St Albans play-off dream over after Wimbledon loss

ST Albans hopes of promotion have ended after a loss to Wimbledon.

The hosts went 2-0 down at half time to breakaway goals but Sammie Archer scored from a short corner.

Alex Smith had the ball in the net but the referee disallowed it, keeping the score at 2-1. Wimbledon had chances to increase the lead but keeper Anthea Oatridge kept out Wimbledon with three diving saves.

Five Counties Division Three

St Albans Boadiceas 6 Queenswood 0

Boadiceas continued their run of successes with a convincing win over Queenswood at Clarence Park.

The previous meeting had seen a hard fought game and a rare defeat for Boadiceas but the St Albans side pulled off one of their finest displays to ensure a win.

Right from the opening whistle the Boadiceas played simple, calm hockey which wrong-footed the youthful opposition. The first goal came after 15 minutes with a scramble at the Queenswood goalmouth which Linda Pilkington-Cooper eventually pushing the ball over the line.

St Albans made excellent use of Linda Parker as sweeper to continually spread the game out, avoiding the strong Queenswood centre, and the goals came at regular intervals after this.

Forward Lou Jackman scored from a rebound and midfielder Kelli Seagrave hit the top corner of the net in a solo effort to leave the score at 3-0 by half time.

The usual post-halftime dip failed to materialise and within seconds St Albans were threatening the opposition D once again. Midfielder Mary Oswin bagged her first of the match and Seagrave rattled the backboard twice to give her a hat-trick. In the dying minutes a one-on-one with the Queenswood goalie by Helen Anton unfortunately failed to give another goal.

Second placed Boadiceas consolidated position in the table and quashing any doubts they belong at the top of the table.

Men’s Hockey

South West Division 7

St Albans 7s 4 MBDA 1

St Albans returned to winning ways with a comfortable victory.

The young side started slowly and found themselves 1-0 down after five minutes following some sloppy defensive play. As the first half continued, the St Albans team found their feet and equalised through an own goal following considerable pressure from stalwart Nick Mulvaney.

St Albans then took the lead through a well directed penalty corner from Charlie Pritchard and extended this further with an accurate strike on goal from Emmerson senior.

The second half continued in the same vein with St Albans having the large majority of the play but were unable to take full advantage of the possession and managed only one further goal, a second strike from Emmerson senior.