South Lincolnshire’s young guns made their way to Spalding Hockey Club on Friday for the latest Primary Schools Hockey Tournament.
Glen Park played host to the third of five tournaments scheduled for this school year and 17 teams – approximately 140 youngsters – from 12 local primary schools participated across four leagues at advanced, intermediate and beginner levels.
In the advanced league the two leading teams from tournament two, Ayscoughfee A and Gosberton Risegate A, opened the session with a hard-fought and end-to-end – but ultimately goalless – draw.
Ayscoughfee A went on to win their other two games by the odd goal, beating Gosberton Academy (2-1) and St John’s A (1-0) to top the table.
Risegate were held to a second goalless draw in their game against St John’s A, but claimed the Gosberton bragging rights when they beat the Academy 3-0 in the final game to finish in the runners-up slot.
Gosberton Academy, promoted from the Intermediate league, gave a good account of themselves at the higher level.
In the intermediate league, John Harrox got off to a flyer – catching St Norbert’s cold and running away with an 8-1 win.
They then beat Boston-based Tower Road A 4-2 in their second game and, despite being held to a goalless draw by a determined St Thomas’s A team, managed to top the table.
Tower Road A secured the runners-up spot with a late strike giving them a 2-1 win over St Norbert’s.
Goals were hard to come by in the beginner ‘A’ league with just five being scored in the six matches.
Surfleet Primary managed the lion’s share of these, beating Tower Road B (1-0) and St John’s B (3-0).
Despite going down 1-0 to Pinchbeck East, they managed to head the table.
Pinchbeck East drew their other two matches to finish in second place.
Spalding Parish continued their steady improvement and won three of their four matches in the beginner ‘B’ league.
Victories over Ayscoughfee B (1-0), Weston Hills (1-0) and Gosberton Risegate B (2-1), plus a goalless draw with St Thomas’s B, gave them ten points to head the table.
Having recorded three goalless draws, St Thomas’s B managed to find their goal scoring form in their final game, beating Ayscoughfee B 3-0 to finish as the runners-up.
