A late equaliser meant St Albans Hockey club’s ladies Firsts had to settle for a 1-1 draw in their opening Conference East fixture at Chelmsford on Saturday.

Tash Humphris converted the Tangerines’ first penalty corner midway through the first half. But despite strong displays from Marie O’Brien and Amy Kee, the hosts levelled from open play with five minutes remaining.

The men’s first team continued their good build-up to the new campaign with a 4-1 victory over East Grinstead Seconds in their final friendly.

A drag flick from Matt Davey opened the scoring, with Luke Samarasinghe finishing in style in the roof of the net before the break. Ollie Goldstein and Scott Apps added the second-half goals.

St Albans open their league campaign at Blueharts, while the ladies are at home to Maidenhead at Oaklands.

Following the success of the first ‘youth hockey masterclass’ with international Ellie Watton on Monday of last week, the club are starting another new initiative next week aimed at building stronger links with university hockey programmes.

The men will entertain Loughborough Students on Wednesday, September 24 for a match under floodlights at Oaklands, starting at 7.45pm.

Six days later on Tuesday, September 30, Oxford University's premier ‘Blues’ team will travel to Oaklands to take on St Albans’ first teams in parallel evening matches.

Director of hockey Andy Bowskill said: “The club is growing stronger throughout and we are delighted that top hockey university sides are willing to travel to our club for midweek games at our excellent facilities.”