Steve Fox was the hero for St Albans Hockey Club’s men’s 8ths on Saturday, scoring all three goals in an impressive away victory against Welwyn Garden City 4ths.

The 8ths are the Tangerines’ newest side having entered the East leagues this season as part of the club’s expansion programme. Under the strong leadership of skipper Andy Golding, they go into the Christmas break in third place in Division 9SW with a game in hand over league leaders Potters Bar 4thss. The team continues to introduce young players to competitive hockey, with George Turner capping a strong debut on Saturday by unluckily smashing a shot inches over the crossbar.

Elsewhere, on a weekend when the weather claimed many fixtures, the St Albans ladies Bodiceas stormed to a 4-0 victory at Tring 2nds and the men’s 4ths won 3-2 at home to Bedford 4ths. The ladies 2nds suffered a rare 2-0 defeat but stay top of East Division 1S. Indoors, the ladies 1sts performed strongly to clinch second place behind Holcombe in the East Indoor Premier.

St Albans head coach and England manager Andy Halliday saw his side beat Belgium to finish seventh in the men’s Champions Trophy in India, in which England had defeated the silver and bronze sides, Pakistan and Australia respectivley, in the group games, but lost their quarter-final to the eventually gold medal winners, Germany.