Aldershot & Farnham (A&F) Hockey Club’s men’s first team picked up a second successive victory as they won 3-2 at Gillingham in South Central Division One South.

The visitors made hard work of defeating bottom side Gillingham, but they eventually won a five-goal thriller to record back-to-back wins for the first time this season and move out of the bottom two.

A&F exerted pressure from the get-go, not allowing Gillingham any escape routes and launching continued attacks on the Gillingham goal.

A mix of poor composure in the D, misfortune and not quite enough care in the final third meant that within 15 minutes it had already looked like it could be an infuriating afternoon for A&F.

However, some of their frustrations were relieved when a one-two between Jonny Groves and Ian Metcalfe saw the former collect the ball at the top of the centre of circle and strike his effort nicely into the bottom left-hand corner of the goal to give the visitors the lead.

A&F were getting so much space to play in, and Phil Rushmere was able to advance forward from sweeper and pick passes into the forward line with ease. A&F really should have been out of sight at the break, but they had to settle for a 1-0 lead at the interval.

The start of the second half followed a similar pattern to the first half, with A&F unable to capitalise on multiple chances, which seemed to give the home side belief. On a break Gillingham managed to get the ball to the far post for a simple tap in to level things up.

The A&F defence were having to work much harder now. Nathan Stanley was a strong presence in the centre of defence, making several strong tackles. Ben Blandford made a couple of key challenges and Mark Edgley in goal was called upon several times to block strikes.

A&F were still able to advance down the pitch with little difficulty and with a ball finding Max Long at the right of the circle, he fired in from a tight angle to restore the lead.

The number of unsuccessful short corners A&F had reached 14 when they switched it to go short with Groves then finishing at the far post.

A 3-1 lead looked to have the game sewn up but a late short corner goal by Gillingham led to a tense final two minutes.

A&F were happy to take the points, but the game should have been decided by a much more convincing margin.

A&F’s other men’s teams all fell to defeat. The men’s second team lost 4-2 against Chichester’s third team, A&F’s third team lost 5-2 against Gillingham’s third team and the fourth team lost 2-1 against Basingstoke’s seventh team.

A&F’s ladies’ second team won 3-0 at Hamble. Martha Lamb scored the first two goals before Amanda Watson scored the third. Bonnie Hatcher and Jodie Hodgson were instrumental in attack and Bella Pettengell played a superb all-round game. A&F’s ladies’ third team lost 3-0 against US Portsmouth.

Michaela Mulvey scored a late equaliser from a short corner as A&F’s ladies’ fourth team drew 1-1 against Gosport, a result which sees them drop to second on goal difference behind Portsmouth’s third team.