Spalding Hockey Club men’s 1st suffered their first home league loss in recent memory as they were outgunned by Cambridge Uni 2nd 7-5 on Saturday.
The Glen Park clash was Spalding’s final game of 2015 before the East Men’s Hockey League’s annual festive break – and they were also bidding to make up ground on Premier B’s top three sides.
However, they started the Surfleet showdown in a sloppy fashion – and were grateful to keeper Josh Olphin for making two great saves in the opening minutes.
Spalding then snapped out of their early lull and opened the scoring with a swift move down the left, resulting in Dan Needham tucking home a Stuart Cunnington cross.
The Uni boys bounced back to equalise through a soft goal, but Joe Rogers put Spalding back ahead almost immediately with a well disguised shot.
Always quick on the break, Cambridge equalised again as the hosts failed to close down players.
However, Needham added a third for Spalding to give the home side a 3-2 advantage at the break.
The second half saw the hosts make another tepid start – and this time the boys in blue capitalised.
Spalding were slow in picking up the players coming through the middle and the visitors took full advantage to slot home two goals to go ahead for the first time.
Undeterred, Spalding responded and had a great period. Cunnington equalised from a short corner, then Needham completed his hat-trick and made it 5-4 with a deft deflection from a pin point Josh Rowbotton pass.
Then came a big moment, as Glenn Perkins set off on a storming run before seeing his crisp reverse shot strike the post with just ten minutes remaining.
With the game flowing from end-to-end at pace, more goals always looked likely – and it was the Cambridge boys who got them.
One soft goal levelled the scores, before a couple of well-taken short corners in the space of five minutes shocked the home side and put the Uni lads 7-5 up.
Despite a spirited battle in the closing stages where they hit the post twice and had two great efforts saved, Spalding were unable to score again and were stunned to have lost their first home league match for a long time.
They end 2015 in fourth place in the table, ten points behind leaders Letchworth. They are, however, just three points off the top three.
Spalding’s top side return to action on January 9 with a trip to relegation-threatened Felixstowe 1st.
