Mulvany at the double as ladies secure survival while men end campaign with defeat

Newbury and Thatcham Hockey Club’s men’s first team concluded their campaign with defeat at Oxford 2nd but the ladies beat Phoenix Reading to secure their league status.

The men finished their South Central Men's Division 1 North season in seventh after a first defeat in three on the final weekend, losing 2-1 to Oxford 2nd.

Alex Philp struck but Oxford proved just too good as the two teams finished the season level on points.

Meanwhile, the ladies beat Phoenix Reading 3-1 to make it back to back wins to end the South Central Women's Division 1 North season in ninth and three points clear of Saturday's opponents, who finished bottom.

The ladies had been on a run of nine games without a win prior to beating Buckingham two weeks ago before a brace from Rachel Mulvany and a second goal of the season from Ellie Sweeney inspired them to victory over their relegation rivals and helped them avoid the drop.

It was a memorable end to the season for the rest of the men's teams, with the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th teams all winning – although the men's masters team might remember the weekend for all the wrong reasons following a 6-0 defeat at the hands of Sonning Sundowners.

Josh Morris, Mark Hutchinson and Zach Pool were on target for the second team, who beat Reading 4th 3-1 to end their season in seventh following a run of five games unbeaten.

Francois Kilian and Henry Durie scored as the third team made sure of a top three finish with a 2-0 triumph over Berkshire rivals Slough, their 12th win in 16.

Goals from Aleksey Storchak and Chris Obin fired the fourth team to a 2-0 win over Amersham and Chalfont 5th, making it three wins on the bounce to finish a successful season in third.

Oliver Butler scored a hat-trick as the men's fifth team thumped the sixths 6-0 in an intra-club friendly.

Matty Fowler, Rob Gazzard and Willoughby Jordan completed the rout – but there were reasons for both sides to be positive ahead of next term.

Elsewhere, the women's second team suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat to Maidenhead 3rd.

It was a disappointing end to the campaign for the ladies, who dropped out of the top three after failing to win any of their final six matches.

The ladies 3rd team were held to a 0-0 draw with third from bottom Wycombe 4th and finished the season in third following a run of six wins in their final eight.

The women's fourth team were in seventh heaven after making sure of second spot thanks to a 7-0 thrashing of Amersham and Chalfont 6th.

Caroline Nicoll scored a hat-trick, Yasmin Mateus bagged a brace to take her tally to 18 goals for the season while strikes from Helen Hamlin and Paula Morgan rounded off a scintillating end to the campaign.

The women's fifth team finished bottom of the South Central Women's Division 3 Thames table following a 3-0 defeat to Yateley 3rd.