Newmarket 1 Spalding Men 1s 5
A dry, sandy pitch slowed the pace of play but did not hold up Spalding’s charge to maximum Men’s East League Division Two North West points.
A dominant performance saw the hosts forced into defending deep but they were undone after 19 minutes when David Dorey found Dan Azzopardi at the back post to tap in the opener.
A green card followed shortly after a minor incident but Spalding held firm with 10 men. Back to full strength, they pushed forward and Will Wright made it 2-0.
A rare lapse saw Newmarket convert a short corner to make it 2-1 at half-time.
Just five minutes into the second half, Stuart Cunnington threaded the ball through for Azzopardi to score again with a composed finish.
The fourth goal came in the 54th minute when Cunnington lashed a short corner into the right side netting before the final blow was delivered when Wright unleashed a thunderous reverse-stick strike from the top of the D, cannoning the ball off the backboard.
Phil Callow who marked his 50th birthday with a strong and composed performance at the back but Wright took the man of the match honours.
Spalding Men 2s 2 Ely City 2s 3
Goals early in each half sent the second to Division Three North West defeat.
Spalding started slowly and conceded the opener after 10 minutes. Lawrence Smith-Hughes’ reverse shot levelled things, only for the visitors to regain the lead soon after the interval.
Spalding showed resilience and equalised with a good finish from a short corner by Simon Goode. However, Ely struck again to grab the points.
Man of the match was Reuben Rogers.
March Town 2s 3 Spalding Men 3s 1
Spalding faced a strong and experienced home side but after a solid start, were undone by two goals inside eight minutes in their Division Four North West fixture.
Goalkeeper Eddie Sawyer produced several outstanding saves to keep Spalding in contention and they were rewarded when Dylan Hind took a quick free hit and drove directly into the D. Jake Sawyer seized on a moment of defensive confusion to slot the ball home.
March continued to press and had two goals disallowed for infringements before adding a third late in the game.
Spalding Men 4s 5 Cambridge South 5s 3
Spalding came out on top of an eight-goal Division Five North West thriller.
Spalding started well but trailed after a short corner was converted after the initial shot cannoned off a post.
Spalding equalised when Henry Gibbons’ powerful shot beat the Cambridge goalkeeper and they took the lead with another short corner. This time Andy Barlow found the bottom corner with a precision strike.
It got even better when Barlow swept home Dave Burrell’s inch-perfect pass.
It just took two minutes of the second half for Spalding to add their fourth. A fantastic move from the hosts saw the youngest player on the pitch, Isaac Davison work well with Henry Gibbons and Willem Borst, before Clive Sheridan slipped the ball to Matthew Hicks, who made no mistake to earn Spalding a 4-1 lead.
The hosts then switched off and the visitors came strongly back with a two-goal burst.
Nerves were settled when Barlow picked up a loose pass, beat three players and squared the ball past a stranded goalkeeper for Hicks to tap home.
