Starkey at the double for Luton Town Ladies

They made a positive start with chances for Suzanne Starkey, Charlotte Dunham and Claire Philby. Luton, however were caught out with Harpenden stringing together a sequence of passes, cutting through the defence and giving Helen Beattie no chance.

Luton didn’t take long to bring it level with midfielder Emma Whitehall catching the defence and driving the ball into the D, with a short pass to Starkey who took the opportunity to score.

In the second half sweeper Sally Kelly was key in ensuring Harpenden did not capitalise on their attacks. Charlotte Mkinnon made a superb run, cutting into the circle and with Starkey again in a good position to receive the ball from Mkinnon made the finish look easy to make it 2-1 to Luton.

Starkey looked sure to get her hat-trick after collecting a long ball, but she only managed to run the ball onto the GK’s stick.

Sally Kelly was player of the match in her first game.

Luton Ladies 2s beat Bedford 3-1 in a friendly.

Captain Rebecca Blanchett pounced on a deflection to open the score. Melissa Reeve in her first game made some good runs down the wing and presented Taz Ferdouse with a great opportunity which she took for 2-0.

Bedford pressed higher in the second half but defenders Julie Halsey and Gale Charles blocked their attempts. Shannon Smith made some excellent goal line saves and with some quick attacking runs Ferdouse extended the lead.

Tara Clancy made an excellent block from one Bedford corner, although they did pull one back from another short corner. Some excellent tackles by Clancy and Priscilla Olatunde saw out the win. Player of the match was Rebecca Blanchett

Luton Mens firsts came from two goals down to beat Hertford 3-2 in East Men’s League Division 3SW.

Luton struggled in the first half and conceded two goals. David Pike managed to get one goal back before the half was up. In the second half Luton pressured Hertford and were rewarded with two more, one from Luke Titmus and one from Harry Goss. Cameron Sarrington was man of the match.

Luton Mens IIs played a spectacular 70 minutes of fast paced hockey and earned their 10-0 win in Division 5SW over Herts III. With a strong first half ending in a 5-0 advantage, the team mustered up enough energy to match the scoring during the second half. Alan Clark scored his first hat-trick of the season.

Luton Mens IIIs bounced back in Division 7SW with a 5-4 win over Stevenage IV. After going behind they ralied to lead 2-1 at half time. The second half started well for Luton with all goals in a hotly contested game coming from William King and Robin Barnes.