Salisbury Hockey Club had a full fixtures list at the weekend with five home games and four away games.

Eight friendlies and the first league fixture for the men’s 4’s.

While most leagues have twelve teams in them, the Men’s 4’s are in the 14-team strong Forest league. Therefore, their campaign starts earlier and will end later than for the other teams.

First up for them was a home game against Poole 3, always a hard fought and competitive game and this proved to be no different.

Chances were few and far between until midway through the first half when Poole scored a scrappy goal from a short corner.

The best chances of the half fell to Salisbury as they pushed for an equaliser but a ring rusty attack and a great performance from the Poole keeper saw the half end 1-0 to Poole. Salisbury continued to push in the second half and had all the chances but again failed to capitalise. Salisbury pressed even after debutant Julian Wilson was green carded but with no luck and the game ended as a disappointing loss for Salisbury 4’s.

The Men’s 1s concluded pre-season with an excellent 4-1 win over Marlborough that set’s them up well for life in Division 1 South following their promotion last year. The Women’s 1s won 3-2 against Havant before their trip to Basingstoke next week in the Premier Division 1.

The women’s teams had an unbeaten Saturday with a win for the 3’s and draws for the 2s and 5’s however the men’s 2’s and 3’s both lost. The Strider’s and Stroller’s played an inter club game where hockey was the winner. Friendlies are done and a full league programme starts on September 21.