HEREFORD men's hockey team started their De Cymru & The Marches 1 campaign with a 4-3 win over Herefordshire rivals Ross-on-Wye.

Stew Goodarzi scored a brace for the Hereford Racecourse team while Daiyle Door and Lloyd Davis added further goals during their victory.

Leominster suffered an opening day defeat in the Conference North as Bristol & West beat them 3-1.

There was also an opening day victory for Hereford in the West Clubs' Women's League.

Playing at Gloucester thirds the visitors ran out 6-3 winners in an epic Northern Division encounter which saw nine goals scored.

Meanwhile, Leominster Ladies headed to Cirencester for their first game of the season in Severn Division 1

The visitors started strongly but found themselves a goal down after only a few minutes. However, the lead for Cirencester was short lived as Karen Hackley replied after taking on several defenders and quickly followed that up with a second goal.

Leominster’s third goal came after some excellent team-work to secure a penalty corner, this one slotted home by Nina Emery to give them a 3-1 half-time lead.

Hackley secured her hat-trick with her side's fourth goal after playing a one-two with Emery. A sneaky reverse stick saw goal number five for Leominster and Hackley's fourth, shortly followed by the final whistle.

Elsewhere, Hereford seconds and Ross-on-Wye played out a 2-2 draw in Severn Division Two while Colwall & Malvern won 2-0.