IT was a challenging weekend for Ben Rhydding Hockey Club's two leading teams, with the women's side having to settle for a draw while the men ultimately lost out in the last quarter to Timperley in a 4-1 defeat.

The women hosted Durham University in what was a four goal thriller and the two sides eventually had to settle for a 2-2 draw.

Durham were first off the mark as Natalie Konerth converted a short corner at the end of the first quarter.

However, Rhydding took the ascendency in the second quarter with a converted corner by Rachelle Lebourdon just before half time.

As the match entered the third quarter, there was plenty of attacking quality on show at both ends of the pitch, with Durham scrambling to prevent a goal by use of feet; the resulting penalty flick was converted by Rebecca Birch to give Rhydding a 2-1 lead.

Looking to extend the lead Ben Rhydding put Durham under a lot of pressure, but with five minutes to go Durham scored an equaliser through Lorna Crawford.

Both team continued to seek a winning goal as the game got frenetic, which eventually saw Rebecca Birch pick up a green card for a foul on twin sister, Katie, but with no more goals the 2-2 score stood.

As for the men's team, in the reverse fixture, Timperley won the game comfortably so Ben Rhydding knew they were going to have to be at the top of their game to compete against a high quality opposition.

Ben Rhydding sat deep in the early stages with Timperley enjoying possession and the visitors converted an early short corner to take a 1-0 lead.

Fortunately, this did not affect Ben Rhydding's concentration. Some physical, high class deep defence work from the home defence, along with some good saves from Ed Snelling kept Rhydding in the game.

As the game went on, the hosts grew into the contest and they found a leveller in the 4th quarter. They hit the back board from a neat finish by young England player, Ben Pickles.

Rhydding began to play some exciting, fluid hockey going forward and for the majority of the fourth quarter looked the stronger side. However, this pressure couldn't be converted and as with the previous week, three late goals saw a stark result of 4-1 to Timperley.

With three games to go this season the women travel to Swansea on Saturday while the men have the shorter trip to Oxton on Sunday.