Thame Hockey Club’s ladies first team suffered a 4-2 defeat to high-flying Newbury & Thatcham in Trysports Premier Two.
The visitors defended exceptionally well in the opening 20 minutes with goalkeeper Len making some fine stops to deny the hosts, but Newbury’s pressure finally paid off when they converted a pinpoint cross.
Thame responded by going onto the attack and levelled minutes later when Vikki Dawson outpaced the opposition with a sprint upfield that led to a goal, but a mistake from Charlotte Lynch gifted Newbury a 2-1 half-time lead.
The second half started well for a rejuvenated Thame as Lynch redeemed herself by producing some intelligent play, but Newbury soon had a third goal from a short corner.
Down but not out, the visitors upped their game and got to within one through Karen Spiller, only for Newbury to score a fourth and final goal.
Thame’s ladies IIs experienced much better fortunes when they put six past University of Reading to go top of the table.
Catheryn Alty set up Amy Cooper-Tutton for the opener before the in-form Kerri Halliday converted a penalty corner, and Alex Andrews showed nifty footwork to slot the ball past the ‘keeper for a third.
Thame added three further goals to seal a comfortable victory.
Elsewhere, Thame men’s IIIs made it back-to-back wins with a 4-1 victory at Sonning.
Great build up play from the tireless Tom Creswell and the excellent Ben Caiger led to Harvey Allen bagging the opener before a second half brace from Clifford Brown plus Cam Sk’s goal wrapped up victory.
