Hampstead & Westminster’s women maintained their 100 per cent start to the new season with a stunning display at Chelmsford.

Held to a 1-1 draw on their previous visit last season, the north Londoners were keen to do better after strengthening during the summer.

They dominated from the start, but had to wait until the 26th minute to open the scoring when captain Annebeth Wijtenburg finished off a nice penalty corner move.

Joyce Esser doubled the advantage seven minutes later with a drag flick from another corner.

But despite having most of the possession and being in control of play, Hampstead could not add to their tally before half time.

It was one-way traffic in the second half, though, and they netted a third goal within two minutes of the restart through Hayley Turner, from another corner.

Esser then grabbed her second goal of the game and Amy Askew weighed in with a brace of her own, as Hampstead continued to pour forward.

And Louise Radford, Sarah Robertson and Melanie Wilkinson also got their names on the scoresheet as Hampstead eventually ran out convincing 9-0 winners to retain top spot in Conference East ahead of their trip to Bedford this weekend.

Hampstead’s men travelled to defending Premier Division champions Surbiton, after the two sides produced an 11-goal thriller in their previous meeting.

The visitors began well and broke the deadlock on 28 minutes when Rupert Shipperley slotted the ball between the keeper’s legs, following a spell of heavy pressure on the home defence.

The second half was a different story, though, and the play was more scrappy, with Surbiton drawing level with 15 minutes to go through James Gall.

Hampstead conceded a penalty flick with only three minutes left, which Luke Taylor converted, and despite bringing on a kicking-back in the closing stages they could not force an equaliser.

Kwan Browne’s men will hope to return to winning ways when they host bottom club Canterbury at Maida Vale on Sunday (1.30pm).