REPORT BY: HUGH LORIMER

IT was a weekend of disappointment for Ben Rhydding Hockey Club as both the men and women’s teams fell to defeat.

The women travelled to the West Midlands to play Olton & West Warwicks, and on paper Rhydding were clear favourites heading into this one.

In the end, Olton came out on top winning the contest 4-3.

Alice Midgley opened the scoring for Ben Rhydding before the two sides traded goals up to half-time with Beth Cordukes on the scoreboard for Ben Rhydding, resulting in the scoreline being 2-2 at the break.

Within the first five minutes of the second half Olton edged ahead before Midgley was again on target to level the scores.

It came down to the last quarter where Olton finally managed to push ahead and stay there, despite Rhydding throwing everything at the home side’s goal in the last few minutes.

As for the men’s team, they put in a valiant display at high-flyers Timperley, despite having several key players absent.

This brought out the best in the visiting players, who travelled to Cheshire to face off with a side a that boast a 100% record this season.

Playing a half court press for much of the game, Rhydding managed to tame Timperley and score the only goal in the first quarter through a classic Will Musgrave penalty corner strike.

The second quarter belonged to Timperley as they equalised, while the third went to Rhydding as Musgrave struck again.

Going into the final quarter Timperley were looking to drop their first points of the season until they pulled off the great escape through two penalty corner strikes in the last few minutes.

This weekend the women travel to Beeston on Saturday and the men to Didsbury Northern on Sunday.