City of Peterborough return to National League hockey action with a humdinger of a local derby, skipper scores twice as ladies hand out a lesson at Cambridge University

Matches between the top two sides in Cambridgeshire are always tasty affairs as it was on the opening day of the season when City of Peterborough’s Ben Newman was shown a rare red card in a 3-1 defeat.

That was a sign of things to come for the city team who are rooted to the bottom of the table with just two points from nine games, but they are just four points from safety.

Certainly team manager Graham Finding hasn’t given up hope.

“The target for the season was to maintain Division 1 status,” Finding said. “Given the comparatively vast resources, particularly the University sides, of the opposition this would be an achievement in itself.

“We have shown with the away draws secured at Deeside and Sheffield that we can be competitive on our day, but some defeats have shown that, at times, the players need to show more tactical nous. We clearly also need to create and convert more goal scoring opportunities. The side have undoubtedly developed over the first half of the season and off the back of two friendly wins in the last seven days the side are full of confidence.

“Unquestionably the away loss to Cambridge was our worst performance of the season, but with improvements since that match, and hopefully a full squad to select from, we have given ourselves the best possible opportunity to secure a win, and give our chances of survival in this league a massive boost.”

City won 5-2 at St Albans and 4-2 at Bedford in back-to-back friendlies.

City men’s seconds became just the second team to take points off Premier Division leaders Norwich City at Bretton Gate last Saturday (January 29). It finished 3-3 with Zak Scotting, Henry Ricketts and Stuart Biggs scoring for City and it was almost even better as the hosts led 3-1 before Norwich equalised two minutes from time.

City of Peterborough Ladies returned to winning ways in the East Premier Division on Saturday with a 4-2 success at Cambridge University.

Skipper Tierney Agustine scored twice with Shelley Broadway and Leonie Hart also on target for City who are sixth and who host fifth-placed Sudbury at Bretton Gate on Saturday (1pm).

Jodie Abraham and Charlotte Bennett scored for City seconds, but they went down 4-2 at home to Cambridge South in Division One.