Ladies’ 2nd only winners in Spalding hockey fixtures

Spalding Ladies’ 1st 1
Dereham 1st 6
A moment of familiarity for Spalding Ladies 1st as they encountered Dereham for the second week in a row.
A free ball was picked up by Charlotte Maplethorpe who dribbled through the Dereham defence before being fouled and rewarded with a penalty stroke. Mia Dewing calmly netted home.
Dereham stepped up their game and scored three goals despite ‘keeper Gaby Taylor’s great efforts.
Dereham came back strong in the second half, having the majority of possession.
Spalding worked tirelessly to defend but were not as successful as they hoped.

Spalding Ladies’ 2nd 5
Kettering 3rd 0
Spalding dominated and the ball hardly made it out of the opposition’s half in the first 35 minutes.
Erin McMurray found herself in the right place at the right time, four minutes in, to tap the ball into the net.
Her second goal came pretty much the same as the first by quickly responding to another delivery into the D. Then centre back Sam Maltby made it 3-0.
The second half continued with a number of strikes from Tabitha Dunnett that just wouldn’t find the net due to excellent keeping.
Moments later McMurray completed her hat trick from a strong pass by Kate Amess.
Spalding midfield worked tirelessly to keep the ball heading towards the goal with Lauren Pitts dribbling the ball into the D to score.

St Neots 4th 1
Spalding Ladies’ 3rd 3
The ladies’ 3rd started strongly and within two minutes AJ Taplin smashed home.
Terri Bateman passed the ball to Emily Wright who used her speed, crossing in to Taplin who once again found the net, all within five minutes.
St Neots brought on a player which caught Spalding slightly off guard, and they conceded a scrappy goal.
Spalding came back after half time even more determined and Taplin found the net to complete her hat trick.

Spalding Men’s 1st 0
Cambridge University 1st 3
Spalding started the first half strong with good pressure, keeping the well-drilled Cambridge side at bay.
The first half ended 0-0 and Spalding started the second half hopeful, although through a turnover and some quick passing Cambridge hit the ball across the circle where it was guided home. 1-0 to the visitors.
After an unfortunate slip by a Spalding defender, Cambridge took their chance, making it 2-0 going into the final ten minutes.
Spalding continued to push, but not quite finding the finishing touch in the circle. Cambridge would go on to score a penalty corner in the final minutes of the game.

March Town 1st 10
Spalding Men’s 2nd 1
March took the lead after five minutes, but Spalding bounced back with an equaliser from Jack Martin, before conceding two quick goals just before half time.
March started the second half strongly and soon put the game out of reach.

Cambridge South 5th 3
Spalding Men’s 3rd 2
Both teams started strong, but Cambridge won and converted a penalty corner.
After 20 minutes, the game stayed very tightly contested, Spalding got the equaliser through Charlie Smith.
In the second half, the game was very balanced but South capitalised with two quick goals to make it 3-1.
Spalding started to gain some momentum and created some chances but could only score a late consolation goal.

Spalding Men’s 4th 2
Cambridge South 6th 2
A goal from Finlay Roy gave the home team the lead before the young visiting goalkeeper showed his worth with some excellent saves and clearances.
A goal for Cambridge left the match 1-1 at half time.
A trademark short corner strike by Ed Sly gave Spalding the lead before Cambridge fought back to equalise.
The 4th travel to City of Peterborough 8th next week and hope to come home with three points.