Spalding 1st stormed to their first away win of the East Men’s Hockey League Premier B season on Saturday as they beat hosts West Herts 2nd 6-4 in an absolute thriller.
Steve Rogers stole the show with a four-goal salvo for Spalding, wile Stuart Cunnington and George Halgarth also got in on the act.
From the off, Spalding had a strong five minutes with some great play from Halgarth and Robert Dalton.
The quick pace appeared to stun West Herts and resulted in a short corner to Spalding, allowing Cunnington to open the scoring.
Two minutes later, the hosts conceded a second short corner which Rogers sent speeding into the net from close range.
West Herts, however, retaliated with some quick open play and soon brought the score level.
Spalding came out into the second half looking for goals – and soon found them.
Rogers helped himself to a hat-trick after scoring a wonder goal with his back turned to the goal.
Halgarth also contributed to the scoring with a crafty deflection that the home keeper couldn’t stop.
Spalding finally grabbed the winning ticket and walked away with a 6-4 win.
Meanwhile, Long Sutton 1st also continued their winning ways in Division 2N with a 2-1 home success over Kettering 1st.
Having lost the reverse fixture 7-1, Sutton were hoping for some revenge at the Peele Leisure Centre.
Although the visitors went 1-0 up after 18 minutes, but Sutton levelled when Danny Batten who laid in Josh Baker to rifle an unstoppable shot into the top corner.
The winner came 12 minutes from the end when good work from Batten again released Tyler Hagan, whose deflected pass found player-of-the-match Alex Canham at the top of the D.
He duly volleyed into the top corner to seal the points.
Down in Division 4NW, Long Sutton 2nd remain in command at the top following their 3-0 success over Cambs South 3rd.
A double from Josh Fyson and a Luke Jackson strike ensured that Sutton sit eight points clear at the summit.
Behind them, Spalding 3rd are second after a thumping 7-2 victory at CoP 6th.
Ben Scholes was the star of the show in the derby duel, helping himself to four goals on the day.
George Swindells (2) and Frazer Watt also netted.
In the same division, Spalding 2nd enjoyed a big 7-0 victory over Wisbech Town 3rd.
The goals in that one were shared between Dan Azzopardi (2), Glenn Richardson (2), Sullivan Smith (2) and Richard McKenna.
Elsewhere, Spalding 4th played out an eight-goal thriller with Wellingborough 1st as they drew 4-4 in Division 5NW.
In Division 6NW (N), Spalding 5th bagged a battling 2-1 triumph over CoP 8th. Jason Naylor and Darren Willson scored as Spalding produced a gritty performance against an experienced side.
In the same division, Ian White’s goal couldn’t stop Long Sutton 3rd losing 4-1 against Bourne Deeping 6th.
- Long Sutton ladies’ 2nd were the big South Holland winners in East Women’s Hockey League on Saturday.
Goals from Ali Monaghan (2), Hannah Baker, Katie Collingwood-Smith and Georgina Synnott fired Sutton to a 5-1 victory over Louth 2nd in Division 4NW (N).
In the same division, Spalding Poachers 3rd suffered a 1-0 defeat at Bourne Deeping 3rd as they were unable to turn possession into goals.
Meanwhile, Spalding Poachers 1st suffered derby despair at Bourne Deeping 1st in Division 2N.
After going a few weeks without a game and training sessions, Spalding’s usual pace was somewhat lacking and it was apparent that it was going to be a battle for them from the off.
Donna Chester-O’Neill put in a player-of-the-match showing in goal, but she was beaten three times to leave Spalding in the bottom four.
Below them, Long Sutton 1st suffered a a 3-0 reverse against hosts City of Peterborough (CoP) 2nd.
Lorraine Wallis put in a formidable display in goal, but couldn’t save the day for Sutton.
In Division 3NW, Spalding Poachers 2nd were edged out 2-1 by CoP 3rd at Glen Park.
After falling behind, Spalding remained composed and focused and Grace Hodgett hammered the ball into the back of the net from a very sharp short corner routine to level the game.
After numerous amazing saves from the both keepers Spalding began to boss the game, but it was the city side who found the goal.
