SLOUGH ended their Investec Women’s League fixtures for 2017 with a disappointing 4-1 defeat at Buckingham on Saturday, leaving them eighth in the table with 11 points going into the mid-season break, writes Dave Wright.

“It was a pretty bad day at the office, to be honest,” admitted team captain Kat McGonigle.

“They were better than us, we never got going. It was just one of those games, unfortunately.”

Slough fell behind in the 13th minute when Kitty Higgins converted a penalty corner and Abbie Brant made it 2-0 on 22 minutes, with the latter scoring again four minutes into the second half.

Georgina Bathurst pulled one back in the 44th minute and her side had further chances to reduce the deficit before Natasha James added a fourth for Buckingham six minutes from time.

Despite this defeat, McGonigle remains confident the Pink and Blacks will pick up when fixtures resume in February.

“In reality, we feel we have had a good first half of the season,” said McGonigle.

“We have already earned nearly as many points as we got in the whole of last season. It’s a tough league and there are not many points separating the teams; there are three of us all on 11 points.

“Obviously, we would like to have got a few more points, but I am confident we can kick on and move back up the table.”

She believes the team have missed two of their top players in Laura Bailey and Harriet Ward due to them both giving birth in recent months.

“Hopefully, both will be back playing in the new year,” said the captain.

Slough Men kept hot on the heels of Eastcote in the MBBO Regional One table by winning 3-1 at Maidenhead on Saturday.

They are locked on 17 points along with Oxford and PHC Chiswick, just one point behind the leaders.

Rai ‘Sunny’ Singh scored two of the goals to take his season’s tally to 15, leaving him the division’s joint top scorer with Nick Giles of Chiswick.

Paul Brown added the other for Slough, while Chris Brown was on the scoresheet for mid-table Maidenhead.

Slough have another derby this Saturday (10.30am) when fifth-placed Marlow are the visitors to Upton Court Park.

Windsor Hockey Club

IT was Super Saturday for Windsor Hockey Club with five wins out of five.

The 1sts set the tone in a high scoring 5-3 home victory against Wycombe 3rds in MBBO Division Two.

Daniel Knowles skimmed the post early on, but the same player then put his side in front as he deftly deflected the ball home.

The hosts extended their lead after the break courtesy of a goal-of-the-season contender from Marcus Barrow, and he then made it 3-0 with his seventh of the season.

However, two soft goals brought Wycombe back into the contest, only for Sean Wright to fire home a fine finish to make it 4-2.

Wycombe responded quickly to cut the deficit, but Windsor took full advantage of a penalty corner drilled in to Kevin Jones who flicked the ball high into the top corner to kill off the game at 5-3. 

Windsor travel to South Berkshire 2nds tomorrow (Saturday).

Windsor 2nds are five points clear at the top of Division Six after a 4-2 home win against Oxford 6ths, while the 3rds secured a 5-1 victory against Eastcote 5ths in Division Seven.

Windsor Ladies put in a gritty performance to beat a lively Oxford University 3rds team 3-2 in Division One of the Trysports Three Counties League.

Windsor took the game by the scruff of the neck although it took until just before half time before Emma Harrington finally broke the deadlock.

Oxford improved after the break and levelled almost immediately after the restart, but Windsor were in no mood to drop points and a brilliant solo run by Saskia Swannack on the left saw the teenager cut in, dodge a defender and daringly flick the ball to the left top corner to open her account and make it 2-1 to the hosts.

And Swannack struck again minutes later, pouncing on a rebound to slide the ball past the keeper from close range.

Oxford pulled one goal back, but Windsor held firm to grab victory.
Windsor visit Milton Keynes 2nds tomorrow (Saturday).

And in Division Four, Windsor Ladies 2nds soared to third after a solid team performance ended in a 1-0 win against Phoenix and Ranelagh Ladies 3rds.

Minerva and Monopoly Christiaan-Rakus were superb on the wings, but it was Paula Green who got the vital goal.