OLD SOUTHENDIANS 1 PHOENIX 3

Essex Women’s League premier division

Phoenix Hockey Club ladies’ first team continued their unbeaten run in 2015 with a fine away win.

They travelled with a depleted squad, but started well and played the structured possession game which has been their trademark all season.

The first goal arrived through Louise Childs, one of the youth players coming through the club ranks and a second goal arrived soon after from Kim Smith.

The home side were unable to live with the overall play and the league form started to tell once the match went into the second half.

Childs, always a threat, scored her second and was then unlucky when a hat-trick goal was dismissed when the umpires deemed she hadn’t touched the ball.

This would have capped a player-of-the-match performance, but the game was already won and Old Southendians’ late goal was only a consolation for the hosts.

Meanwhile, Phoenix Hockey Club’s men’s first team were beaten 8-0 on their trip to Redbridge and Ilford in East League division three south east.