Cambridge City remain firmly in the early England Hockey Women’s Conference East title race following last weekend’s 3-0 victory on the road at Olton and West Warwickshire.

Eloise Ward did much of the damage as she helped herself to two goals, the first of which came after just 11 minutes.

And eight minutes later she scored her second when she intercepted a clearance, played a one-two with Mads Newitt and then finished into the open goal.

The scoring was then completed 10 minutes before half-time thanks to Jess Lamprell, who saw her effort creep over the line despite the best efforts of the home side’s goalkeeper.

Third-placed City, who are three points adrift of table-topping Cambridge University, will host the University of Nottingham II on Saturday (7 November).

Elsewhere, in the East Women’s League Premier Division, Cambridge City II maintained their unbeaten start to the campaign courtesy of a 5-1 home thrashing over Harleston Magpies II.

The stand-out performance came courtesy of Amelia Slade, who scored her first-ever hat-trick during the second half.

Earlier in the contest, Ebony Westlake slapped in a rebound to put City in front, and she also closed out the scoring with five minutes remaining.

In the same division, Cambridge City III suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat away at City of Peterborough.

In the East Women’s League Division 1 North, Cambridge City IV made it back-to-back victories with a 6-3 triumph at bottom-of-the-table St Ives.

Fran Hawkins (2), Sylvie Garnet, Esther Wong and Emily Howland were all on target during a first half that ended 5-1 in City’s favour, with Hawkins going on to complete her hat-trick after the restart.

Cambridge City V managed to get the better of a couple of former players as they defeated Newmarket 3-2 in the East Women’s League Division 2 North West.

Thea Crook, Imi Halliwell and Xanthe Stebbing all found the back of the net against a Newmarket side that contained the ex-City duo of Georgia Atherton and Grace Evans.

In the East Women’s League Division 3 North West, goals from Morag Nixon and Karo Heiwolt earned Cambridge City VI a 2-1 win away at Haverhill, while in the East Women’s League Division 4 North West, table-topping Cambridge City VII lost for the first time this term as they suffered a surprising 4-0 defeat at St Ives III.

In East Men’s League Premier Division, no team has managed to get the better of Cambridge City so far this season.

However, they were stopped in their tracks by the conditions at the weekend when their clash with Old Loughtonians was abandoned due to poor visibility. City were 2-0 up when it was deemed that the fog had made it unsafe for play to continue, with a decision set to be announced in due course regarding the possibility of the match being replayed.

In the East Men’s League Division 1 North, Cambridge City have now lost three of their last four outings following a 5-1 defeat at Kettering.

Karan Mann’s consolation was all City could muster from their trip to Northamptonshire.

It was the same scoreline for Cambridge City III, but they were on the right end of it to continue their perfect start to the East Men’s League Division 3 North West season against Spalding II.

Barnaby Warr helped himself to a brace alongside further goals from Isaac Lee, Phil Robinson and John Henning.

Meanwhile, in the same division, Cambridge City IV lost 3-2 away at Pelicans II.

The hosts scored three first-half goals to give City an uphill task, although to their credit, they made a good fist of it thanks to goals from Pete Wilkinson and Doug Williamson.