Three unanswered first half goals gave London Wayfarers victory at Blatchington Mill on Sunday to leave Brighton & Hove still waiting to get off the mark in the MHL Conference East this season.

Brighton will at least be buoyed by their second half performance when they more than held their own against a strong Wayfarers outfit but failed to take their chances. They forced six short corners and twice hit the post in the second half but could not find a way through.

Brighton were convinced the ball had gone out of play on the left touchline in the build up to Wayfarers' opening goal just before the end of the first quarter. But a cross led to a scramble in front of goal and Daniel Panchia touched it home to give the visitors the lead.

They doubled that in the second quarter when they sliced through the centre of the Brighton defence and James Foggin had an easy tap-in. Shortly before half time Panchia struck again from close range to put Wayfarers in command.

But Brighton had their chances. Nathan Tyler was put clean through by a superb first time pass from Sam Rose in the opening minutes but the goalkeeper thwarted him. Juan Sosa, the Mexican international, posed a constant threat with his dribbling, winning most of Brighton's short corners, while Rose also set up another chance for the diving James Rayward.

Chris Borsoi kept Wayfarers at bay in the second half with several smart saves and will be hoping that his side can see off newly promoted West Herts on Saturday evening for their first points.

The club is calling on its members to turn out and support the team on Saturday under the newly refurbished floodlights at Blatchington - push back is at 6pm.

Week two results: Spencer 3 Hampsead & Westminster 3, Tunbridge Wells 2 Wimbledon 5, Bromley & Beckenham 2 Old Cranleighan 2, West Herts 1 Surbiton 5, Brighton & Hove 0 London Wayfarers 3.

BHHC 3s 2
Hailsham 1s 5

Andrew Bromley reports: "Hailsham are a familiar foe, especially hosting their new left half former M2 player Alex Smith.

After a couple of the younger lads turned up 10 minutes before pushback, we were quickly into the game playing good passing hockey. James B Road slotted into centre back this week for his first ever game as a defender. This didn't show as he communicated, passed and tackled excellently.

Sadly the match transpired to be a game decided by who can score their corners. Hailsham's first came from a GK save being pounced on by a visiting player and then a straight strike that Bromley couldn't keep out. The third came from poor marking at the back, with an on-rushing Hailsham forward able to slip the ball to an unmarked back-post man who scored from a yard (Old Chris Page in disguise?) Sadly we couldn't get any of our five or so corners over the line so went in at half time 3-0 down.

At half time we discussed sticking to our plans of playing passing hockey and not getting drawn into silly challenges. Despite conceding another goal from a Hailsham player scoring a short corner save rebound, we certainly put into play some improved hockey as we scored two goals and should have had a further stroke. As the momentum was with us, Bromley took himself off (to play with 11 on pitch) but we then won a card so went straight back down to 10! Hailsham then overpowered us to score their fifth.

All in all a tough match. Had we had more scoring prowess at corners, the points distribution would've been different!

MoM went to New Chris Page for the brace, with DoD going to Dan Hatton for snapping his stick with his last touch of the warm up."

BHHC 10s 0
BHHC 9s 5

Simon Smith reports: "This is the story of Thompo The Tank Engine and his friends, with apologies to the Rev W Awdry.

Thompo and his friends were working at the Mill early on Saturday morning. It was a lovely clear day. They were feeling happy to be working at the Mill. All of Thompo The Tank Engine’s friends were there. Today was a surprise; they were expected to compete with the men’s 9s, who being young and fit, were electric. How were these old chuffers of the steam age going to manage against the trains of the future?

The morning started with lots of shunting and grunting. James, the Red-Faced Little Engine got into a muddle with Thompo The Tank Engine and was put in a siding. Dreaders and Doc, the diesel engines, did a lot of running about to little effect; sometimes they couldn’t get started and they could never ever find the right stop.

College The Camp Engine blew his stack too soon and had to go back to the shed, where The Controller was waiting with some lubricating oil and a stern look on his face. At half-time Thompo The Tank Engine let off some steam. It was just a lot of hot air.

The greasy old chuffers nearly burst their boilers with all the effort. Nat The New Engine pulled his weight and Geoff The Green Engine, who was newly returned from puncturing a piston last season, huffed and puffed with all his heart; at one point he got so excited he derailed himself. Jonny The Fast Engine worked so hard he could barely stay on the slippery rails too.

He and Tommy, another tank engine, did their best holding up the naughty cross country carriages of the 9s but they both thought, ‘They are so fast and quiet, not all cranky and wheezy like the team I am playing with’. Reedy The Big Red-Faced Engine and The Matt Controller did their very best to keep everything on track behind the others, but failed.

Simon The Silly Engine, who is always a little creaky and noisy, was somewhat surprised when the Electric 9s shot their loads, sorry, shed their loads, sorry, had loads of shots. In the end they all ran out of puff, it ended 0-5 to the 9s, the all-electric future. Thompo and his friends made their way back to the shed where they relubricated by filling their tanks. Then they all felt better."

Other results

BHHC 2s 1 Guildford 3s 4
BHHC 3s 5 Hailsham 1s 2
BHHC 4s 5 BHHC 5s 1
BHHC 6s 4 St Francis 1s 2
Worthing 3s 3 BHHC 7s 3
Horsham 5s 0 BHHC 8s 4