OLD Halesonians hockey side suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat at Stratford and slipped back to third spot in the West Midlands League Premier Division as a result.

Halesonians preserved their record of scoring first in every game this season when Josh Randhawa set-up Tom Durnford, pictured, to fire home a well taken goal.

Although Halesonians were finding it hard to breakdown a pack Stratford defence, they held onto their 1-0 lead at half time.

Stratford stormed back to level early in the second half when goalkeeper Alex Fraser was left helpless.

Then Stratford snapped up a controversial winner with 10 minutes remaining after the ball was deflected home while still in the air.

Despite protests, the umpires insisted the goal would stand and Halesonians couldn’t recover.

Halesonians second string were held to a goalless draw by Finchfield while the Thirds were unable to repeat last week’s eight-goal thrashing of Wolverhampton when they drew 1-1 with Worcester, Damian Shackleton scoring the equaliser.

The Ladies lost heavily when suffering a 7-1 beating by Stone’s Second XI, Laura Bird bagging a consolation goal.