Men's captain McCabe steps down as skipper

Newbury and Thatcham Hockey Club suffered a third successive South Central Men’s Division One North defeat following a 2-1 loss at home to third bottom Yateley.

That prompted captain Lawrence McCabe to hand the armband to Christian Randall, citing frustration at "poor results and officiating" as his reason for stepping down from the role.

The men’s second team suffered a similar fate as Ben Cook’s goal proved in vain in a 2-1 defeat against Bicester, their fourth defeat in five games.

The men’s third team picked up one of the best results of the weekend, thumping Oxford 4th 6-1 thanks to a hat-trick from James Higgins and a goal apiece from Mike Dutfield, Sebastian Chapman and Zach Pool.

The fourth team were also in fine form and beat Wycombe 3rd 3-2 with strikes from Aleksey Storchak, Andy Hastings and Chris Obin.

Meanwhile, a brace from Cameron Calvert-Wragg and a goal from Christian Somerville helped the fifth team to their third straight win, beating Slough Swifts 3-1 in a well-contested friendly.

The women’s first team stopped a run of three South Central Women’s Division One North defeats in a row with a 0-0 draw at Wallingford.

The points were also shared between the second team and Sonning 3rd as Steph Joannides scored her third goal of the season in a 1-1 draw.

Elsewhere, Jenna Ferrant struck as the third team drew 1-1 with Reading 6th while the fourth team secured a stunning 7-0 win over Sonning 5th that featured a hat-trick from Yasmin Mateus, a brace from Grace Gillespie and a goal each from Helen Hamlin and Nicole Allen.