WORCESTER Women's Firsts continue to find life tough after a 5-1 beating at home to Horsham in English Hockey League National South.

They now have an important but long trip to Southampton on Saturday where bottom-of-the-table Worcester will bid for their first league win.

After an even start, Worcester fell behind after Horsham overloaded the Worcester defence.

The visitors doubled their lead straight after the break with a well-worked goal.

Tempers frayed when a controversial hit for Worcester resulted in a Horsham player reacting angrily and shoving a Worcester player to the ground but both players were sin-binned.

Worcester conceded again before a well-worked short corner led to Liz George finishing off a consolation goal from close range on 54 minutes. But the city let in two more before the final whistle.

The Seconds defeated Bromsgrove Firsts 2-0 with Becky Lewis now the team's top scorer.

Lewis struck from a short corner and Jenny Wilks added the second with a reverse-stick finish for her first goal of the season.

Worcester Men's Firsts kept up their chase of Mansfield and Sutton Coldfield in Coaching Solutions Midlands One with a great 5-1 win over Hampton-in-Arden.

An early Burton goal was not the end of the world for Worcester Seconds who quickly levelled through James Brown's fantastic strike.

But they eventually lost 4-2 as Burton launched swift counter-attacks, leading to three quick goals.

Worcester could only manage a second goal through Matt Walker but the speedy right-sided combination of Stephen Poole and Tom Lewis was a big plus. They battled hard against the aggressive approach of their opponents and controversial umpiring decisions.

Worcester Thirds' youthful side never gave up and were happy to keep the score down to 5-0 at home to Cannock Thirds.

The city started strongly but the goals soon flowed and the visitors proved too good.

The Sixths lost 3-2 at Kings Heath who took the lead after a positive start by both teams.

Worcester tried hard to regroup, conceding twice more either side of half-time to their fast, skilful opponents.

Worcester's fightback started with a well-taken reverse stick strike from J Doughty. Within 10 minutes, Worcester scored again through M Edwards.

Despite a spirited second-half effort, Worcester could not find enough in their reserves to equalise.

The Sevenths suffered a disappointing 5-0 home defeat to Bournville Fourths, conceding three in the first-half.

A midfield change saw Worcester improve and Andy Brody hit the post but Bournville added to the scoreline.

Worcester Badgers Potters triumphed 4-0 at Evesham, displaying good passing hockey and scoring through Ollie Drew, Chris Kendall and Josh White (two) before the interval.

Badgers Pippens romped home 10-1 at Hampton-in-Arden with the goals scored by Marcus Blane (three), Alex Lamb (three), Aiden Symonds, Jack Walker, Adam Wade and a home defender.