West Herts men reached the semi-finals at the five-a-side East Indoor Championships in Cambridge before losing 4-1 to Harleston Magpies.

In the group stages, West Herts beat Havering and qualified despite slipping up to National League One side Old Loughtonians.

Magpies were too strong in the knockout stages however, and after beating West Herts, they saw off Loughts in the final to win the tournament.

With a busy schedule coming up, West Herts rested some of their regular players and technical director Steve Sieff was pleased with his team’s peformance.

He said: “A developmental squad performed well but failed to make the most of the opportunities they created.

“But the signs are that we will be in good shape to have a decent crack at National Division Two after Christmas.”

Outdoors, the men’s Seconds sunk deeper into the relegation spots in East Division One as they lost 6-2 at Saffron Walden.

The Thirds beat Hertford 3-2 and leap-frogged their opponents into third place in Division Three South-West.

West Herts twice came from behind to secure victory courtesy of goals from Justin and Morné Hoffman and Craig Cobb.

The Fourths battled to a 3-3 draw away at Royston Seconds with goals from Kieran Wheelan (2) and Chris Currie.

Both the Sixths and Sevenths took on local rivals Rickmansworth.

The Sixths won 3-1 against Ricky Thirds at St Clement Danes with goals from Paul Ferrett, Richard Hopwood and Ralph Darvill.

The Sevenths however were beaten 4-2 by a strong Rickmansworth Fourths side, taking the lead through man-of-the-match Simon Hooker before the visitors netted three times in succession.

Ross Eavis pulled one back before the end but it was too little, too late.

In the ladies’ section, the Seconds thrashed Shefford & Sandy Seconds 5-0.

Amy Warren scored twice and Lisa Dawes, Tanita Montgomery and Angie Warne were also on target.

The ladies Thirds grabbed an important 1-0 away win at Shefford & Sandy Thirds with Hayley McNeill sealing the points in the second half.

Rachel Aldridge continued her remarkable goal-scoring form for the Fourths as they beat Stevenage Thirds 3-1.

Aldridge now has 28 goals for the season after her brace on Saturday.

The other Herts goal came from Sam Rothwell.