St Albans Hockey Club’s Men’s Firsts continued their fine start to the season as they eased to a comfortable 7-2 victory against Bedford.

With Bedford coming into the game with a perfect three-match winning record to their name, the clash was always likely to be a keenly contested one.

However, St Albans proved too strong for their rivals and were soon in control of proceedings as they put Bedford under pressure from the off.

They took the lead through Peter Cornell after he chased down a long ball forward and fired home from a tight angle.

St Albans were soon in total control after Hugo Christie turned home and captain Matt Davey added a third with a low finish from a penalty corner.

Bedford rallied to reduces the arrears but further efforts from Dillet Gilkes and George Scott made it 5-1 at the interval.

The rate of scoring slowed somewhat after the break, but St Albans were still able to add two more strikes to their tally thanks to efforts from Davey and Cornell.

Those goals came either side of a well-taken Bedford second which mattered for little in the grand scheme of things.

The resounding win leaves St Albans top of the table ahead of a trip to Norwich City in their next outing.

Elsewhere, the Ladies Firsts were made to settle for a draw from their home meeting with Horsham Ladies.

The home side started brightly to put St Albans on the backfoot and they eventually breached a solid defensive effort with a penalty before the interval.

Needing to chase the game in the second half, the Saints were more attacking after the half-time interval.

They were rewarded for their renewed optimism going forward when they levelled the scored to earn a share of the spoils.

The Ladies face Southgate at home on Sunday.