It’s shaping up to be a memorable end to the East Men’s Hockey League Division 4NW season with two Spalding sides going blow for blow at the top.
With just over a month of the campaign still to play, Spalding 3rd and Spalding 2nd are locked together at the summit on 37 points after both won at the weekend.
It’s Spalding 3rd who remain top on goal difference after they won 2-0 at promotion hopefuls Cambs City 5th.
Having lost the reverse fixture earlier in the campaign, the Spalding lads knew they were in for a real battle.
They went ahead when Chris McKenna found himself free in the D and he calmly slotted home.
Sloppy marking by the City defence then allowed Steve Rogers to carve through the back line and fire home the second goal to wrap up the win before half time.
However, it’s Spalding 2nd who are in the stronger position after they cruised to a 5-0 Glen Park success over a fourth-placed Cambs Nomads 2nd side who arrived with just ten men.
Glenn Richardson (2), Peter Wright (2) and Thomas Mayhew were the scorers for Spalding, who have a game in hand on their fellow club side.
The two meet on March 5 in what could be a title decider.
Elsewhere, it was a very rare weekend to forget for Spalding 1st.
The Premier B promotion hopefuls were smashed 8-0 at rivals Saffron Walden on Saturday, before then losing 2-1 to divisional rivals Norwich City 1st in the third round of the England Hockey Trophy at Glen Park on Sunday.
Down in Division 5NW, Spalding 4th remain very much in mid-table after being handed a 4-0 home humbling by Bourne Deeping 4th.
There was much better news for promotion-chasing Spalding 5th in Division 6NW (N), though, as they hammered basement boys Bourne Deeping 6th 8-0.
Alex Cunnington (2), Jack Martin (2), Adrian Bettinson, Jason Naylor, Ben Scholes and Matthew Wingate all netted in the romp, which leaves Spalding three points behind second-placed Leadenham 2nd with a game in hand.
Seven points further back in fourth are Long Sutton 4th, who did Spalding a big favour by upsetting Leadenham 3-1.
Josh Baker’s first-half goal put Sutton on the right track, before further efforts from Baker and man-of-the-match Matt Holmes secured the win.
- Claire Hindmarsh’s strike couldn’t stop Spalding Poachers 1st slipping to a 2-1 East Women’s Hockey League Division 1N defeat against Blueharts 1st on Saturday.
The Poachers were bidding to build on their morale-boosting win the previous weekend, but remain four points adrift of safety after their 11th loss of the campaign.
In Division 2NW, Long Sutton ladies’ 1st picked up a decent 1-1 draw at fellow high-fliers Cambs Nomads.
Having fallen 1-0 down, they rescued a point ten minutes from time following a fine move.
A clearance from keeper Lorraine Wallis found Louise Billingham on the right, who laid the ball down the line to Leanne Woodhead. Her brilliant first-time pass through her legs wrong-footed the defender and the ball found its way to Leah Goodley, who drove into the D and crisply passed to Lyn Tancred – who made no mistake.
Down in Division 3NW, Spalding 3rd remain bottom after going down 2-1 against Leadenham 1st. Their goal came from Grace Hodgett.
