Chloe Menear’s penalty corner strike with 19 minutes remaining was enough to secure all three points for Old Loughtonians Ladies away at Cambridge University on Saturday.

An even first half saw both hockey teams come close to breaking the deadlock. Faye Holmes almost touched home a ball driven into the circle and then at the other end Annie Wade-Jones saved brilliantly to deny the light blues.

With Loughts struggling with injuries as the game went on, player-coach Miranda Baldwin played an unfamiliar but vital cameo role at left back to help close the game out, holding off a late onslaught from the students to claim a vital 1-0 win.

It was a successful weekend for the Loughts ladies section with the L2s winning 3-0 against Upminster 1s, the L3s winning 6-4 against Havering 2s, further success against Havering 3s with a 2-0 win by the L4s and the L5s keeping up their 100 per cent record with a 1-0 win against Southend 4s.

In the East Conference of the England Hockey national league the men's team remain top of the table after a 3-0 win away against Hampstead & Westminster 2s.

However, the game was ultimately not quite as comfortable as the scoreline might suggest.

Old Loughts scored an early goal through returning Harvey Edwards but failed to convert four other chances in the first quarter.

Loughts finally managed to score a second goal through Max Heaver in the third quarter and it should have been game over.

However Loughts spurned further chances and there followed an interesting period in that quarter after Loughts went down to nine men and had to hang on against a rejuvenated Hampstead.

The last quarter saw Loughts just needing to see the game out. With nothing to lose, Hampstead removed their goalkeeper and played 11 on field giving them a numerical advantage.

The game became frenetic until Loughts scored a third goal through Tom Watson.