Old Halesonians Hockey Club first team drive for promotion from West Midlands Division One remains on target after they defeated Droitwich 5-4 to remain seven points clear in second.

Despite a promising start, Hales found themselves 2-0 down.

Their persistence up-front finally paid off with Doug Houghton converting a well-worked short corner to narrow the deficit. However, just when their luck appeared to be turning, Hales were to face disappointment again, with Simon Palmer getting caught in possession in his own half, allowing Droitwich to bag a third for a 3-1 half-time lead. A robust team talk, saw Hales come out of the restart with considerably more fire, and they were soon rewarded with a goal slotted home from a tight angle by Andy Cole.

Shortly afterwards, Chris Hill spotted captain Paul Woodall on the back post, putting the ball through to him to allow Woodall to bag the equaliser. Hill then went on to set up Chris Wattley for a fourth.

With everything to play for, Hales fought back, with Chris Hill setting up his third goal of the day when he put Tom Bulteel through to beat the Droitwich keeper in a one-on-one to take the score to 5-3. Droitwich bagged a fourth late on.

A dis-jointed second half cost Old Hales seconds dear in their game against third-placed Bridgnorth, undoing a strong first half performance to leave them on the wrong end of a 5-2 scoreline.

A strong start saw Hales take the lead courtesy of Marc Hendricx, but Bridgnorth soon struck back. The second half saw Hales loose their shape, and a series of errors allowed Bridgnorth to gain a further two goals before Hendricx struck again to give the hosts some hopes of regaining the initiative. However, it was not to be, and Bridgnorth continued their assault on the Old Hales goal, bagging a further two goals by the final whistle.

The thirds cruised to a 5-0 victory over Walsall to secure promotion from West Midlands One with three games remaining.

Goals were scored by Josh Randhawa, Jon Bissell, Alan Loveridge, Graham Knight and Phil Reynolds.

The Fathoms struggled against a strong Harville opposition, eventually going down 4-1 with a consolation goal from Tom Osman.

The youngsters of Old Hales' Badgers found themselves overpowered by visitors Leek, eventually going down 8-1.

The Ladies of Cresconians were narrowly edged out 2-1 by Harborne.