Ladies 1s
The badgers got off to a solid start, with Tor Stacey and Cattermole marshalling the defence and Baz Sparrow stepping into right back. The managing team of Panners (coach), Lucy ‘Bob’ Hoskins (manager), Sarah Gardner (video analyst), Becky Scarrot (defence coach) and Lisa Banahan (assistant defence coach) were pleased that the Badgers held firm in the first ten minutes. However an interception led to Oxford opening up the scoring and the Badgers were two nil down at the end of the first quarter. Izzy Gardner made some outstanding saves, notably 2 with her right outstretched glove and the badger short corner defence saw off some well designed short corner routines. Oxford had clearly done their homework on the Badger formation and were 5-0 up at the end of the first half, having an overload in midfield.

A change implemented by the five person management squad resulted in a significant improvement in the second half with some outstanding performances by Meg Boxall and Becky Ellis in mid field, releasing speed demon Kerri Marshall for some diving opportunities which just scraped the outside of the post. The Badgers earned a number of short corners which unfortunately they failed to convert. With no substitutes on the bench in the last two quarters following an injury to Cattermole, the Badgers fought hard under exceptional circumstances and the final score of seven nil did not do the effort justice.

Ladies 2s
A windy trip to Bedford for a 3pm start the ladies 2s faced a well drilled Bedford L3s team. They were strong from the start and put us under pressure throughout the game. Some strong defence including multiple saves from Kim in goal and even a goal-line save from Meg T kept the goal line 0-0 at half time. Bedford came out strong at half time and managed to get an early breakaway goal in the second half to put them 1-0 up. Some strong runs of play and attacks gave us numerous opportunities on goal and some short corners which unfortunately were not converted. A short corner the other way gave Bedford their second goal with an excellent deflection right into the top corner, which even our England GK had no chance of keeping out. Shame the deflection came from a Broxbourne defender's stick! Think Lyds defending on short corners career might not be too long.

Ladies 3s put in a strong performance against top of the league and kept their lost to the narrowest of margins. Read the match report here.

Ladies 4s continued their winning season, read the full match report here.

Ladies 5s
Played Blueharts L6s, who had a couple of strong players who were instrumental in putting the visitors 3-0 up at half time. Broxbourne had a number of opportunities in attack but unfortunately were not able to score. Rearrangement of formation at half time to mark their speedy forward was a very effective strategy. The Broxbourne team also managed to score quickly after half time due to great team work with the finish from Zara. However although we continued to play well and had even more opportunities on goal, we just couldn’t make the most of our chances. Player of the match Alice for resilience and braving a completely new position in defence - she played amazingly. Donkey uncontestedly went to Milly for missed goal scoring opportunities

Mens 1s
The Badgers were back on the road this weekend travelling to Cambridge to play Cambridge City. Broxbourne made a fast start however were unable to convert an early penalty corner chance. Cambridge grew into the game and quickly started to dominate possession. Despite a number of big saves from Ryan Thomas in goal, Cambridge were rewarded with two goals before the end of the half. Early in the second half Cambridge made it 3-0 however Broxbourne were much improved on their first half performance. They were rewarded with a goal as Sam Groves deflected into the roof of the net. Cambridge added one more goal before the end of the game to make the final result a 4-1 defeat for Broxbourne.

Mens 2s lost sod Hertford
Todays match report is just an interview from the lovely,handsome well mannered and minted Co-Captain Alex Brown
“Erm I actually quote unquote Browny said I’m genuinely lost for words a commanding display from certain members of our team noticeably Joseph Wilkinson and Fresh Wilkinson a display of double Wilkinson, Forwards Dan Ball in midfield did his best to impact the game however we failed to errrr produce any clear cut chances for our enthusiastic forward line of Cruddy, Jack and joint second top scorer (with my lovely,handsome, well mannered and minted self) Tom, Lance was Ill disciplined with his positional play causing all the goals good aerial mate”

Mens 3s was not the most successful of hockey Saturdays. The team lost out on Chris who’s fighting ways managed to lose him a tooth the night before the game. Captain Scott decided to change up the formation, which despite not yielding better results was pressed on with throughout the game. Although struggling to string passes together it seemed that some passes were making it to blue sticks, until the Broxbourne team worked out they were in fact playing in their red strip. Hayden got sent off with a yellow for allowing himself to be knocked to the ground by the opposition. The oppo had a dubiously awarded flick which was taken with an even more dubious slap, goal was granted and set the mood for the game. The oppo continued to score a few more goals including getting one in the last seconds of the game. Overall, the M3s are looking forward to their slip date next weekend without the need to actually play any hockey.

Mens 4s took their first win of the season with an excellent team performance. Read the full match report here.

Sunday 13th February

The Mens O40s vets team unfortunately did not play due to the opposition not fielding a team. This does however mean that they will progress on to the next round in their cup run!

Next Week

Next week is a half-term slip week, so their are only a few teams playing.

Ladies 2s (H) @ 11:30 v. Spencer L2s (CUP 3rd round)
Ladies 1s (H) @ 13:30 v. Sutton Coldfield (league)
Ladies 5s (A) @ 12:00 v. Bishops Stortford