The ladies fourth team welcomed Havant for their opening game of the season and owned the match from the outset, with Beth Flintoff and Jasmine Payne rushing the goal within minutes of the whistle - Flintoff finding the net with her second rebound.

Basingstoke continued to dominate, with player of the match Nell Ruane making a smart run up the right to pass the ball into the D for Jasmine Payne to take a swift second.

Basingstoke had a momentary lapse of attention allowing Havant’s speedy strikers to sneak through and score.

Refocused, Basingstoke found their shape and with some neat triangles taking them up the pitch, Nell Ruane pounced on the ball and smashed a third before half time, her first league goal for the team.

In the second half, Havant came back hard, pushing more players forward and moving Basingstoke’s defence around. However, they could not break through Basingstoke’s defensive shield.

Just before the final whistle, they won a number of short corners and pushing up, Ulrike Maier back in typical form, scored Basingstoke’s fourth and final goal, and the game ending with a fabulous 4-1 win.

Basingstoke ladies’ first team, sponsored by KJS Solicitors, were up against Exeter, with both teams setting out at a blistering pace.

Exeter led the charge with impressive dynamic runs, drawing Basingstoke midfielders out wide. A quickly taken side-line ball saw Exeter gaining entry into Basingstoke’s D from which they were awarded a penalty corner.

A neat right to left combo resulted in Exeter slotting the ball in, past Basingstoke’s goalkeeper.

In the second half and 0-1 down, Basingstoke ramped up the pressure on Exeter winning multiple penalty corners, which unfortunately did not yield any results. against the run of play, Exeter scored from a counter-attack, driving down the right, driving the ball along the base line and slipping the ball to an unmarked player, who didn’t hesitate in finding the back of the net, and the game concluded with a 0-2 defeat to Basingstoke.

The third team lost 3-2 against Hamble, but despite the defeat there was some great hockey throughout the team which resulted in two great goals. The first goal came from Michelle Rounding and the second from Tania Bridge. Not a bad start to the season for the 3s.

In other games, the men’s firsts lost 5-6 against Aldershot & Farnborough, the men’s thirds drew 2-2, against Gillingham seconds. The men’s seconds won 3-2 against Yateley and the men’s fourths drew 3-3 against Eastleigh. The ladies seconds won 6-0 against Andover and the ladies fifths lost 6-1 against Fareham. In their first friendly of the season against Haslemere, the under 16 girls drew 2-2, with Martha Beeching scoring both goals and player of the match going to Megan Payne.