Brighton and Hove suffered their fourth defeat in five matches when they found Oxted too hot to handle at Blatchington Mill School on Sunday in the Men's Hockey League national division one south.

After seeing victory slip from their grasp late on the previous week at Bath Buccaneers, Brighton had only a Mike Burney penalty stroke as consolation in a 6-1 loss.

Chris Webster opened and closed the scoring with Matt Brown also netting twice. Nick Giles and Hugh Snowden were also on target for Oxted, who led 2-0 at half-time.

Oxted and Havant are the best teams we have played this season," said Brighton coach Jon Royce. "Oxted are a very experienced team with a few ex-premier league players." He put defeat down to a lack of confidence in the side when they came under pressure.

On Sunday, Brighton travel to Teddington - who went down 5-2 at new leaders Sevenoaks - while Oxted moved to within a point of the top. Southgate are second after a 5-2 win at Bath and Oxford Hawks flew off the bottom with an 8-1 demolition of Fareham, Alexander Copestake scoring four open play goals. Havant were 1-0 winners over Canterbury.

Andrew Bromley and the 2s were left frustrated in a 4-2 defeat by a direct Burnt Ash 2s side in the Kent/Sussex regional league.

"There's an element of frustration when you play well for large portions of most games but lose," said Andrew. "Had we played well for the full 70 minutes we would have comfortably beaten Ash.

"Unfortunately Ash were gifted a corner after 30 seconds (which they converted) giving them the softest of leads. We then won a stroke but regrettably it was missed. Ash then resorted to what seems to be their standard tactic; throw long aerials and press aggressively. They plundered three more goals, generally against the run of play.

"We had a legitimate (incredible) goal disallowed, scored from the baseline (Chris Page), and played against an Ash back line that somehow avoided any punishment for consistently breaking down play with cricket fielding-style long barriers. Tim Upchurch converted another cracking corner but unfortunately that was our last attack. A 4-2 loss was not made any easier by terrible showers and even worse (laughable) teas."

Goals from Dan Hore and Callum Rudrum without reply gave the 3s victory over South Saxons 2s in Sussex League division one and kept them level with leaders Lewes 2s, who saw off the 4s - who are still awaiting their first victory - 4-1.

Carlo Missirian was pleased to see the Rocks (5s) get back to winning ways and for a few of the veterans to get a run out before next Sunday's National Tier 1 Championship tie with Guernsey (1pm at Blatchington Mill).

A 3-1 victory over South Saxons 3s in Sussex League division two - with two goals from Doc and one from VT - was well deserved as they stayed top of the table.

"We played some wonderful patterns of play with some excellent team play... we defended stoutly but their keeper had an outstanding day at the office, especially in the second half," reports Carlo. "He must have made over five absolute worldies and got the MOM award for both teams out together All our goals came from direct hockey and fast open play and I'm hoping we can take this form through to next weekend."

Despite a very credible performance, the 6s had to settle for a draw away at soggy Chichester in division three, reports Myles Ford.

"Brighton dominated possession in the first half, creating a number of opportunities that were well saved by a capable Chi keeper. Brighton however opened the scoring when Josh Ashby’s short corner deflected off the keeper and rolled in.

"The second half was more even as Brighton tired and Chi managed to grab a scrappy equaliser in the last five minutes. A frustrating result but good performance."

The 8s mounted a spirited second-half comeback from two goals down against Lewes 6s to run out 4-2 winners and move into second place in division four.

"After a two week break, the men's 8s faced a testing and what came to be a fiery crunch match against second placed Lewes 6s," reports Shaun Pimley. "With the blessing of the sun gods, the match was underway and in under a minute, the 8s found themselves a goal behind.

"Whilst enjoying mediocre swathes of possession, and challenging the Lewes goal a handful of times, we found ourselves 2-0 down at halftime after a questionable Lewes short corner. We trudged off the pitch dejected, ashen-faced and at points questioning our own existences.

"After a nano-dose of vitamin C from Jamie’s tupperware and a rousing team talk by Matt Sale, we came out with fresh vigour and determination, all set to (hopefully) depose the opposition. Within minutes, a sumptuous play from the midfield and attack saw Chris pull a goal back for us. 1-2.

"The momentum of the game had swung. Lewes were on the back foot. Moments later, in what must have been our next attack, we were level, another neat passage of play saw James nick a goal. 2-2. The pace and tenacity of our attack become too much for Lewes to handle and with some brave defending we kept Lewes out of our D.

"Lewes tempers began to boil over and were shown a yellow for their argy barginess. We continued to pile on the pressure and Duke, who had been unfortunate to miss a couple of chances (and saw the colour green at some point in the second half) in the first half found his moment. In what was a chronically overcrowded D, Duke somehow found enough space to attempt an audacious reverse hit and found the net in empathetic fashion. 3-2. Through sheer velocity of pace, we had flipped the game on its head.

"After further plays, we were skyrocketed into ecstasy. Chris grabbed his second of the game. A slow motion attempt, trickled underneath the keeper and into the goal. 4-2. Comeback complete. In the aftermath of the goal we were down to 10 after Tom was shown a yellow for handing out gifts of goodwill to the umpire.

"Lewes’ heads soon dropped, although they remained a threat, but the midfield and defence dealt with it superbly and kept their forward line at bay. After a tense final few minutes, the umpire blew and sent the 8s to second in the table. Overall a fantastic team performance with lots of elegant hockey on show. DoD was self awarded to Tom for his yellow."