Bishop's Stortford 5

Long Sutton 2

(Crowe Insurance East Premier League)

VERNON BROWN notched a hat-trick for Bishop's Stortford hockey team as they extended their winning sequence to seven games with a convincing 5-2 home victory over Long Sutton on Saturday.

This moved them up to third place in the table, but Blueharts were crowned league champions after their win over Cambridge City.

Long Sutton went ahead early on with a goal from a long corner. But Stortford have often been at their most dangerous when behind and this match proved no different.

They pressed for an equaliser and were rewarded when Brown broke his scoring drought with an excellent reflex finish.

This opened the flood-gates, with further goals from Shearing, Colclough and Brown coming before half-time.

Stortford took their foot off the pedal in the second half but they managed to get a fifth when Brown scored from an unlikely angle to complete his hat-trick.

The scoring was completed late on when the home defence failed to deal with an isolated attack and allowed a consolation goal to the visitors.

Stortford skipper John Shepherd said: "We were pleased that we got our tactics right and then surprised Sutton with the quality of our play and the sharpness of our finishing.

"I would like to congratulate Blueharts on winning the league and hope that they are successful in representing the Crowe Insurance East League in the National League play-offs."

This Saturday, Stortford have the chance to test the progress they have made as they face champions Blueharts at Hitchin Boys School, 2pm start.

STORTFORD: Brown, Bull, Colclough, Jones, Lochhead, Morris, Ostas, Shearing, Shepherd, Slack, Smith.