The end of the FA Vase road arrived for both Saffron Walden Town and Stansted with defeats in the second round.

The Essex Senior League pair both lost 2-0, the Bloods at home to Leighton Town and the Airportmen away at Norwich United.

Almost 450 saw the contest at Catons Lane and the first half had gone well for the hosts with plenty of chances.

Crucially they weren't taken and that allowed Archie McClelland to score on the stroke of half-time.

Walden pushed for an equaliser but the Spartan South Midlands League side held firm, springing out with nine minutes to go to win it through Leon Lobjoit.

There were two even later goals in Norfolk as Stansted crashed out.

Penalties were looming when Hayden Davis put the home side ahead on 88 minutes and second in the first minute of stoppage time by Kyle Richardson sealed the deal.

Saffron Walden PSG were delighted to field 10 girls' teams in cup matches, with wins for eight of them.

Among the winning squads were the U10s and U11s who both continue their journeys in to the latter stages of the competitions.

The U10s won 2-0 against Newmarket Town while the U11s cruised to a 7-0 success over Peterborough RTC. 

High Easter Football Club will be crossing their fingers that they get a game on Sunday when they go to Little Waltham.

Their game two weeks ago at Great Baddow was called off due to a waterlogged pitch while a quirk of the fixture list meant they were idle this week.

The men's first team at Saffron Walden Hockey Club are enjoying a wonderful season so far, and their latest outing was one of their best.

They jumped up to second in the East League Premier Division, level on points with leaders Chelmsford but with a game in hand, thanks to a 6-3 win away to Spalding.

Walden showed the gap between top and bottom in the division by easing into a 3-0 lead by half-time.

The second period saw another three goals for the high-flying visitors but of more concern will be the three conceded to the basement club, still looking for their first win of the season.

Spencer Hill was the star for Walden, bagging a ruthless four goals, and there was one each for Tom Crump and Taegan Chapman-Ko, his first senior goal for the first team.

Walden were also indebted to sharp double-save early in the contest by keeper Nick Chandler.

The team's next game is at their Joyce Frankland Academy home against Old Southendian on Saturday.

There was a big win for the second team, 6-1 at home to Waltham Forest, to keep them in second place in Division Two South East and the thirds beat Braintree 3-0 to stay top of Division Three South East.

The fourths, fifths and sixths all lost though.

Across in the ladies' section, the first team had a brilliant win over Shefford & Sandy in Division Two South West, moving them sixth, but the seconds were beaten 4-3 in an enthralling contest at Rickmansworth. 

The fourths and fifths also had commanding wins, the fours beating Letchworth 4-0 to go third in Division Six South West, the same position the fives are one level below after 5-2 success at Bishop's Stortford Curates.

The thirds were beaten at Stevenage though.