Hampstead & Westminster’s hopefuls see off Sevenoaks rivals in contrasting fashion

Hampstead & Westminster’s title hopefuls earned contrasting wins over their Sevenoaks counterparts at the weekend.

The women welcomed feisty rivals to Paddington Rec for an East Conference contest and looked dominant from the start.

The visitors defended well and made the D difficult to penetrate, as Hampstead worked their way around the defence and into the circle without much reward.

The first half remained goalless and it was a similar story for much of the second period as hungry Hampstead were kept at bay by an inspired Sevenoaks goalie.

Their persistence was eventually rewarded three minutes from time, though, as Lucy Hyams produced a professional finish at the end of a great team move.

And after Sevenoaks removed their goalie for a kicking-back, Roxy Giafrancesco made a crucial diving save in the final minute to secure the 1-0 lead which leaves leaders Hampstead two points clear of Wimbledon and full of confidence with five games left.

They travel to Horsham on Saturday (3.30pm).

Hampstead’s men, sitting in second place behind Surbiton on goal difference, hosted a Sevenoaks side sitting at the bottom of the table on Sunday.

And they took an early lead from the penalty spot thanks to a well-placed flick from Matt Guise-Brown after Sam French had been victim of a stick tackle.

It took another 20 minutes for Hampstead to double their lead through Jonny Gooch but Chris Cargo then made it 3-0 moments later.

The visitors pulled a goal back in the opening minutes of the second half to give themselves a glimmer of hope, but Hampstead stamped their authority on the game with a dominant spell.

Guise-Brown and Cargo both grabbed their second goals of the game and an incisive counter was finished off by Rhodri Furlong to make it 6-1.

Hampstead kept attacking and saw Guise-Brown convert two short corners to take his own tally to four and 12 for the season to move back into the top three in the Premier Division.

Rivals Surbiton beat Holcombe 4-1 to leave the top two on 32 points, seven clear of third-placed Beeston.

Hampstead make the trip to fifth-placed Holcombe, who still have aspirations of a top-four finish on Saturday, with a 6pm start, while Surbiton head to Reading.