On a Sunday with a low winter sun, traditional hockey weather finally arrived and the girls hosted Old Loughtonians U16G at Lee Valley for their first local derby of the season.

The squad for this game were: Lucy Leel (Capt), Anika Mayor (GK), Saskia Murphy, Immogen Murphy, Helene Standring, Courtney Ferns, Ruby James, Florence Unwin, Clemency Day-Fawcett, Lara Chick, Alex Seddon-Gust, Clara Johnson and Laura Bushman.

Some confusion reigned pre-match regarding pitch allocations but the girls teams ended up on the stadium pitch much to the delight of the hearty crowd from both clubs.

Early exchanges saw both sides testing each other out but before long Crostyx ramped up the pressure leading to a short corner. A great injection and stop allowed Lucy to drag flick smoothly putting the Styx girls one - nil up.

The game flowed on with Crostyx maintaining the pressure and taking the stats for the half. Following another attacking run, possibly stopped on the line by an OL foot, a penalty flick was awarded. The captain stepped up and coolly threw the OL keeper to the wrong side to put Crostyx 2-0 up.

Coach Rusty Smith talked the girls through the half time briefing as for sure OL were coming out blazing. They did not disappoint and the second half started with Crostyx under immediate pressure and a number of OL short corners dealt with cleanly by the Crostyx defence. The pressure eased off as time flowed and a classic Leel run allowed her to key up Alex for her first goal for the club.

More open play continued, until another pressure move from Styx saw Saskia Murphy score with a rocket shot following a melee in the Loughts D.

As the game drew to a conclusion, it unusually saw a carding frenzy for the Styx side: 3 green cards for the scorers (Lucy, Saskia, Alex) and a yellow (Lara) as Crostyx defended their clean sheet.

An excellent game from both sides which fully entertained both sets of supporters.