JACK Biggs kept his nerve to convert a penalty with seconds remaining which prevented Oxford Hawks from spending the winter break bottom of the table.

Defeat at Fareham would have seen their struggling hosts climb off the foot of the EHL Men’s Division 1 South.

That looked on the cards when Hawks fell behind to a scrambled penalty corner late in the third quarter.

But with almost the last action of the game Ten Bennett was brought down and Biggs struck home the equaliser.

Oxford OBU slipped to fourth in Premier 2 West of the South League with a 2-1 defeat at Slough.

Matt McKeown scored for the visitors, who have now gone three games without a win.

Witney enter the break on a high after a 6-1 home win over Reading 3rd in MBBO Regional Division 1.

Quickfire goals from Thomas Dobson and Ben Kirk put them in charge.

Although Reading pulled a goal back, the prolific James Youngman bagged a brace to make it 4-1 by half-time.

Jacob Deacon and Andy Gosnell then struck against a side who finished with nine men.

Claire Werlinger was on target but Oxford Hawks finished the year with a 2-1 defeat at Bath Buccaneers in Investec Women’s Conference West.

The home side struck in the fifth minute and doubled the lead before half-time.

Werlinger halved the deficit after good work from Gemma Taylor, but despite piling the pressure on in the last 15 minutes they could not find an equaliser.

Witney survived a late scare to win 3-2 at home to Teddington in South League Division 1.

The second-placed side moved into a strong position thanks to goals from Millie Hartwell, Sadie Lapper and Lucy Reading.

Teddington hit back with two goals, but Witney held out for maximum points.

Milly Berndes-Cade scored the only goal of the game as Oxford won at Henley to stay three points clear in Division 2.

RESULTS

MEN

Oxford Hawks 2nd 7 (F Smith 3, A Greenbank 2, T Barrett, T Godding), Newbury & Thatcham 3; Oxford Hawks 4th 2, S Berkshire 2nd 5; Leighton Buzzard 1, Oxford Hawks 5th 4; Oxford Hawks 6th 0, Amersham & Chalfont 3rd 3; Oxford 2nd 4 (T Small 2, R Parish, T Miller), Oxford Hawks 3rd 4 (F Daly, J Edminston, M Pickup, C Pittaway); Amersham & Chalfont 2nd 4, Oxford 3rd 1 (J Campbell); Oxford 4th 2 (D McArthur, W Ash), Marlow 4th 1; Phoenix & Ranelagh 2nd 0, Oxford 5th 2 (G Jan Janes 2); Oxford 6th 5 (A Neville 3, J Batkin, D Kingsland), Windsor 3rd 1; Aylesbury & Tring Dev 3, Oxford 7th 6 (E Dyer 2, M Jackson, S Allen, A Hamid 2), Oxford 8th 2 (E Barrett, R Lawrence), Oxford Hawks 7th 1; Milton Keynes 6th 5, Oxford 9th 4 (M Tappin 2, S Copping, R Aumonier); Witney 2nd 2 (R Mason, C Summers), West Hampstead 5th 1; Witney 3rd 6 (J Easterbrook 2, P Easterbrook 2, E Easterbrook, J Blacker), Reading Rovers 7th 1; South Berkshire 2, Wallingford 1 (D Pilbeam); Wallingford 2nd 4 (B White 2, J Craven, C Farrell), West Hampstead 3rd 1; Marlow 5th 1, Wallingford 3rd 4 (L Casey, P Flavell, N Henry, H McEwen); Wallingford 5th 4 (N Thompson 3, A Veitch), Thame 3rd 5; Oxford Hawks Falcons 7 (N Doggett 3, M White, D Sellers, C Potter, D White), S Berkshire Hornets; Oxford Hawks U14 1, Oxford U14 1.

LADIES

Trojans 2nd 3, Oxford Hawks 2nd 3 (A Potter, T Pascoe, H Nicholson); Oxford Hawks 4th 4 (T Lurshay 2, R Black 2), S Berkshire 2nd 0; Oxford Hawks 5th 1 (L Sammon), Banbury 2nd; Henley 3rd 2, Oxford Hawks 6th 2; Sonning 4th 1, Oxford Hawks 7th 0; Oxford 2nd 5 (M Choudhury, K Hicks, C Jackson, K Livingstone, L Pickervance), Oxford Hawks 3rd 0, Oxford 3rd 1 (C Manning), Phoenix & Ranelagh 2; Windsor 6, Oxford 4th 2 (E Forsyth, M Banton); Oxford 5th 2 (F Kramer, F de Boer), Banbury 3rd 2; Oxford 6th 4 (S Livingstone 2, G McClintock, C Vale), Wychwood Badgers 2; Bicester 4th 0, Oxford 7th 3 (E Allen, J Roberts, C Llewelyn); Oxford 8th 0, Thame 4th 1; Witney 2nd 1 (K Fowler), Thame 4; Witney 3rd 3 (A Eeles 2, E Yates), Slough 0; Wallingford 2 (K Young, C Oosterveld), South Berkshire 2; Wallingford 2nd 3 (S Lye, M Turner, S Harper), Marlow 3rd 3; Wallingford 3rd 2 (K McEwen, S Johnson), Wycombe 3rd 1; Wallingford 4th 2 (E Seymour, C Eatwell), Maidenhead 5th 0; Wallingford 5th 1, Wycombe 6th 2; Witney O35s 0, Oxford Hawks O35s 10 (H Gordon 3, K Fogden 2, K Kerr, T Pascoe, K Poulter, S Roche); Oxford Hawks U12 B 0, Bicester U12 1.