The mid-season adult hockey league break meant attention at the weekend turned both to Marlow’s juniors, and the Women’s 1st team, playing in the England Hockey indoor league, having qualified before Christmas as regional champions.

Pride of place has to go to the U14 Girls A team, who defied challenging weather conditions to defeat local rivals Reading and qualify for the quarter finals of the England Hockey Cup. Having drawn a league match with Reading earlier in the season, it was always likely to be a hard-fought match, and so it proved.

After an early scare which saw Reading hit the crossbar, Marlow settled into their stride, finding space on the wings, while Reading persisted with what proved to be the unproductive tactic of dribbling through the middle. It was no surprise when Marlow scored mid-way throught the first half, a neat move by-passing the Reading defence and finding Valentina Head-Ferrari iin space in the D. She neatly sidestepped the goalkeeper and slotted the ball home.

1-0 remained the score at half time, but Marlow were the stronger, and it was no surprise when Lucy Hellewell, who was a thorn in the side of the Reading defence all afternoon, extended Marlow’s lead early in the second half.

Reading reduced the deficit to 2-1 with a well-worked goal soon afterwards, but Georgia Welch restored Marlow’s two goal cushion with a neat finish a few minutes later, and Marlow saw out the win comfortably, to the acclaim of an enthusiastic crowd, and now wait to learn who their last eight opponents will be.

The Women’s indoor team travelled to Canterbury for a week of indoor hockey, conscious that their Division 2 South opponents contained both Premier and First Division England Hockey League clubs.

Although the Marlow team ended the weekend in fifth place, their sole win being a comfortable victory over Maidstone, they went toe-to-toe with their more highly ranked opponents. In their first match, the Reds made a fast start and led Premiership club Hampstead and Westminster 2-0 before being brought back to parity, and succumbing 4-2 with two goals late in the final quarter seeing the Londoners scrambling across the line.

Marlow’s other performance of particular note was against a star-studded Old Georgians side which contained five internationals, four from Great Britain, among their starting six. Once again, Marlow started fast and led 3-2 as half-time approached, before ultimately losing 6-4, much to the relief of an OGS side whose behaviour had tested the patience of the umpires throughout.

The experience for the Marlow team was a great one, and sets them up well for the resumption of the outdoor league at the end of January.