THERE was plenty of hockey action last weekend but wins proved hard to come by.

A patchwork Waltham Forest ladies side were denied at the death a well deserved point from their East League Div 2 game against Broxbourne.

Forest took the lead through Anna Pearson as she latched on to an Emma Livingstone-Jones pass and rounded the keeper to roll the ball into an open goal.

And the visitors extended their lead when Broxbourne failed to clear Kathryn Tucker’s top circle strike. In the mix, the ball crept over the line.

But the hosts drew level with two quick goals either side of half-time, with the second taking an unfortunate touch off Mandy Brigg’s stick.

Gill Fraser Pearson and Sarie du Plooy continued to press for Forest, but to no avail.

And with 15 seconds left, Broxbourne got the winner with the player making no mistake from a one-on-one.

Elsewhere, Crostyx men’s first team bolstered their Premier B promotion push with a hard-fought 3-2 win over visitors Wapping.

Gareth Ingram opened the scoring after 10 minutes.

Ian Dunnett doubled the advantage with a great piece of play. His back to goal, Dunnett let the ball roll across his body and then reverse-swept at the near post.

Wapping hit back after the break, first from a penalty corner and then after a Crostyx move broke down. Two Wapping forwards streaked away and passed the ball around Lofthouse for a simple finish.

After this, Wapping pushed for a winner, but they were undone on the break. Ward raced down the middle of the pitch, then fed Vassiliou’s stealthy run, who squared for Hunn to tap in.

Elsewhere, Old Loughtonians lost 4-2 in Birmingham to Reading in the semi-finals of the National Indoor Finals.

James Steadman fired Loughts ahead on nine minutes, only for the hosts to pull level four minutes later.

They edged ahead two minutes after that to take a 2-1 lead into the break.

Loughts were 3-1 down to a penalty on 23 minutes, but back in contention a few minutes later through Steadman.

Reading pulled ahead again and despite Oliver Didham’s goal, Loughts went down 4-3.