HOCKEY: Old Southendian men’s first team made a promising start to life in Prem ‘A’, despite falling to a frustrating 3-1 loss against Cambridge University.

A slow start from the Old Boys allowed the visitors to take an early 1-0 lead.

But the hard work of pre-season began to pay off and the home side grew into the game.

Despite fashioning some good chances, Cambridge came closest to adding a second, with Dave Catchpole saving a penalty corner on the line, on the stroke of half time.

The Old Boys began brightly in the second half and Giles Davies equalised from a well won short corner.

With the pressure mounting, Catchpole fired in a rebound from a penalty corner, only to see the umpire signal that he had already awarded a foul, ruling out the strike.

Cambridge University made the most of this, and quickly moved 2-1 ahead with a well worked corner of their own.

The visitors defended well and countered clinically, adding a late third to seal victory as the Old Boys fought for an equaliser.

Old Southendian’s men second team opened up their Division Three SE season with an 8-0 victory against newly promoted East London.

Goals came courtesy of Josh Copeland (3), Connor Andrews (2), Toby Jordan, Connor Jury and Rhys Durban on his OSHC debut.

The men’s sixth team started the new season away at their arch rivals, having beaten Old Loughts to the league championship on goal difference last season.

Loughts came out hard from the start but the Old Boys defence weathered the early storm and held strong.

After the first 15 minutes, Old Southendian turned the tables and took the lead with Harry Raffan slipping the ball from a short corner stop to captain Paul Stoner who put the ball into the corner of home team’s net.

Despite only having a bare 11 against an opposition with four subs, the sixes took control for the rest of the game hitting the post and having most of the rest of the chances on their way to a great 1-0 win.