Monks House continue winning ways

Spalding Hockey Club hosted the first of five primary schools tournaments scheduled for this school year at Glen Park, Surfleet, on Friday and it was a huge success.
Sixteen teams from 13 schools participated and many of the 130 youngsters were making their hockey debuts.
Some schools are expecting to add a team for future tournaments so the aim is to get a further four teams to achieve the 20-team mark.
Teams were split into four leagues and this resulted in many closely contested games.
In League A, reigning champions Monks House looked impressive, winning all three of their games. Although many of the players who had played in their winning team in May had moved on to secondary schools, the new team worked well together and recorded wins over Boston’s Tower Road A (4-1), John Harrox
(3-0) and Ayscoughfee (4-0).
John Harrox took second place, drawing 0-0 against Ayscoughfee and knocking in two late goals to secure a 2-1 win over Tower Road.
In League B, Tower Road showed the depth of talent at their school with the B team winning all three matches, against St John’s (2-0), St Norbert’s (2-0) and St Thomas’ (2-1). It was a close run thing for second place between St Thomas’ and St Norbert’s with each side getting four points but the Boston team just winning on goal difference.
Peterborough’s Eye Primary took the honours in League C, beating Surfleet Primary (1-0) and Gosberton Risegate (2-1) but drawing 1-1 with second-placed Gosberton Academy A. Gosberton turned up the heat to beat Surfleet (6-0) but were denied the top spot when they were beaten 2-0 by Risegate.
The final game in League D was the decider for the top two spots. Spalding Parish had impressive 4-0 wins in their opening games against Tower Road C and Gosberton Academy B. They looked to have top spot secured but were pipped 1-0 by a determined Pinchbeck East team and so had to settle for second place. Pinchbeck East had drawn 0-0 with Gosberton Academy B and beaten Tower Road C 1-0 in their earlier games so not only won the league but were the only team in the whole tournament not to concede a goal.
The games were umpired by teenage volunteers from Spalding Hockey Club.