jamieson two and Nick Broadley one, while the men's thirds lost 2-1 against St Neots IVs with Pete Belcher scoring their own goal.

Royston IVs posted a much needed victory at the weekend. They went two in front courtesy of paul Bloomfield, who completed his hat-trick after the break.

Goals from Ali Wallace and Adam Mackenzie completed the scoring.

Royston Ladies firsts gave a strong performance in their 3-1 win over St Neots.

Royston's first goal came early from a short corner with a brilliant strike from Sarah Buckerfield. This was added too by Lucy Davidson who nicely converted a short corner before St Neots pulled one back.

The match was wrapped up following some great attacking work by Davidson who set up Sophie Gathercole for the winner.

Royston Ladies second XI began strongly against St Neots and opened the scoring through Sarah Farmer after 15 minutes. Lucy Davidson added a second before half time with a second after the break, two goals sandwiching a St Neots consolation.

It was a disappointing result for Ladies IIIs. Karen Mckay, Jo Pearce and Di Hassen played well in defence and Tash Ball had a great game in goal despite the 6-1 scoreline. The Ladies scored through Wendy Holt.