City of Peterborough HC men held at home, but the ladies are up and running after comfortable success
City of Peterborough twice let leads slip as they had to settle for a draw in their first home match of the National Midlands Conference season at Bretton Gate.
It finished 2-2 against St Albans which was a fair result as the hosts had the better of the early exchanges with the visitors ending the contest on top.
It means four points from their opening two games for City which is a solid enough start for a newly-promoted side who are fourth in the early-season table, one place below St Albans. Second-placed Norwich City, who have won both of their opening two games, are at Bretton Gate next Sunday (October 5, 2pm).
City won a barrage of short corners early in the game, but failed to convert any of them. Skipper Matt Porter cut inside to open the scoring on 30 minutes, but his team immediately switched off enabling St Albans to equalise from close range after their first serious incursion into the home D.
Porter won City a penalty stroke in the 42nd minute which Joe Finding converted – his third such goal in the opening two games – but the visitors cranked up the pressure in the final quarter and equalised with another close-range finish 10 minutes from time.
City did rally and won a penalty corner which they took after the final whistle, but a rapid St Albans defender rushed out to block Finding’s attempted strike at goal.
New signing Alex Bickerstaff showed up well at times for City, while goalkeeper Cameron Goodey made a couple of smart saves.
Standings (all played 2): 1 Leek 6pts, 2 Norwich City 6pts, 3 St Albans 4pts, 4 City of Peterborough 4pts, 5 University of Nottingham II 3pts, 6 Oxford Hawks 3pts, 7 Stourport 3pts, 8 Banbury 0pts, 9 Barford 0pts, 10 University of Birmingham II 0pts.
City Ladies are also on four points from two games after beating Cambridge City 3-0 in East Division One at Bretton Gate.
Lily Craven opened the scoring after 14 minutes and Hannah Brown made it 2-0 immediately after the re-start with Laura Packenham finishing the scoring off on 64 minutes for the team currently in third place.
City visit Dereham 2nds next Saturday.
Standings (all played 2): 1 Norwich Dragons 6pts, 2 Cambridge South 6pts, 3 City of Peterborough 6pts, 4 Cambridge City 4ths 3pts, 5 St Neots 3pts, 6 Wisbech 3pts, 7 Spalding 3pts, 8 Sudbury 3pts, 9 Dereham II 3pts, 10 Norwich City 1pt, 11 University of East Anglia 0pts, 12 Ipswich II 0pts.
There were a pair of City of Peterborough men’s derbies in the East League with the 5ths beating the 4ths 1-0 with a Louie Hopkins goal and the 6ths and 7ths drew 0-0.
Other City East League results: Men: 2s beat Cambridge University 3-1 (Tom Seaton 2, Cole Bowtell), 4ths lost 1-0 to 5ths (Louie Hopkins), 6ths drew 0-0 v 7th, 8ths lost 3-0 to Cambridge South. Ladies: 2s lost 5-0 to Pelicans.
City’s junior teams won six of eight fixtures over the weekend. Isla Hastings scored five goals in one Under 14 girls game.
Girls: U18s lost 3-0 to Bedford; U16s drew 1-1 v Cambs Juniors (Emily Kinnear) and beat Blueharts 4-0 (Kinnear 2, Liana Jones, Lucie Buckley); U14s lost 3-2 to Bury St Edmunds (Isla Hastings, Annabelle Robinson) and beat Cambridge City 6-2 (Hastings 5, Ellie Morris),
Boys: U16s beat Leighton Buzzard 1-0 (Ollie Drake) and Cambridge City 2-0 (Charlie Cox, Harry Sutterby); U14s beat Cambs Juniors 5-0 (Jos Walker 2, Finlay Ball, Ewan Fletcher, William James) and beat Cambs City 3-0 (Walker, Ball, Siddorns).
Bourne Deeping led 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2 at Ely in East Division Two North West before succumbing to a 5-4 defeat. Man of the match Ben Hunt scored a quality debut goal while Chris Burden, Ben Brittain and Richard Collins also scored.
The club’s second team made it two wins from two games with a 2-0 victory over St Neots. Ryan Mountney and Callum Howitt scored the goals.
Other Bourne Deeping scores: Men – 3rds beat St Ives 2-0 (Jason Purllant, Pete Moisey); 4ths lost 5-0 to Kettering.