City of Peterborough men go back to back in the National League, Lily and the ladies team remain unstoppable
City of Peterborough secured back-to-back Nationals Midlands Conference wins with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Barford Tigers at Bretton Gate on Sunday.
And the city side have every chance of completing the hat-trick as they visit bottom club University of Birmingham seconds next Sunday (November 23). City are fourth, level on points with third, going into that game.
City enjoyed the perfect start yesterday as Gareth Andrew followed his comeback hat-trick the previous weekend with a fierce second minute strike. The hosts worked hard to preserve that advantage against speedy, skilled opponents, but an insistence on contesting seemingly every umpiring decision undermined the quality of the Tigers.
City made it 2-0 on 23 minutes when a brilliant cross from Nathan Foad was expertly controlled and finishing by Zac Scotting and then survived a late scare in the first half when a visiting ‘goal’ from a short corner was ruled out.
The visitors were still in the game, but their ill-discipline cost them in the second half when they saw players regularly trot off to the sin bin for excessive moaning.
City played against nine men for a period, but their short corner routine misfired for once. Goalkeeper Cameron Goodey made one outstanding save from a Tigers rocket shot, but in the main City managed the latter stages well until conceding a last-second strike.
Standings (all played 8): 1 Leek 20pts, 2 Oxford Hawks 16pts, 3 Norwich City 13pts, 4 City of Peterborough 13pts, 5 University of Nottingham II 13pts, 6 Banbury 12pts, 7 St Albans 11pts, 8 Barford Tigers 5pts, 9 Stourport 5pts, 10 University of Birmingham II 2pts.
There’s no stopping City of Peterborough Ladies in East Division One, or top scorer Lily Craven. Craven scored four, including a first-half hat-trick, as the unbeaten leaders won 9-0 at bottom club Ipswich seconds on Saturday. Hope Elkins, Breesha Foxton, Leah Goddard, Lucy Belcher and Hannah Grimshaw also netted as City made it eight wins in nine matches.
Coach Paul Hillsdon’s side are at four-placed Sudbury next Saturday.
Standings (all played 9): 1 City of Peterborough 25pts, 2 Cambridge City IV 24pts, 3 Norwich Dragons 21pts, 4 Sudbury 18pts, 5 Cambridge South 18pts, 6 Norwich City 16pts, 7 St Neots 10pts, 8 Spalding 9pts, 9 Dereham II 9pts, 10 Wisbech 7pts, 11 UEA 3pts, 12 Ipswich II 0pts.
City men’s seconds enjoyed an extraordinary game in East Division One against Dereham. City started the day bottom, but were 6-1 up early in the second-half against a Dereham side who were top having won every game this season. The home side then had to withstand a ferocious second-half onslaught before holding on for a 7-6 win!
Tom Seaton hit a hat-trick for City with Archie Senior (2), Sam Biccarino and Joshi Harriss also on target.
Teenager Amelie Oliver scored one and created the other goal for Laura Sandhu as City of Peterborough Ladies fifths won a Division Five game at Wisbech.
Standings (all played 9): 1 Dereham 24pts, 2 Harleston II 18pts, 3 Norwich City II 18pts, 4 March 16pts, 5 Cambridge 15pts, 6 Bury St Edmunds 14pts, 7 Cambridge Uni II 13pts, 8 Cambridge City II 10pts, 9 UEA 8pts, 10 Kettering 7pts, 11 City of Peterborough 7pts, 12 Long Sutton 5pts.
Other City results: Men – 3rds beat Newmarket 6-1 (Gary Hales 3, Shane Carlton, Jacob Hings, Trevor Matthews); 4ths beat Long Sutton 4-0 (Simon Buckley, Matt Wallace, Manny Patel, Neil Lake); 5ths lost to St Ives 0-1; 6ths beat Long Sutton 7-3 (Phil Martin 3, Wayne Hum[hreys 2, Eesa Najib, Neil Burford); 7ths beat Wisbech 1-0 (Jonathan Bigham); 8ths beat Wisbech 6-0 (Max Hawtin x 4, Isaac Kennett, Arslan Ather).
Ladies – 2nds lost to Cambridge City 1-2 (Erin Brassington); 3rds beat Kettering 2-1 (Hayley Jeal, Clea Treharne); 4ths lost to Long Sutton 0-3.