There were just the three games for Stevenage as most clubs in the East Hockey League took a week off.

And they came back with one result of each flavour.

The women's fourth team drew 0-0 at home to Royston but the fifths picked up the club's only win of the day by beating Bedford 3-1, Suzie Strange scoring twice with the third from Karen.

 

That was their first win of the year and lifted them to ninth in Division Six South West.

The only other result came in the men's section as the fourths lost 4-0 to Southgate Adelaide.

They have had several new players join this season and haven't played as often as they would have liked.

They faced an opposition in complete contrast to the St Albans team they played one week earlier.

Saints had been keen to press the Stevenage backline but Southgate opted to allow the defence to have the ball, looking to recover it in the midfield and then quickly counter.

It worked too and at half time the home side at the Nobel School were only one down to a shirt-corner strike.

In the end it was a good lesson in what was required in terms of man marking and fitness, as late goals allowed Adelaide to pull clear.