Mixed bag of results for Spalding men’s hockey players

It was a mixed bag of results for the men’s teams in the East Hockey League at the weekend.
Spalding 1st drew 1-1 with Cambridge City 2nd with Spalding’s only goal coming from Stu Cunnington.
Spalding went into their first home game of the season with high spirits after their well-earned point away last weekend. A determined Cambridge side stood in their way.
Spalding started well, with strong periods of possession rewarded by a flurry of penalty corners, one of which was neatly converted by Cunnington.
With Spalding 1-0 up, a fierce battle continued, with both sides having strong defensive presses and a struggle to create opportunities ensued.
As the second half started, Spalding looked to build on the first 20 minutes and find consistent good form. However, a well-worked and quick high press from the push back caught Spalding sleeping and less than 15 seconds into the second half, Cambridge equalised.
Spalding 2nd went down 3-0 to Cambridge Nomads 2nd.
After dominating the early stages, Spalding were caught by a sucker punch and conceded first.
Then, against the run of play Spalding conceded two more goals to go into half time 3-0 down.
At the end of the match Spalding left the pitch wondering how they had not got at least a point.
Spalding 3rd were celebrating after hammering Bourne Deeping 3rd 6-1.
Goals came from Arron Borst, Tiago Read. Jack Martin, Jason Naylor, Tom Pilgrim and Matthew McManamon-Cookson,
Following last week’s away defeat, Spalding Men’s 3rd got their season on track with a strong home performance against Bourne Deeping.
Goals flowed from early in the game with two coming before the visitors had chance to settle. 2-0 was then 2-1, before two further goals were put away, with the fourth coming on the stroke of half-time.
Spalding continued in the same vein in the second half with two further goals coming from Pilgrim before McManamon-Cookson sealed the deal with the sixth and final goal.
Spalding 4th had a 5-0 walkover as opponents Bourne Deeping conceded the match.
qSpalding Ladies’ 1st enjoyed a 5-1 victory over Watton 1st with goals from Charlotte Maplethorpe (3), Ellie Holland and Maddie Haunch.
Despite an initial flurry of activity by the home team, it was Spalding who got on the scoresheet first when Hennie Boekestyn was played in by Haunch, the ball was slipped to Maplethorpe, who made no mistake rounding the keeper and celebrating.
By 16 minutes the lead was doubled when Haunch herself got on the scoresheet.
Undeterred, within a minute Watton had pulled one back as a warning that Spalding weren’t going to have things their own way.
Spurred on by the creation of several positive attacks, two more goals came for the visiting team. Holland made no mistake when given time to shoot, before Maplethorpe got her second having been set up by Holland.
After taking a 4-1 lead into half-time, Spalding hoped for more of the same after the break. But despite creating several more chances, just one more goal came with Maplethorpe completing her hat-trick and consigning the home team to defeat.
It was such a good weekend for Spalding Ladies’ 2nd and 3rd teams, as they lost to Ely City 1st and 2nd.
The 2nds were unfortunate to come away with a loss that did not reflect the commitment and involvement of all the team. MoM Erin McMurray had a fantastic game both in midfield and up front, but the strong Ely side kept her off the score sheet. 
The 3rd team went down 5-0 to Ely 2nd.
Spalding started confidently on the back of last week’s win but after ten minutes Ely broke quickly and scored their first.  
Spalding won three short corners, but Ely’s excellent defending denied them a goal. Ely netted again before half time to bring the score to 2-0.
The second half saw the Spalding defence battle hard, but they couldn’t prevent Ely scoring three goals in quick succession.