Witham Hockey Club’s men had the rare experience of not finding the target as their depleted side went down to a 4-0 defeat by visiting Potters Bar.

Only two teams in East League division two south have a 100 per cent record after the opening two league games and unfortunately for Witham, they are neither of them.

On an unseasonably hot day at the Bramston Sports Centre pitch, both teams laboured through the early exchanges, but it was the visiting team that coped best with the conditions as Witham’s usually fast passing game became mired on the sticky surface.

Potters Bar took the lead midway through the first half from a broken down short corner.

But going behind seemed to provide impetus to Witham and they were soon creating chances of their own with James Suett and Mike Taylor both crafting openings without reward.

After half-time, Witham enjoyed a purple patch and could easily have found themselves ahead from short corners that narrowly missed and one or two further open play chances from Taylor, Suett and Matt Parsons.

It was not to be, though, and the game reverted to being an even slugging match.

Both teams created half-chances without looking dangerous and it was a sucker-punch when Potters Bar finally managed to double their lead from open play as the stretched Witham defence were out-foxed by some efficient passing from the visitors.

Witham were forced to go for broke and Potters Bar were a good enough side to be ruthless with the space left behind the home team’s defensive line, picking up two more goals on the break in the final ten minutes.

While 4-0 probably flattered the visitors, Witham will definitely now understand that they have to take their chances in this division, a lesson that will they will be hoping to have learned before their visit to Hertford on Saturday.

Witham’s man-of-the-match Mike Taylor said: “We had three key players missing today from the middle of the park and it’s very rare for us not to score. Hopefully we can put that right this week at Hertford and get back to winning ways.”