St Ives 1s 2 Spalding Men 1s 5
A confident and creative start saw Spalding quickly find their rhythm and early pressure paid off when man of the match Dan Azzopardi rounded the goalkeeper to open the scoring in their Men’s East League Division Two North West match.
Will Baker soon doubled the lead, smartly deflecting a driven ball across the D into the back of the net. A moment of improvisation from Will Wright saw his audacious trick shot take a wicked deflection off a defender’s shin pad to wrong-foot the goalkeeper and make it 3-0.
St Ives pulled one back from a short corner just before the break but Spalding responded well, restoring control through Stu Cunnington, who fired home a superb drag flick.
Wright was sent to the sideline with a green card for a clumsy tackle and another break in play led to James Grant picking up a five-minute yellow for a late challenge but Spalding held on to their three-goal lead to the break.
St Ives took advantage to pull one back but Spalding showed fighting spirit, playing some lovely hockey and sealed the points when Matt Hulme collected a rebound and pushed the ball into the empty goal and maintain their 100 per cent record at the top of the table.
Spalding Men 2s 3 Kettering 2s 1
Spalding are celebrating their first points of the Three North West season thanks to a confident performance against Kettering.
Tom Pilgrim’s aerial across the full length of the pitch saw Harry Vickers run on to score the opener and Spalding continued to control the game.
A great pass from Lawrence Smith-Hughes put Callum Fraviger one-on-one with the goalkeeper to make it 2-0 in the second half before Tom Pilgrim conceded a penalty stroke for a poor challenge. However, the stroke was expertly saved by Rob Callaby and the game became heated when a Kettering player received a 10-minute yellow card for a rugby-style tackle on Reuben Rogers.
Spalding used the numerical advantage to control the game and made it 3-0 when Glenn Richardson made a solo run and squared the ball for Smith-Hughes to score before Kettering hit a late consolation.
Danny Wright was named Spalding man of the match.
Cambridge City 6s 5 Spalding Men 3s 0
Spalding conceded their scheduled Division Four North West match in Cambridge, handing the hosts a 5-0 walkover victory.
Spalding Men 4s 2 Pelicans 4s 1
Spalding faced a tough Division Five North West test against an experienced King’s Lynn team, who boasted at least one former National League player in their ranks.
A top-quality move broke the deadlock when Clive Sheridan found Fred Neal unmarked and the youngster moved the ball into space before setting up Andy Barlow to score.
The second half saw a multitude of chances, especially for the visitors, but Spalding rode their luck, with their hard work paying off.
A goal did finally come, and it was for the hosts. Dylan Hind’s shot was well saved but the ball fell nicely for Andy Barlow to place the ball into the goal.
Pelicans pulled a goal back when Spalding’s line was finally breached following a short corner.
Goalkeeper Steve Thurlbourne made a series of saves and some off-the-line clearances saw Spalding survive a Pelicans onslaught. The Lynn side did have the ball in the goal twice but both were ruled out as the hosts held on to take all the points.
