Tight at the top as Ayscoughfee edge to impressive victory at latest junior hockey tournament

Spalding Hockey Club hosted the fourth primary schools tournament of this school year at Glen Park on Friday – and it was another great success.

Around 160 youngsters from 13 local primary schools participated in this popular event, with the 18 teams being divided into four leagues.

There were five teams in each of the advanced and intermediate leagues and four teams in each of the two beginner leagues.

The advanced league was hotly contested, with the top four places being separated by just one point.

Winners of tournament three, Ayscoughfee A started strongly with a 2-0 win over St John’s but were then beaten 2-1 by an impressive Boston based Tower Road A team.

A scoreless draw with chief rivals St Norbert’s set up a last match clash with John Harrox A, where they needed to win with a four goal difference to top the table.

Ayscoughfee A duly turned on a brilliant performance, winning 4-0.

St Norbert’s started slowly against Tower Road A, but – from trailing 2-1 – they finished strongly to win 3-2.

There was a similar pattern to their game against John Harrox A, when they came back from 2-1 down to rattle in five goals in as many minutes to record an impressive 6-2 win.

The scoreless draw with Ayscoughfee A meant that a point against St John’s A would win them the league.

But a rapidly improving St John’s A team had other ideas and this time St Norbert’s did not recover from conceding two early goals and went down 2-1.

With the teams being so evenly balanced, it is already building up to be a great battle for the main prize on finals day (Friday, May 4).

In the intermediate league, Peterborough-based Eye Primary took the honours with impressive wins over John Harrox B (3-2) St Thomas’s (2-0) and Gosberton Academy (4-0) but were held to a 1-1 draw by an enthusiastic Wyberton team in their final game.

After a slow start, St Thomas’s bounced back with 2-0 wins over John Harrox B and Gosberton Academy to take the second spot.

The beginner ‘A’ league was decided in a nail-biting final match between the impressive Gosberton Risegate A team and Tower Road B, with the Boston based team just pinching the honours in dramatic 4-3 win.

In their first season, Gosberton Risegate A showed great composure in their previous wins over Surfleet Primary (4-0) and Ayscoughfee B (1-0) to finish in second place.

The top two outstanding teams in the beginner ‘B’ league met in the opening fixture, with St John’s B beating Weston Hills 2-1 a closely fought match.

St John’s B were ruthless in their other two games, beating Spalding Parish (9-0) and a young Gosberton Risegate B team (6-0) to head the table.

Spalding Parish recorded a 1-0 win over Gosberton Risegate but found St John’s B and Weston Hills a little too strong on the day.

The final tournament is scheduled for Friday, May 4 at Glen Park (3.45-6pm).

ADVANCED 

Results: St John’s 0 Ayscoughfee A 2; Tower Road A 2 St Norbert’s 3; St Johns’s A 1 John Harrox A 2; John Harrox A 1 Tower Road A 2; John Harrox A 2 St Norbert’s 6; St John’s A 2 Tower Road A 1; St Norbert’s 0 Ayscoughfee A 0; Tower Road A 0 John Harrox A 1; St John’s A 2 St Norbert’s 1; Ayscoughfee A 4 John Harrox A 0.

INTER

Results: John Harrox B 0 Gosberton 2; Wyberton 0 St Thomas’s 0; Eye Primary 3 John Harrox B 2; Gosberton Acad 0 Wyberton 0; Eye Primary 2 St Thomas’s 0; Wyberton 3 John Harrox B 0; Eye Primary 4 Gosberton Acad 0; St Thomas’s 2 John Harrox B 0; Wyberton 1 Eye 1; St Thomas’s 2 Gosberton 0.

BEGINNER A 

Results: Surfleet Primary 0 Gosberton Risegate A 4; Ayscoughfee B 0 Tower Road B 1; Surfleet Primary 0 Tower Road B 4; Ayscoughfee B 0 Gosberton Risegate A 1; Tower Road B 4 Gosberton Risegate A 3; Ayscoughfee B 3 Surfleet 1.

BEGINNER B

Results: St John’s B 2 Weston Hills 1; Spalding Parish 1 Gosberton Risegate B 0; Spalding Parish 0 St John’s B 9; Weston Hills 6 Gosberton Risegate B 0; Weston Hills 9 Spalding Parish 0; St John’s B 6 Gosberton Risgegate B 0.