City of Peterborough men warm-up in style for big National League task and the ladies power on
City of Peterborough will bid to become the first team to beat National Midlands Conference leaders Leek at Bretton Gate on Sunday (2pm start).
City warmed up for a tough task by seeing off Nottingham University seconds 3-1 at Bretton Gate last Saturday to move up to fourth place, albeit 11 points behind Leek who have won nine of their 13 league games this season. The Staffs side have claimed a lot of single-goal victories, including a 3-2 home success over City in October.
Standings (all played 13): 1 Leek 31pts, 2 Oxford Hawks 27pts, 3 St Albans 22pts, 4 City of Peterborough 20pts, 5 Norwich City 19pts, 6 University of Nottingham II 18pts, 7 Banbury 14pts, 8 Barford Tigers 10pts, 9 University of Birmingham II 8pts, 10 Stourport 7pts.
Player-coach Gareth Andrew opened the scoring for City against the students in the ninth minute, but the visitors equalised late in the first-half.
Matt Goodley scored an excellent individual effort to shoot City back in front after 39 minutes before Joe Finding effectively sealed the win with a 52nd minute penalty stroke.
City of Peterborough Ladies need six points from their final four games to seal the East Division One title and an immediate return to Premier Division hockey. Five points would almost certainly do given the huge goal difference advantage a dominant team enjoys.
City beat Spalding 3-0 on Saturday with goals from Hope Elkins, Lily Craven and Lea Goddard the scorers. Spalding, who are seventh, battled well to stop City scoring in the final 30 minutes.
The champions-elect are at bottom club St Neots on Saturday. They will want to wrap up the title in the next fortnight as their final two fixtures are against Sudbury, the only team to beat them so far, and Norwich Dragons who are second. City should be celebrating after hosting third from bottom Ipswich seconds on March 7.
Norwich Dragons beat Wisbech 7-0 on Saturday.
Other City of Peterborough results.
Men: 2nds lost to Cambridge 2-5 (Henry Ricketts, Cole Bowtell); 3rds drew 3-3 with Spalding (Gary Hales, Josh Morley, Shane Carlton); 4ths beat Kettering 3-1 (Manny Patel 2, Craig Petrie); 5ths beat Spalding 3-2 (Matt Wallace, Simon Buckley, Adam Humphreys); 6ths beat Pelicans 11-0 (Wayne Humphreys 5, Eesa Najib 3, Phil Martin 2, David Simpson); 7ths beat Spalding 3-2 (Max Hawtin 2, Steve Cooper); 8ths lost to Newmarket 0-1.
Women: 2nds beat Ely 5-0 (Emily Desmond 2, Rhian Saunders, Annie Chan, Cam Braid); 3rds lost to Pelicans 1-4 (Kirsten Hackett); 4ths drew 0-0 with Cambs South; 5ths drew 1-1 with Pelicans (Matilda Ferguson).
City men’s thirds became the first team to take points off Division Two leaders Spalding. Spalding won 17 games in a row before their 3-3 draw at Bretton Gate. Former Spalding man Gary Hales, Josh Morley and Shane Carlton scored for the home side.
Bourne Deeping, who are fifth, crushed third placed Cambridge Nomads 8-2 with a dazzling display led by hat-trick man Ben Brittain. Richard Collins and Charlie Butler scored twice with Alessandro Vardaro also on target.
Wisbech 1sts came from 4-2 down to draw 4-4 with Cambridge South with Paul Lawrence equalising with a last-gasp penalty corner strike. Kieran Hallett, Jason Mallett and Karl Balding also scored.
Standings (all played 18): 1 Spalding 52pts, 2 St Ives 41pts, 3 Cambridge Nomads 37pts, 4 City of Peterborough III 39pts, 5 Bourne Deeping 39pts, 6 Ely 22pts, 7 Wisbech 20pts, 8 Cambridge Sth II 19pts, 9 Cambridge University III 18pts, 10 St Neots 16pts, 11 Newmarket 14pts, 12 Cambridge C III 8pts.
City sixths are back on top of Division Six on goal difference after an 11-0 bashing of Pelicans. Wayne Humphreys scored five and Essa Najib hit a hat-trick. Adam Humphreys, the 17 year-old son of Wayne, scored in a 3-2 win for City fifths against Spalding.
Bourne Deeping thirds are also in title contention after toppling previous leaders Kettering 6-1. Chris Mann was the hat-trick hero in this game while Aaron Waters (2) and Pete Moisey also scored.
Standings (all played 18): 1 City of Peterborough VI 43pts, 2 Kettering 43pts, 3 Bourne Deeping III 41pts, 4 Wisbech III 36pts, 5 City Of Peterborough 7ths 35pts, 6 St Ives IV 29pts, 7 Pelicans IV 21pts, 8 Cambridge Sth V 20pts, 9 Newmarket III 18pts, 10 Spalding IV 13pts, 11 Long Sutton III 5pts, 12 Wisbech IV 2pts.
Other Wisbech results.
Men: 2nds lost to Cambridge University 1-2; 3rds lost to Newmarket 3-4 (Ciaran Lowe 2, Brodie Ellis);
Ladies: 2nds drew with Cambridge South 2-2 (Claire Burton, Brogan Wright); 3rds beat Cambridge City 6-0; 4ths drew 3-3 with St Neots (Millie McClagish 2, Bailey Hanrahan).