Peterborough Sports boss felt his deserved to win at Spennymoor and he's delighted players have started committing to next season at PIMS Park

The city side are understood to have a bottom three budget at National League North level, but key players Ryan Fryatt, Max Booth and Kaine Felix have already signed on for the 2025-26 campaign. Others have also agreed deals and will be announced in the coming days, while discussions have also started with more players Sports want to keep. Goalkeeper Peter Crook was already under contract for next season having signed a two-year deal last summer.

Sports are enjoying an excellent campaign – their third at step two – and sit 11th after a creditable 1-1 draw at in-form Spennymoor on Saturday. Fryatt scored a second-half equaliser and player-boss Michael Gash was a little disappointed his side didn’t go on to win.

Sports now have two home games to get themselves back into the top 10. They host South Shields on Tuesday (March 11, 7.45pm) and then Darlington next Saturday (March 15), two teams in and around Sports in the table.

"It was a good performance against a team who are in good form,” Gash said. “We started the game well, but there wasn’t much in the first-half at all until they scored. They would have been very happy to be in front at the break as they hadn’t looked like scoring, but we knew we had to start the second-half quickly, and on the front foot, and we did exactly that.

"We dominated the second-half without doing enough to say we should definitely have won, but we had a couple of good chances and their ‘keeper made a couple of good saves. It’s a good result given how well they’ve been going though and now we face two more games against teams close to us in the table.

"We want to finish as high as we can and that means beating the sides around us. South Shields are a very attractive side who play good football and they are coming to us on the back of a good win. They have the division’s top scorer in Paul Blackett, but we have looked very solid at the back so we should be confident of another decent result.

"The commitment of the squad has been outstanding this season and we are pleased so many of the players have already agreed to stay on next season. We don’t pay as much as the vast majority of the teams in the division, but we have a great spirit here.

Central defender Elliot Putman is back from suspension on Tuesday and forward Felix should return after injury. Striker Mark Jones remains suspended. Centre-back MJ Kamara played at Spennymoor after re-signing on loan from Lincoln City. That was his first game for five months after suffering a foot injury in his first spell at Sports.

Sports are offering reduced admission for the South Shields game with adults gaining admission for a tenner. Season ticket prices for 2025-26 are to due to be revealed on Tuesday morning.