Old Loughtonians had plenty to cheer at the weekend, with wins for their men, women and under-18s in the semi-finals of the England Hockey Cup.

The women made it five wins in a row to remain top of the East Premier with a 1-0 success at St Albans 2s on Saturday.

Loughts were not at their fluent best, with Annie Wade-Jones making a number of critical saves in the first half.

Coach Miranda Baldwin pressed the reset button at the break and within 30 seconds of the restart India Blake passed to Adele Sammons to drive into the D and fire into the bottom corner of the net.

Both sides failed to convert a number of penalty corners in the second half, with Em Davies going closest to extending the lead with a fierce drive well saved by the home keeper.

Loughts travelled to Upminster on Sunday and needed only six minutes to open the scoring as Davies sent a drag flick into the bottom corner.

But they had to wait until the last quarter of an hour to assert their dominance as Davies fed Emily Holmes at a penalty corner to round the keeper and slot home a second.

Tash Patient capped an outstanding display with a marauding run into the D before teeing up India Blake to score and Chloe Menear sealed a 4-0 win with a thunderous strike from another short corner two minutes from time.

Loughts now face a pivotal weekend with a trip to Bury St Edmunds on Saturday and potential title decider at home to Cambridge University on Sunday.

The men kept their promotion bid on track with a 5-2 win over Canterbury at Luxborough Lane.

Two early chances were well saved by Chris Rea in the visiting goal, as Rob Bloss, Ed Fleet and George Lilley defended well and distributed to Mark Loughrey and Max Heaver.

The scoreline remained blank until six minutes into the second half when Harvey Edwards struck, but Alec Rasmussen levelled for Canterbury soon after.

Loughrey restored the Loughts lead and Edwards tapped in his second after a skiful run and deft pass from Euan Gilmour.

Will Godfrey drilled in a short corner and James Thomas added a fifth after neat link-up play with Andy MacGregor and Tom Watson.

Jack Valentine got a late reply for Canterbury but Loughts were deserved winners ahead of a trip to leaders Southgate, who edged past Oxford Hawks 4-3.

The under-18 boys saw Jack Moffat net an early brace in their semi-final against Winchester, with Oliver Hart adding a third before half-time.

Ethan Parr made it 4-0 after the restart and Moffat completed his hat-trick before Winchester's late consolation. Loughts will face Repton or Surbiton in the final

It was a frustrating weekend for the other senior teams as the L2s lost 1-0 at home to Hertford 1s, as the L3s lost 2-1 at Brentwood 3s and the L4s lost 4-1 to Southend 2s.

But the L5s had a convincing 7-0 win over Witham 3s, with two goals from Olivia Collins and one each from Amanda Goddard, Esha Narwal, Anna Ross-Bell and Purvi Thompson.

The M2s drew 0-0 at Chelmsford, while the M3s lost 1-0 to Chelmsford 2s and the M7s lost 4-1 at Chelmsford 6ths.

The M4s lost 4-1 to Redbridge & Ilford, as the M5 Willows drew 1-1 with Havering 3s and the M6 Willows Woodsmen beat Braintree 4s 6-1.

Club captain Simon Beckley scored after just five minutes for the M8 Willows Axemen against leaders Tower Hamlets 2s, but they eventually lost 5-1.

And age told as the Supervets lost 9-1 to Reading’s young over-50s.

The under-10 boys and girls competed in the Essex In2Hockey Championships and qualified for the East Area round after both finishing as runners-up.