The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
There were defeats for Spalding 1st and Long Sutton 1st – who are battling at opposite ends of their respective divisions – on Saturday.
Division One leaders Spalding went down 5-2 in an important derby at third-placed Bourne/Deeping 1st.
Spalding struggled to get out of the starting blocks and Bourne/Deeping cut through the midfield causing havoc for the first 15 minutes.
The home side took the lead and soon trebled it from three short corners.
Spalding got a foothold when Cunnington finished a short corner which he himself had created from a fine solo run.
However, after stalemate for much of the second half, Bourne/Deeping killed the game off with two late goals.
Cunnington was again rewarded with another short corner finish to pull it back to 5-2.
Univeg man of the match was Mark Riley.
In Premier B, the day didn’t start well for Long Sutton when skipper Harrison forgot his entire kit and the team had to start a player down.
Letchworth went 1-0 up but after Harrison came on, Fyson soon levelled things up with a trademark dragflick rocketing into the net.
Letchworth deservedly took a second-half lead through a deflection from a short corner and only their keeper’s helmet prevented an equaliser from a lovely Batten deflection.
Sutton were reduced to nine men following some harsh yellow cards, but were back up to full strength when Letchworth made it 3-1.
The result leaves Sutton looking over their shoulders, with just two sides below them.
Long Sutton 2nd’s potentially key 5-1 win over fellow Division 3NW strugglers Bourne/Deeping 2nd was overshadowed by an injury to an opposition player, leaving him with a smashed tooth and requiring 30 stitches.
Sutton’s scorers were Ben Shore (2), Alex Canham, Luke Jackson and Stef Fox.
Ross Gavaghan was man of the match.
Sutton’s replayed fixture with St Neots 1st ended 1-1. Adam Sissons put them ahead but the equaliser came three minutes from time – the same point at which the original match suffered a weather abandonment with Sutton 3-0 up.
The two results mean Sutton move to within one point of Spalding 2nd, who lost 5-0 to Cambridge South 1st.
Spalding 3rd lost 2-1 to Cambridge Nomads in Division 4NW, but Spalding 4th beat Bourne/Deeping 3rd 3-2 to remain third in Division 5NW.
Determined defensive work fom Nick Hatfield and Matt Wingate restricted the Bourne/Deeping chances and keeper Tom Davy had a solid game on his return from injury.
Keith Stennett converted a short corner rebound to put them ahead and Dominic Ibrahim coolly made it 2-0. And James Stone’s sweet strike extended the lead before a Bourne/Deeping consolation goal.
Spalding 5th had one of their games of the season, winning 1-0 at Grantham 1st.
The goal which set up a fourth straight win came in the second half. Spalding broke with Andy Barlow passing to James Reston, who brilliantly ran down the wing and passed to in-form striker Alan Charevicius to finish off.
A couple of brilliant saves from Jordan Butcher ensured the win.
Long Sutton 3rd found the Division 5NW trip to Cambridge South 3rd tough going with a very young and inexperienced squad.
Sutton conceded early on but an inspired performance by their keeper ensured they were only 2-0 down at half-time.
A tweak to the team shape led to a good 15 minutes, but without creating any real scoring opportunities.
Cambridge grabbed three further goals to win 5-0.
In Division 6NW, Long Sutton 4th hit bottom side Bourne/Deeping 6th for ten. The result eclipsed their six goal win on the season’s opening day against the same opponents.
James Baker surpassed his hat-trick in that match by scoring four from open play, set-piece specialist Ian White bagged a hat-trick and there were also good strikes from Harry Synnott, Luke Lovegrove and John Sullivan. At the other end of the pitch it took two fine short corner shots to get past excellent young keeper Tyler Hagan.
Final score was 10-2.
