Five-star show from City of Peterborough in their opening National League fixture

It took the city side until the stroke of half-time to take the lead in a competitive encounter at Bretton Gate, but they romped home in the second-half.

City were relegated from the second tier of the National League last season, but should thrive at this lower level if the opening day game is anything to go by, especially as the club’s former Premier Division sharpshooter Gareth Andrew is back in town.

Andrew ‘only’ scored one, a typically classy first-time finish from Matt Goodley’s cross to make it 2-0, but his mere presence creates space for others. Andrew also struck the underside of the crossbar from a short corner and saw another fierce first-time strike well saved by the visiting goalkeeper.

After a couple of near misses skipper Joe Finding opened the scoring direct from a short corner, and, after Andrew’s goal, Ben Newman was on hand to score after Nick Beattie had done well to retrieve a ball that appeared to be heading out of play.

Finding added a second penalty corner goal in the final quarter before Trevor Matthews claimed a rare goal to complete the scoring.

It wasn’t all one-way traffic and Loughborough were unlucky not to score a couple of goals themselves as City defenders Grady Wing and Scott Howard both made excellent goalline stops.