Jess is Brewin winning formula
Newbury and Thatcham Hockey Club’s women’s first team celebrated a narrow 1-0 win over rivals South Berkshire, making it two consecutive wins and two clean sheets in a row since the turn of the year.
South Berkshire made the short trip to Henwick in fine form and in second in the South Central Women’s Division One North table, having lost just once all season.
And the visitors were soon dominating but found themselves unable to breach the resolute defensive trio of Alice Lane, Holly Harris and Charli Pratt.
Buoyed by the half time scoreline, the home side went in search of a winner after the break and found one when Jess Brewin arrived to slot home a rebound after Rachel Mulvany’s initial effort had been saved.
There was more good news for the men’s first team, who enjoyed an excellent 3-1 win over Milton Keynes 2nd, making it three wins from their last five games.
James Higgins bagged a brace – his first goals of the season – while Sebastian Davies was on hand to add a third for Newbury, who move up to sixth in the South Central Men’s Division One North table.
"We're pretty pleased with where we're at," said captain Lawrence McCabe.
"We took a while to get going against Milton Keynes but I think we were always in control.
"We've had a good start to the year, a lot of teams took some time off over the prolonged winter break but we kept on training and I think that's really shown in terms of fitness and match sharpness.
"We're in the last 16 of the cup and we're only a point behind fourth in the league, so we're confident we can end the season strongly."
Elsewhere, goals from Francois Kilian, Henry Durie, John Williams, Mark Chapman and Patrick Slevin helped the men’s third team to a 5-0 demolition of Milton Keynes 3rd, keeping them in contention for promotion from the South Central Men’s Division Four North.
Meanwhile, the women’s fourth and fifth teams went head to head in a South Central Women’s Division Three Thames Clash.
The fourth team, who played without a goalkeeper, won 4-1 thanks to goals from Caroline Nicoll, Joanna Howell, Nicole Allen and Yasmin Mateus and move up to second in the table.
