BEESTON OUT OF CUP. A round up of today’s cup and league matches.

TalkHockeyRadio paid a visit to one of the Quarter Final fixtures in the England Hockey Cup this afternoon. 

In the rather atmosphere-free surroundings of Langley Park School, Bromley and Beckeham met visitors Oxted for a place in the semi finals. Despite having the greater percentage of possession, Oxted struggled to make any of their penetration count, and it was Beck's Nck Bluett who found the net first after 13 minutes. Going into the second half 2-1 down, Oxted managed to make better use of their possesion and were rewarded with two goals, the second only three minutes from time from Lorne Barnard. The final score, 2-3 to Oxted, left Bromley and Beckenham regretting a missed penalty stroke, although there can be little doubt that Oxted deserved the win. 

Last time we were at Bromley and Beckenham the match was watched by one man minus his dog. This time it was pleasing to see a decent level of support for an important match. For us the game was somewhat spoilt by players' frustration sometimes being vented on the umpires. Shame really. 

Pictures from this match are available to view on our sister site at www.HockeyImages.co.uk.

Oxted will meet either Hampstead and Westminster, Cannock or Surbiton in the semi finals. Hampstead reach the next round after a surprise win against Beeston. Beeston, who have almost claimed ownership of the Cup in recent seasons, were 3-2 up at half time, but goals from Neil Hamilton and Will Naylor gave Hampstead the 3-4 win. Cannock had a comfortable win against Doncaster from the North Conference, with Josh Barras claiming a 70^th minute consolation goal for Doncaster in the 4-1 result. Sheffield University Bankers, who are ninth in the North Premier League, managed to score a late goal in their 1-4 defeat at home to Premier Division Surbiton.

It was the turn of the Women's Conferences to restart the Investec League after the winter break this afternoon. Unlike yesterday's men's matches, there was no untoppling of table leaders. Sevenoaks continue to lead the East Conference after a 0-1 win away at St Albans. Harleston Magpies are one point behind them after beating Wimbledon 1-3 away. Ironically, despite losing to Sevenoaks, St Albans move from fourth to third in the table on goal difference, after third placed Ipswich lost 3-1 away at Oxford Hawks.

In the North it is still neck and neck between Beeston and Uni of Durham, who are both on 30 points. Beeston have an amazing +43 goal difference, which they added to this afternoon by beating Cannock 5-0. Cannock now drop into bottom place. The University, with a goal difference of +27, could only manage a 2-0 win over third placed Loughborough Students.

In the West, Buckingham are a massive 12 points ahead of second placed Trojans after a 4-0 win over Firebrands. 

Full league results and tables can be found on our web site.