West Herts men’s Firsts were no match for Southgate in the National League East Conference as they were thrashed 7-1 at home.

The loss came on the back of another heavy defeat to Oxted the previous week and Herts face a tough task in trying to find their form.

They were on the back foot from the off and a high press proved productive as Southgate raced to a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Tyler Sundeen and Simeon Bird.

John Sterlini made it three in the 26th minute and Southgate continued to dominate after half-time.

Their fourth goal arrived in the 44th minute thanks to James Kyriakides, before Peter Corbridge provided the only bright spark of the day for Stags.

Two further strikes from Sterlini and Sundeen ended any faint hope of a comeback before Aaron Mitchell and Dan Scott both picked up green cards.

Bird became the third Southgate man to notch a brace as he completed the rout before a flurry of green cards saw Steve George and Scott reprimanded.

Stags will hope to pick themselves up in time for a trip to Cambridge City tomorrow.

The ladies Firsts put up a far more resilient fight against Canterbury in a 3-1 East Premier loss.

The defeat brought a positive run of form, which had seen Herts win twice on the spin, come to an end.

They struggled to cope with Canterbury’s water-based pitch and were undone by a bouncing ball through the middle early on.

Libby Marsden did her best to deny the home side’s striker but could do little to prevent a composed finish finding the net.

The Stags stopper had to be alert moments later and made two smart saves in quick succession to keep her side in touching distance.

Once Herts found their rhythm they began to threaten, but couldn’t force a leveller and went in with the score at 1-1 at the interval.

The Stags were far more attacking in the second period and forced the Canterbury defence into a number of errors, but failed to transfer the pressure into goals.

Inevitably Canterbury hit Herts on the counter-attack twice in a short space of time to bet both times and put the game beyond Herts, Evie Eyles was Stags’ best player during the match and capped an impressive individual display with a goal to give Herts something to cheer.

She latched onto a through ball from Helen Humphrey which split the Canterbury defence and turned inside two defenders to score with a fine finish.

Their were mixed fortunes for the club’s respective Second sides.

The men were easily beaten 4-1 by City of Peterborough in the East Premier B. Matt Jackson scored the Herts goal.

The Ladies Seconds had better fortune and beat Harpenden 4-3 in the East Division 2C.