A crushing 10-2 home defeat against Harleston Magpies on Saturday saw Spalding 1st’s relegation from East Men’s Hockey League Premier A confirmed on Saturday.
In what is their first-ever season at this standard, Spalding have managed just two wins and three draws from 21 games so far and will conclude their campaign at Chelmsford on April 7.
Saturday saw former National League team Harleston produce arguably one of the best passages of hockey the Spalding supporters have seen from a visiting team this season.
Spalding got off to the worst possible start at Glen Park, conceding a goal within the first 30 seconds of the start with a neat close range deflection.
And, before the hosts could settle into any momentum, they were soon four goals down.
Stuart Cunnington pulled one back from a trademark short corner, but Magpies went into the break 6-1 up.
Some indiscipline from captain Josh Rowbottom and petulance from Connor Allen meant the home side were down to ten men for almost half the second period of play, and while Spalding battled hard, they couldn’t stem the flow of the ruthless Magpies attack.
Rob Dalton earned Spalding a penalty in the dying minutes which Glenn Richardson slotted home, but it was all too little too late.
In Division One, already-relegated Long Sutton 1st slipped to a 5-3 defeat at Upminster 1st.
Meanwhile, Spalding 2nd and Spalding 3rd concluded their respective Division 3NW campaigns with a derby showdown against each other.
A neatly-taken hat-trick from the second team striker Pete Wright and further goals from skipper Dan Adams and the promising George Halgarth were enough to give the 2nd team a 5-1 victory,
which sees them finish second from bottom.
Keith Stennett scored a consolation goal for the 3rd side, who had already been confirmed as the division’s basement side.
In Division 4NW, Long Sutton 2nd wrapped up their season with a big St Neots 10-1 triumph at basement side St Neots 2nd. That sees them place third overall.
Meanwhile, Spalding 4th moved into second place in Division 5NW after a 4-0 victory over Wellingborough 1st. High-flying Spalding were under the cosh for the opening period, but they took the lead mid-way through the half from a neatly-taken Ben Scholes penalty.
The score stayed at 1-0 at half time, but Spalding came out strongly after the break and dominated the second period.
A couple of trademark Jeremy Watt short corner strikes made it 3-0 and a second penalty form Scholes completed a comprehensive performance.
In Division 6NW (N), Long Sutton 3rd won 1-0 against CoP 8th to finish third.
That’s one point ahead of Spalding 5th, who went down 5-2 at Louth 2nd. Andy Barlow’s short corner and a Reuben Gray effort were all Spalding had to show for their efforts.
- Spalding Poachers 2nd completed their East Women’s Hockey League Division 3NW season in sixth place after a narrow 3-2 loss at Bury St Edmunds 2nd on Saturday.
Spalding pushed fourth-placed Bury St Edmunds all the way with a further two-goal haul from ace striker Alanna “AJ” Bunyan.
But this wasn’t quite enough to secure the points and the team finishes the season in the middle of the table.
In Division 4NW (N), another battling performance from Spalding’s youthful 3rd team means that they will finish the season in a very creditable fifth place.
They defeated Long Sutton 2nd 3-2 at the Peele Leisure Centre, with senior players Lisa Caesar and Sharon Amess netting in the first half before a winner from skipper Frances Dalton.
Sutton finish in sixth spot.
