Football: Peterborough Sports aiming to bounce back at the first time of asking
PETERBOROUGH Sports are determined to ensure their Premier Division exile lasts for just one season.
PETERBOROUGH Sports are determined to ensure their Premier Division exile lasts for just one season.The city side were almost certainly condemned to the drop when suffering a 6-1 defeat at Whittlesey on Saturday.
Lee Brown's men are three points adrift of fellow strugglers Stamford Bels and while both teams still have one fixture remaining, Sports are resigned to relegation due to a vastly inferior goal difference.
And Brown is already plotting an instant return to the big-time. He said: "We are down now and we are already working on next season.
"We've known for a while that it was almost certainly going to happen, but we have succeeded in keeping a club with a lot of history going.
"The aim has to be to bounce back at the first attempt. We don't want to be out of the Premier Division for any longer than one season.
"Peterborough Sports is a big club locally and there is a lot of money being pumped into the clubhouse.
"I have managed in Division One before so I know what is required at that level and hopefully we will be able to attract players.
"We have a decent group of lads now and I know exactly what I need to bring in to add to it.
"There are bound to be a couple of lads who leave, but the majority of us are all committed to the club."
Steve Mastin hit a hat-trick for Whittlesey.
STAMFORD Bels went down 9-1 at the hands of Moulton Harrox in manager Martin Conneely's first game back at the helm.
But with safety virtually certain, Conneely is keen to make sure his Bels' boys don't become embroiled in another fight against the drop next season.
He said: "We were decent for the first 10 or 15 minutes, but as soon as Moulton scored our heads dropped.
"It is easy to see why the lads have been struggling all season, but we don't want that to continue to be the case.
"I think we have enough quality at the club to hold our own in this division."
Oundle are another team sick of scrapping for their Premier Division lives.
Their lingering fears of relegation were ended despite a 6-0 defeat at the hands of Rutland Rangers on Saturday.
Oundle are on course to finish third-bottom of the standings, but have pocketed less points than when bringing up the rear last season.
Club official Dan Dobson said: "It is a relief to know we will be in the Premier Division again next season and now it is a case of working on how we put things right."
Michael Nelson cracked a first-half hat-trick for the second successive Saturday as Rutland Rangers breezed to the points.
Liam Hollingworth, Richard Nelson and Jamie Saddington also netted while Robbie Pearce returned to the Rangers fold after several months travelling in Australia.
Rutland finish their season at Moulton Harrox on May 10 (five days after the clubs meet in the PFA Senior Cup final at London Road) when a point will almost certainly earn them a runners-up finish.AFC Fletton are the leaders in the Premier Division clubhouse.
The city side brought the curtain down on their campaign with a 4-1 success over PInchbeck thanks to goals from Dean Clarke, Stuart Eason, Gareth Sanderson and Danny Wilder.
The triumph kept Ian Rudd's men three points clear of Ramsey and Rutland.
The Rams are hot favourites for the title as they have two games remaining, while Rutland also have one fixture to come.
Rudd said: "We have done all we can and it is out of our hands now.
"We have finished the season with a couple of decent performances in our final two games, but we know where we lost it.
"We should never have lost at home to Leverington a few weeks ago. We spent 70 minutes of the game in their box but couldn't score and that was a real blow at the time."
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Weather for Peterborough
Saturday 20 March 2010
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Light rain
Temperature: 5 C - 13 C
Wind Speed: 18 Knots
Wind direction: South
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