Keswick Hockey Club staged three home games at the weekend and managed two victories.

The men’s second team played Liverpool University 2nds and attacked from the first minute in a devastating first-half performance.

Their teamwork and training sessions showed through well and their constant pressure made the Liverpool team appear disjointed and fractured.

Keswick soon took the lead through Jonty Styles but worse was to come for the Liverpool visitors.

Keswick brought on Tom Morgan, the first-team stalwart returning from injury. His presence gave the rampaging Keswick team a further boost.

More goals soon followed from the sticks of Charlie Goodwin, two from Ricki Barnes, and a fifth from Ewan Styles.

It was to Liverpool’s credit that, trailing 5-0 at half-time, they regrouped and made a better game of the second half, even though the result was beyond the salvage point.

Keswick continued to play good hockey but didn’t add to their tally, though they did have several chances.

The students did get on the scoreboard with a goal on one of their few attacks, and their improved form in the second half gained another consolation when they scored again with the last touch of the game.

Even so, at 5-2, it was still a very convincing performance from Keswick which flattered the visitors.

Next up were the men’s thirds playing Wigan 2nds.

The Keswick team had several younger club members playing and their enthusiasm was good to see.

They ran constantly, getting into good positions and passing well. The future looks bright with these young players coming through, and the experience of playing against seasoned opponents can only help their development.

The Keswick team didn’t let their heads drop and continued to work hard, even after going 3-0 down and had the consolation of scoring the last goal through Connor Howarth.

In the third game, the Ladies 2nds took on Kirkby Lonsdale in what proved to be a really hard-fought game.

Clearly, both teams had targeted this game as one they could win.

After last week’s good win against Kirkby Stephen, the Keswick team was full of confidence, with particularly strong-running from Hannah Rumney, Rachel Armstrong and Sarah Hobbs.

It was Rumney who opened the scoring for Keswick before the game settled into attack and counter attack.

Both defences did well to keep the opposition at bay with the Kirkby defence doing particularly good work to thwart Emma Symonds, who was a constant thorn in their side.

Deep into the second half, Kirkby drew level but Keswick didn’t settle for the draw as they went in search of the winner.

With three minutes left on the clock, Symonds finally found the back of the goal to make it 2-1.

A tense last couple of minutes saw Keswick hold on to their lead for a well-deserved victory to collect back-to-back wins.