St Albans Boadiceas earned a 3-1 win at Saffron Walden to remain second in the Division Three table.

The visitors were rewarded with the opener with a reverse-stick goal from forward Helen Anton after it rebounded off the keeper.

The second goal was well worked down the right of the pitch to Linda Pilkington-Cooper who managed to pass it to forward Tamsin Warren, positioned on the backline, and a swift strike to Anton on the penalty spot saw the ball rattled home.

Stand-in goalkeeper Jo Herbert made some tremendous saves when Saffron did manage to get near the goal, including a direct strike to her face-guard, but she was unable to stop the one ball which managed to slip between her foot and the far post.

Kelli Seagrave and Mary Oswin steadied the midfield with captain Angela Byrne and Angie Patton having particularly good games and keeping the contest spread right across the pitch.

The third St Albans goal came from a well struck short corner by Sue Hicks to Anton at the top of the D which rebounded from the keeper and was struck cleanly by Warren.

Meanwhile, St Albans started the defence of their Maxifuel Division Two status.

St Albans lost 4-2 to Ipswich in their opener but beat Holcombe 3-1 in their next match. The side thrashed Waltham 6-0 with Sammie Archer scoring a hat-trick and Meg Crowson, Mel Ball and Katie Hockley also on target.

The game against Chelmsford was very close with St Albans going 2-0 down. They pulled one back but were still beaten 2-1.

The last match was against Old Loughts. Megan Crowson put St Albans in the lead with her trademark drag flick. The side went 2-0 up with a goal from Desarae La Roux. Old Loughts pulled one back but the result was sealed with an effort from Katie Hockley.

St Albans now travel to Nottingham for the Maxifuel play-offs as they push for promotion.