Spalding Men’s 1st 5
Kettering 3
Spalding made it three wins out of three in East Men’s Division North as they attempt to make a swift return to the Premier Division after last season’s relegation.
Spalding created plenty of early opportunities, while keeping possession and won a short corner via Steve Rogers.
Stuart Cunnington slotted the ball into the top right corner of the goal to raise early confidence.
Consistent attacking play, saw a wild ball from Josh Rowbottom find the stick of Rogers and he gained a deflection to see the ball fly into the net off of another defender’s stick to make it 2-0.
Spalding then conceded a short corner when the ball hit a foot. Kettering slipped the ball to one of their players to hit the ball but it was saved by Oscar Haunch.
Unluckily it popped down to a Kettering attacker who put the ball into the goal.
To close the first half, Spalding restored
their two-goal advantage when Cunnington flicked the ball into the bottom right corner.
Kettering started the second half and took Spalding by surprise to score an early goal from open play.
To make things worse for Spalding, Kettering scored again to make it 3-3 from a slipped pass on a short corner.
However, Spalding did not let that set back affect them and they kept heads high to win another short corner. The ball was played out to Jacob Baker and he calmly placed it into the bottom right corner.
Spalding dropped down to ten men on multiple occasions with Harry Naylor and Harry Blackman receiving five-minute yellow cards and two green cards from Darren Grooby and Brendan Morris.
Despite this, Spalding stayed strong and played a wonder ball through for Rogers to hit the ball into the goal with a one-handed reverse to complete the scoring.
Sam Howitt was man of the match.
Kettering 2nd 3
Spalding Men’s 2nd 0
Spalding 2nds fell to defeat at previously winless Kettering in Division Three North West and sit ninth in the 12-team table.
Spalding Men’s 3rd 1
St Neots 3rd 1
Glenn Richardson was on target to earn the hosts the half-time advantage at home to St Neots in Division Four North West.
The visitors played several short corners, missing all of them, but kept Spalding under pressure despite failing to maximise their opportunities.
St Neots had more chances in the second half but only scored once and also missed an open goal.
Chris Grooby picked up a green card for Spalding to make the game slightly harder but his team stayed strong to earn a draw.
Spalding Men’s 4th 2
Kettering 3rd 6
Spalding took on top-of-the-table Kettering a week after conceding 11 against second-placed Newmarket and put in a far more composed display in Division Five North West.
Spalding started brightly and forced the first three shots on target of the match but a couple of lapses of concentration in the final ten minutes of the first half saw Kettering take a 2-0 lead.
In the second half Spalding again started well, but a ten-minute spell saw them lose quick goals to fall 6-0 behind.
At that point it would have been easy to think that more visitors’ goals would follow, however, the young team dug deep and showed great character to battle through.
With five minutes left Danny Wright set up Pete Wright to reduce the deficit and then in the final minute Pete Wright struck a short corner to give the score line some respectability.
The team have a break from league action this week but travel to Cambridge South for a friendly where they will seek to continue their improvement and build towards a first point of the campaign.
