At the ninth time of asking, after weeks of steady improvement and keeping the faith, Brighton and Hove's women finally won their first South Clubs League match of the season on Saturday, winning 1-0 at Wimbledon.

A superb first-half goal from Bara Kavanova proved decisive for Brighton and the players enjoyed a victory dance at the end after defending gallantly against a Wimbledon team fifth in the league. Amanda Billington, Brighton's captain was understandably delighted and a little surprised as her team moved off the bottom of the table, having lost seven and drawn one of their previous matches..

"OMG it’s happened!!! The women’s 1s have only gone and won!!! And not even a team we would have targeted!!!" she exclaimed.

"After last week's very close match against top of the table Surbiton, the women’s first team travelled away to Wimbledon feeling content with last week‘s performance. Brighton began the game with confidence but saw Wimbledon take the first few chances but to no avail. Brighton began to put in a few runs which Wimbledon counter-attacked just as quickly.

"One Brighton attack moved the ball from our defence to their D in less than five seconds with four one touches before the shot narrowly missed the goal.The speedy Joey pulled a hamstring on the run and was out for the rest of the game. A one-on-one saw Wimbledon sky the ball over the-oncoming Brighton keeper; Amanda Billington, who returned to the team after missing three games due to an ankle injury. Fran Crossley narrowly missed an open goal after diving toward goal to touch the switch around the Wimbledon defence. Five minutes later she laid the ball off for Bara Kavanova to drive across the top of the D and unleash a bullet putting Brighton 1-0 up on the stroke of half-time.

"With no penalty corners in the first half for either side, both defences were busy with these set pieces in the second half. A multiple of drag flicks, deflections and straight strikes were no match for the mighty Brighton defence, most of whom received MoM votes. Wimbledon had one penalty corner goal disallowed for a strike and missing the ball before the goal was slotted in. Other than short corners, Wimbledon’s only tactic seemed to be to strike the ball diagonally in from the 25 on the right wing, in the hope someone on the far post would put one in.

"Brighton spent the last 15 minutes defending gallantly before we were awarded a corner but at 1-0 up we knew we’d won and a cheer went up! No goal was scored in the last corner but frankly who cares! WE WON! The team graciously shook hands before gathering for a winning pitch side dance!"

Brighton entertain Spencer on Saturday at noon at Blatchington Mill.

The Sussex League premier division fixture between the 2s and 3s went to form, with the 2s winning 2-0 to keep up their pursuit of Hailsham at the top of the table.

Victorious captain Nivene Raafat reports: “This week we prepared for the most anticipated showdown of the season: the mighty 3s, buoyed by their first win of the season, were out to prove a point and we knew we had to be at our absolute best to stand any chance of winning. There were a few pre-game nerves on both sides but Kelly spun us a few tales of her allotment to put us in a relaxed mood while the 3s danced their way through their warm up.

“We started strongly with a lightning shot from Jo W, but 3s keeper Jess was more than up to the task, calmly padding it away. The 3s back line defended with a determination reminiscent of Gandalf: “You shall not pass!” No matter what we tried, we were met with a wall of resistance. Even our short corners failed to make a mark, each time our shots were deftly picked up by Mary-Beth and Metal.

“Finally, we managed to break the deadlock with a neat little touch by Ellen to take us to 1-0 going into halftime. We were then a woman down, as Alex took herself off to hospital with a suspected broken thumb, but Dr Izzy (making a guest appearance) stepped up to take her place. The 3s came at us full throttle in the second half, moving the ball beautifully across the pitch, but we were able to win a handful of short corners, with Hannah L converting one with a huge shot that just slipped past the keeper.

“It was hugs all round at the final whistle and a short walk back to the clubhouse for beers, games and a doughnut fashion show!”

The 4s served up three points to remain amongst the leaders in division one, devouring Worthing 2s 4-0, and Ellie Hehir cooked up a tasty match report.

"Playing a game of hockey is like hosting a dinner party for Amy "Fantastic Fives" Drinkwater," she reports. "After our inspiring warm up jog to the toilet the fours were ready to preheat the oven. Bills had prepped her team ready to raise the temperature and cook up a storm at Blatch. The game, like Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals, was slightly more difficult than expected. Worthing played a messy game and we lost our shape, much like my homemade bread.

"Nevertheless we kept our cool and had a nice 3-0 lead by half-time. After counting our bottles of Malbec we decided an additional goal was needed and, although stunted by Worthing's goal hanging tactics, we popped a final goal in our shopping basket. Another fine example of team work leading to goals and plenty of possession. As always we worked hard and when all the ingredients were in place the hockey was beautiful. (The odd wine spillage here and there never hurt anyone! Except my kitchen ceiling..) And, as I pour another glass of wine for Drinky I can't help but wonder: can anyone do his 30 minute meals in less than an hour?"

Sadly it was a less palatable story for the 5s, who went down 2-0 to Lewes 3s.

"As I wake to wine dripping off the ceiling and scrape this fish taco off my face I can’t help but think about our match yesterday," reports Amy 'Drinky' Drinkwater. "Unlike Ellie’s delightful dinner party our game was more soggy kebabs in the gutter, Lewes winning the match by two goals. The rivalry between the clubs has been there for generations and, like a good port, it gets better with age. We arrived knowing this was a game we could win. Lewes are a side struggling in this league and our Brighton side is growing and learning each week.

After the champagne and oysters of a wonderful match against the 4s last week we were excited for this week and what we could produce. Would it be fine dining again? No. Although the BLT we were given at teas was gratefully received as a highlight of the match. We were missing a few of our usual delicacies so recruited some exotic dishes from the 6s.

"It was end-to-end stuff, there were great gestures, there were great ideas, we knew what we wanted to do but couldn’t string our spaghetti together. We are a team of great desire and we know the Michelin star is on its way but, yesterday, we served a roast dinner in a tea pot and tried to cut our steak with a spoon. On investigation we did establish that buckets of gin were consumed, bunches of cider and although ‘halves’ were ordered in pubs, they were preceded by several bottles of wine. We think the alcohol curdled our custard.

"Onwards and upwards for the fives. Draw a line under that one and enjoy what’s next to come. Like a soufflé, we will rise!"

The 6s had another late game on Saturday, this time against Crowborough 2s, and went down battling 2-1.

"After a solid start the game was very equal with lots of chances for both teams," reports Michaela Kerrigan. "With neither team managing to convert these chances into goals, the score was 0-0 at half time. The Crowborough goalkeeper had a super game, saving lots of shots on goal by the Brighton forwards in the first half.

"Moving into the second half, the 6s were slightly sleepy after half time and Crowborough managed to score. After many tricky long corners in their favour, Crowborough upgraded to a short and managed to score another to make it 2-0. At this point the 6s came back determined and an amazing shot from Aisha made the score 2-1. The 6s fought until the very end but didn’t manage to score any further goals. Well done the 6s for a super fight until the final whistle!"

A dominant performance and two second half goals from the 7s brought them a 2-0 win over Penguins 1.

"What a Saturday for the 7s, finally their first proper win of the season," reports Laura Ortiz-Ruiz de Gordoa. "The team was in great spirits after an amazing performance the previous Saturday, the Penguins were a nice bunch and the sun was shinning so what could go wrong. The 7s dominated the entire match right from the beginning.

"In the first half, the Penguins managed to get right on target on a couple of occasions; however, Masha covered the goal without fail. At half time, we felt the encouraging words from the captain to “carry on pressing, passing, marking and talking to each other, we are going to score soon” and so it finally happened in the second half, the first goal from Natalie and second from Hazel.

"We had six different players nominated for Man of the Match, which shows loads of our players stood up. It was felt that we could have scored more goals; however, the entire team was happy with the performance, specially the captain who could not wait to get to the clubhouse and record the final score on the big blackboard."