Hockey: Spalding 2nd through to national quarter-final

Spalding won the battle of the two underdogs left in the national 2nd XI cup, seeing off Norwich Dragons 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals.

Glenn Perkins put them ahead from a short corner and set up Joe Higgins for 2-0.
Even though the game was even, Spalding went into the break 3-0 ahead when Hector Moore – with his back to goal at the top of the D managed to turn and unleash an unstoppable effort.

Spalding doubled their lead in an eight-minute period through Higgins, Keith Stennett and Pete Wright.
Wright added a champagne touch by lifting the ball up in the box and volleying home, before a consolation Norwich goal.

The day before, Spalding 2nd finished the first half of their Division 3NW with a 4-0 defeat at well-drilled St Neots.

Long Sutton 2nd went down 8-4 to high-flying Cambridge City 4th – but it was not quite the thrashing the scoreline suggests.
After slipping behind, there was a brace of goals for Alex Wiles after good work from man-of-the-match Ross Gavaghan and Alex Canham.
It was 2-2 by half-time, which was meagre reward for Sutton’s effort.
Cambridge smoothly slipped into a 6-2 lead before Ben Smith and Stef Fox goals gave Sutton fresh hope.
However, they succumbed to two more goals.

On Sunday Long Sutton 2nd put their hard times in the league behind them with a 8-3 rout of St Ives 2nd in the Plate.
Up front Canham and Shore were harvesting short corners at will and Sutton were soon 2-0 up from these after clinical Fyson and Shore finishes.
St Ives pulled one back, but Jackson (2) and Fyson had Sutton 5-1 up.
St Ives got a couple of second-half goals but Fyson and Jackson completed hat-tricks and Canham grabbed a goal too.

Spalding 1st sit five points clear in Division One after thrashing Crostyx 5-1.
Cunnington broke the deadlock with a cheeky finish on ten minutes and captain Rowbottom soon made it 2-­0.
Crostyx finished a short corner stylishly to pull one back, but Connor Allen (2) and Cunnington’s second finished them off.

Spalding 3rd inflicted a first defeat of the season on Division 4NW leaders Horncastle.
The visitors took the lead, but Tom Shinkins smashed home an equaliser.
In the second half Michael Morris dispatched a penalty to put Spalding ahead, but Horncastle hit back with two well-taken goals.
Rob Tilbrook whipped home a tremendous drag flick for 3-3 and on the stroke of time, Shinkins secured a remarkable win.

In Division 5NW, Long Sutton 3rd lost 5-0 in a stormy match with leaders Leadenham.
Man-of-the-match Dan Oldfield kept his cool in a second half which produced six yellow cards, four of which brandished to Sutton.

A patched-up Spalding 4th won 4-0 at St Ives.Dominic Ibrahim (2), Kieren Ibrahim and Max Bodimead goals kept the side third in the table.

Down a step in Division 6NW (N), a 1-1 draw between Long Sutton 4th and City of Peterborough 9th was fair for two teams with a nice blend of youth and experience.
Both goals came in a helter-skelter final five minutes. The city side went ahead from a short corner, but Sutton marched straight up the pitch and Ian White’s cross was neatly sidestepped by James Baker, allowing Luke Proctor to convert a deserved equaliser.

Spalding 5th’s hard work against Leadenham 2nd paid off when Adrian Bettinson got the lightest of touches to a well-worked shot by Alan Charevicius but they lost 5-1.