The first round of 2015 fixtures in the East Men’s Hockey League threw up two derby games – and it was Spalding who got the better of South Holland foes Long Sutton on both occasions.
The two clashes came in the bottom two divisions, with Spalding 4th edging out Sutton 3rd 3-2 and Spalding 5th then comfortably dispatching Sutton 4th 4-0.
Starting in Division 5NW, Spalding 4th took the lead at Glen Park when Steve Rogers turned in the first of a hat-trick after some excellent work by David Dorey.
However, Sutton 3rd soon came back into it and forced a string of fine saves from Jordan Burcher before Gary Hales deservedly levelled from a short corner.
Hosts Spalding came out strongly after interval and a couple of well-taken goals from Rogers put them in a commanding position.
However, Simon Thompson set up Luke Lovegrove to pull one back – and Sutton piled on the pressure in the closing stages. With Spalding’s Nick Hatfield seeing yellow, the away side were unfortunate not to grab a point as Hales saw a short corner goal disallowed and had two shots whistle over the bar.
The other all-South Holland affair in Division 6NW (N) wasn’t quite as exciting, with Spalding 5th on-song to earn only their fourth win of the season.
An early strike from Mark Smith-Hughes put Spalding ahead in the opening few minutes, but Sutton bounced back with some sustained attacking play that was inspired by the impressive James Baker.
After the break, Spalding came out strongly and Jack Martin added number two with a neat finish from close range. Spalding continued to press and were rewarded when James Reston and Alan Chareticius both found the net after some constructive attacking play from the young side.
For Sutton, Jake Loweth gave his accustomed cultured defensive masterclass and Matt Portass, Pavel Saponenko and Jon Goodley put in a lot of hard work in midfield.
Up in Premier B Division, Long Sutton 1st started the year with a narrow 4-3 defeat against Saffron Walden 1st at the Peele Leisure Centre.
Despite falling behind early on, Danny Sisson hauled Sutton level with a neat deflected finish.
Josh Fyson found the corner of the goal with a lovely drag flick from a short corner to put the hosts ahead at half time.
After the break Sutton looked home and hosed when Sisson fired them into a 3-1 lead, but they lacked the killer instinct to finish off their rivals. They paid the ultimate price too, as two Walden strikes made it 3-3 before a Fyson deflection towards his own goal sent the ball through Steve Kirkham’s legs.
In Division 3NW, Spalding 2nd lost a 13-goal thriller against COP 5th 8-5.
After falling behind, Joe Rogers hauled Spalding level before the City side bagged twice to move 3-1 up at half time.
Spalding fought back in the opening minutes of the second half and Glenn Perkins rattled home a short corner to make it 3-2 down.
But then Peterborough added a further four goals without reply to seize control.
Martin Perkins and Chris McKenna pulled goals back, but a couple of late COP goals halted the comeback.
In the same division, Long Sutton 2nd also slipped to a loss as Wisbech 2nd handed them a 3-1 reverse.
Luke Jackson’s finish from an Alex Canham gave Sutton the perfect start as they took the lead at the home of one of their biggest rivals.
However, the lead was wiped out by half time – and two late goals in the final five minutes handed Wisbech the points.
- Spalding Poachers 1st picked up a fine 5-2 win over Alford ladies’ 1st in East Women’s League Division 2NW.
Kelly Slater (2), Kelly Tuplin (2) and Katie Gray netted to help the Poachers avenge of their only league loss of the season so far.
In Division 3NW, Long Sutton ladies’ 2nd were beaten 3-0 by leaders Lincoln ladies’ 2nd.
The scoreline would have been worse, but for a super showing from Sutton keeper Hannah Kitchen.
