HOCKEY: Vincent seals victory for City of Peterborough at the death

City’s 3-2 win at Cambridge City seconds on Saturday (February 13) has left them clear in second place after the teams directly below them Old Loughtonians and St Albans both dropped points.

City remain four points behind leaders Wapping, but the top four play each other in the final four weeks of the campaign. City host St Albans in their next fixture on February 27 and entertain Wapping two weeks later.

Having fought hard for a draw in the home fixture against Cambridge, City of Peterborough expected a very tough competitive fixture away from home and that is exactly what they got.

A very decent Cambridge side competed well from start to finish, and it was possibly against the run of play when City of Peterborough took the lead after 10 minutes when man-of-the-match Shane Vincent coolly converted the opening short corner of the game. Short corners are a key area in which City of Peterborough have significantly improved this season.

Cambridge constantly tested the City of Peterborough defence, and were back on terms midway through the first half, and the sides turned around all square at half-time, with Cambridge feeling disappointed not to be leading on the balance of play.

Where the first half had belonged to Cambridge, the second half belonged to City of Peterborough who created numerous attacking chances and regained the lead courtesy of skipper Ross Booth, following a break-down from a short corner. Cambridge upped their game, and played their best hockey of the second-half, getting back on terms with 10 minutes of the game remaining.

But Peterborough have confidence in their ability to win games from any position, and held their nerve to secure all three points, with only four minutes to go, when Vincent finished from close range for his second of the game. City of Peterborough then saw the game out in a new found composed and professional manner - another area of improvement this season.

It was a great result, proven by Cambridge City’s win at St Albans 24 hours later.