The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Spalding 1st remain the only team with a perfect record in East Men’s League Division One North after a 5-1 victory at Cambridge City 3rd on Saturday.
Joe Higgins opened the scoring for Spalding, but they weren’t quite at their flowing best in the first period and were soon pegged back by the hosts.
As half-time loomed, the visitors began to find their flow and, after a few short corners, Stu Cunnington eventually got himself onto the scoresheet with a well converted drag flick.
In the second half Spalding really started to tick – and this resulted in a flurry of three goals.
A slotted finish from Jacob Baker after a skilful run through the defence made it 3-1, before a well finished shot from Higgins and an extremely narrow-angled baseline shot from Joe Rogers topped the day off.
It’s now six wins from as many games for the mighty maroons, who are two points clear at the top.
Down in Division Two North West, Long Sutton 1st battled out a thrilling 5-5 draw with City of Peterborough (COP) 3rd at The Peele Leisure Centre.
The prolific Josh Fyson starred for Sutton with an impressive hat-trick for Sutton, while Josh Baker netted the other two.
Sutton started strongly and went ahead through Baker’s high finish, but soon after they lost skipper Matt Holmes to a finger injury.
Things got even worse, with COP turning the game on its head with four goals to enter half-time 4-1 up.
However, two minutes after the restart Fyson slotted home from a short corner to begin the fightback. Moments later Baker added another with a neatly-taken penalty flick into the top left corner, swiftly followed 30 seconds later by Fyson’s second.
Amazingly, Sutton then went ahead when a neat reverse from Fyson made it 5-4 – only for COP to snatch a point three minutes from time.
The draw leaves Sutton in the bottom five, but they are seven points clear of the bottom two.
One of those sides, Spalding 2nd, remain rock bottom and pointless after an 8-2 home reverse against Cambridge University 3rd.
Despite being the better side in the first ten minutes and a brace from Glenn Richardson, one in each half, Spalding were unable to consistently cope with a young and fit Cambridge side at Glen Park.
In Division Four North West, meanwhile, table-topping Long Sutton 2nd were gifted a 5-0 walkover win over March Town 2nd.
In contrast, divisional rivals Spalding 4th suffered a 7-1 beating at Cambridge South 4th.
A short corner strike from David Burrell did make it 1-1 at one point, but the hosts proved too strong, leaving Spalding fourth in the standings.
In Division 5 North West, Long Sutton 3rd suffered a 5-0 defeat at Cambs Nomads 3rd to stay in mid-table.
Elsewhere, Spalding 5th secured a 4-2 victory over hosts Ely City 5th to stay perfect at the top of the standings.
Fixtures: Spalding 1st v Cambs Uni 2nd (2pm); Cambs South 2nd v Long Sutton 1st (3pm); St Neots 1st v Spalding 2nd (2.30pm); Spalding 3rd v Cambs South 3rd; Wisbech 2nd v Spalding 2nd; Cambs City 6th v Long Sutton 2nd (3pm); Spalding 4th v Bourne Deeping 4th (12.30pm); Long Sutton 3rd v Cambs South 6th (11.30pm); Spalding 5th v St Ives 5th (3.30pm).
