Costly defeat in battle to beat the drop

Long Sutton slipped closer to the South Lincs & Border League Premier Division relegation trapdoor after defeat to fellow strugglers Stamford Town on Saturday.

 
Sutton had dropped into the bottom two relegation places after defeat the previous weekend to Woodhall Spa.

 
And they missed the opportunity to bounce straight back out after losing to a Stamford side who had started the day just one place and eight points above Sutton in the standings.

 
The visitors had won the toss at Paradise Field but, after asking Sutton to bat, struggled to make any early in-roads into the home batting.

 
Chris Booth (27) and Dan Oldfield (59) laid the foundations for a solid Sutton start.

 
However, the introduction of Steve Armstrong into the Stamford bowling attack swung the match back in their favour.

 
After dismissing both Sutton openers, Armstrong then accounted for Rajan Sanga (5), Jamie Taylor (2) and Luke Barnes (7) as Sutton suffered a mid-order collapse.

 
Barry Stanway rallied Sutton by smashing five fours in his 32 as Sutton saw out the 45 overs to finish on 175-9.

 
Armstrong was the pick of the Stamford bowlers after claiming 5-32 from his 12-over spell.

 
Stamford’s reply stuttered as Stanway dismissed visiting openers Andrew Hulme (5) and Gary Peck (11) cheaply.

 
However, Mark Andrew (67no) and Ben Peck (65no) put together an unbroken partnership which saw Stamford to a vital victory.

 
The defeat leaves Sutton nine points adrift of safety ahead of this weekend’s trip to Market Deeping 2nd.

 
Bottom-of-the-table Belton Park, who looked doomed several weeks ago, are also on Sutton’s tails after claiming their second victory from the last three games.

 
A 43-run last wicket partnership between Tyronne Premasiri (52no) and Alan Law (24no) led Belton to victory over Bourne 2nd who had posted 193-9.

 
Long Sutton 2nd failed to avenge last week’s Division Two defeat in a quick-fire return match with Boston 3rd.

 
Sutton had been bowled out for 91 by Boston the previous weekend in their 115-run defeat.

 
And they managed four runs less on Saturday after being skittled for 87 by the Mayflower men.

 
Former Long Sutton player Ian Morris claimed four wickets against his old club whose joint top scorer was extras with 16.

 
Andrew Wright (11), Jack Smith (10), James Stewart (10), Steven Miles (16) and last man James Baker (11no) were the only batsmen to reach double figures for Sutton.

 
Sutton’s bowlers did make a superb job of trying to defend their lowly total as Boston crept over the winning line for the loss of nine wickets.

 
Josh Baker returned an excellent 5-25 from nine overs as sharp Sutton fielding also contributed to three Boston run outs.

 
James Baker conceded just 11 runs from his 12-over spell, but a boundary from Boston’s last man Steve Appleyard saw the hosts home.