Goals from Pete Oram and Ben Kirk ensured Bicester 2nd maintained their MBBO Division 5 promotion charge with a 3-0 home win over West Hampstead 6th.

Bicester took control from the start, setting up with a flat back four, which enabled their midfield to pin the visitors back in their own half.

The pressure paid off in the ninth minute. From a well-worked penalty corner routine, James Pilgrim cleverly touched the ball into Oram’s path and the forward made no mistake from six yards.

Hampstead rallied after falling behind, but on the odd occasion they did threaten the Bicester goal, ever-alert keeper Nick Harding was quickly off his line to smother any danger.

Ten minutes before the break, Bicester made it 2-0 when Kirk beat three defenders with an impressive combination of pace, power and stick work and fired a thunderous shot into the bottom corner.

A stubborn Hampstead defence then kept Bicester at bay until midway through the second half when Kirk burst into the D to finish from a tight angle, claiming his 25th goal of the season and capping an excellent team performance.

Bicester remain second in the table, a point ahead of Reading University Knights with five games to play.

Bicester Men’s 3rd travelled away to a Eascote Men’s 6th side still fired up from their victory over the previously unbeaten West Hampstead 7th.

Things got off to a promising start when Bicester were awarded a penalty flick when the ball struck an Eascote foot on the line. Unfortunately, the Eascote keeper made short work of saving Nick Styles flick.

Jordan Chester was first to find the back of the goal with a reverse stick shot off Styles’s pass.

Bicester scored their second through Ben Hughes after the Eascote keeper deflected Styles’s shot.

In the second half, Styles scored twice and then set up Will Hartley to make it 5-0.

Bicester Ladies visited Wycombe Ladies 2nd for a rare Sunday game, after the fixture was postponed earlier in the year due to bad weather.

Wycombe got the only goal of the game in the second half, following a well-worked short corner.

Bicester Ladies 2nd took the lead against Oxford University Ladies 3rd through captain Charlotte Cochrane but ended up losing 5-1.

A goal from Paige Jorda sealed a deserved 1-0 win for Bicester Ladies 3rds over Buckingham