The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Saturday proved to be a gr-eight day for Long Sutton 2nd as they sealed the East Men’s Hockey League Division Four North West title with an 8-2 victory at City of Peterborough 6th.
Sutton knew that a victory would clinch them the crown and turned on the style with goals from player-of-the-match Will White (2), Alex Canham (2), Stefan Fox (2), Daniel Batten and Edmund White.
Amazingly, the impressive Greens have won 18 of their 19 games so far this season, losing just the once, and are ten points clear at the top.
Up in Division One North, Spalding 1st are closing in on the title after a thumping 10-1 home win over Bury St Edmunds at Glen Park.
Stu Cunnington (3), Joe Higgins, Tom Amess, Ethan Pearson, Joe Rogers, James Mayhew, George Halgarth and Robin Edlington got the goals in the thrashing.
The victory took them past 100 league goals for the season and leaves them five points clear of Harleston Magpies 2nd at the top with three games left to play.
With the top two clashing this Saturday, the mighty maroons would seal the title with a win.
In Division Two North West, Spalding 2nd continued their battle to beat the drop with a last-gasp 2-1 win at City of Peterborough 4th. Jacob Drew gave them the lead, but Spalding were pegged back before Glenn Richardson netted a vital winner with the last touch of the ball.
With three wins from their last five, they are now just one point from safety with three games left.
In the same division, Long Sutton 1st made it back-to-back big wins as they saw off hosts St Ives 2nd 5-1.
Gary Hales led the way with a terrific treble, while Josh Fyson and Josh Baker also chipped in with goals in a game that saw a stellar showing from Sam Gray.
Both sides had their chances throughout the game but it would have to be said that Sutton had the bulk of them in the early exchanges. They reached half time 3-0 to the good, with the goals coming from Fyson from a broken-down short corner, Baker from a neat reverse and Hales from a tap in.
A further two close-range finishes from Hales shored up the points for the men in green, although they did ship one towards the end.
Back in Division Four North West, Spalding 4th suffered a 4-2 home defeat against St Neots 2nd.
Spalding led 2-1 at the break as Aaron Scholes went on a brilliant solo run and dispatched the ball into the bottom left corner and David Burrell, after receiving the ball directly from a short corner, shot and scored to the keeper’s right.
However, three second-half goals turned the game on its head.
Elsewhere, Long Sutton 3rd lost 1-0 at home to Kettering 4th in Division Five North West.
Saturday fixtures: Harleston Magpies 2nd v Spalding 1st (2pm); Spalding 2nd v Cambs City over-45s (12.30pm); Long Sutton 1st v Cambs Uni 3rd (2.30pm); Long Sutton 2nd v Ely City 2nd (1pm); Kettering 3rd v Spalding 4th (11.30am); Cambs Nomads v Long Sutton 3rd (1pm).
