The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Spalding Ladies’ 1st 3
Pelicans 1st 2
An early two-goal lead proved crucial as Spalding hung on to take all the East Women’s League Division Two North West points against their King’s Lynn visitors.
A run from Kate Amess saw her find Ellie Holland and she hit a wonderful shot to open the scoring.
With the game going all Spalding’s way, another attack saw Lauren Spenceley’s reverse shot hit a Pelicans’ player on the line and Georgina Maplethorpe converted the penalty flick.
Pelicans took advantage of Spalding having a player sent off to pull one back before half-time.
The visitors converted a short corner to draw level but Spalding kept chasing for the win and were rewarded when Spenceley found herself with the ball in the D and shot home.
Holland and Maplethorpe shared the player of the match award.
Huntingdon & N’stowe 1st 1
Spalding Ladies’ 2nd 2
A late goal from Charlotte Maplethorpe wrapped up all the Division Three North West points in Spalding’s favour.
A tricky pitch was made more difficult with a combination of rain and wind and Spalding found the going tough against a resolute home defence. It was no surprise to see the deadlock unbroken at half-time.
The weather continued to hamper the play in the second half with both teams struggling to keep their feet on the slippery surface.
Maplethorpe eventually found some space and the net to give the visitors the lead only for the hosts to hit back with an equaliser.
Spalding continued to search for a winner and two minutes before the end they were rewarded when player of the match, Maplethorpe glided past the tiring defence to slip the ball into the net.
Spalding Ladies’ 3rd 3
St Neots 3rd 0
Player of the match Vicky Worrall got Spalding off to a flying start with a goal after just two minutes.
The team continued their dominance and fantastic linking play between Worrall and Camille Rogers simply outplayed the opposition throughout the Division Four North West encounter.
Worrall received a super pass at the top of the D and struck it beautifully to score again and the team made it 3-0 by half-time.
Spalding worked hard in the second half to keep St Neots at bay to maintain their three-goal advantage.
Cambridge South 1st 1
Spalding Men 1st 2
Goalkeeper Oscar Haunch had to work hard in the opening exchanges before his team turned on the style after the break.
Haunch made several big saves from penalty corners before a free hit caught Spalding off guard and a ball across the face of the D saw the striker earn the hosts the half-time advantage.
Spalding came out on the front foot in the second half and won numerous penalty corners. When Stuart Cunnington’s low drag flick hit a foot on the line, Jacob Baker stepped up but his flick down the middle was saved by the goalkeeper only for the ball to trickle over the line to make it 1-1.
An end-to-end encounter was eventually settled after Spalding lost Darren Grooby to a green card. They won another penalty corner and Cunnington found the bottom corner of the goal for the winner.
Spalding threw their bodies on the lines to preserve the lead and collected several war wounds with Brendan Morris suffering a nose bleed and David Dorey taking a hit to the ankle. They also lost Sam Howitt for the last five minutes due to a yellow card for questioning a decision but held on for three huge East Men’s Division One North points.
Joint men of the match were Howitt and Haunch.
The second team lost 3-0 to Wisbech Town 2nd, a resulted repeated by the thirds against Cambridge South 4th.
Spalding Men’s 4th 3
City of Peterborough 7th 7
A friendly encounter allowed Spalding to give debuts to three youngsters – Dylan Hind, Fred Neal and Alex Myland.
With many seniors away and several juniors on a school trip the team were grateful to Eliza Morris for stepping into goal and to Fred and James Morris adding strength to the squad.
Spalding’s goals came from a well deflected goal by Hind, a penalty stroke expertly dispatched by Jake Sawyer and a clean strike from Brian Read.
