Happy Hannah made life grim for her hosts as City of Peterborough edge closer to the Division One title

Nine points from their final five matches would secure top spot for a City side who have responded well under coach Paul Hillsdon to last season’s relegation from the Premier Division.

Last weekend’s success was a 15th in 17 matches and enough for a seven point lead over the chasing pack. City would expect to pick up three more points on Saturday when they host local rivals Spalding (1pm start). Spalding were 3-1 winners at lowly University of East Anglia in their latest match.

After a tight start, Hannah Grimshaw broke the deadlock for City in Cambridge on 13 minutes with a field goal. The score remained this way until Grimshaw converted a penalty corner to extend City's lead in the second-half.

Standings (all played 17): 1 City of Peterborough 46pts, 2 Norwich Dragons 39pts, 3 Cambridge South 37pts, 4 Cambridge City IV 37pts, 5 Sudbury 36pts, 6 Norwich City 27pts, 7 Spalding 18pts, 8 Dereham II 15pts, 9 Wisbech 17pts, 10 St Neots 12pts, 11 Ipswich II 10pts, 12 UEA 9pts.

There were a couple of inter-club East League matches for City of Peterborough with Ewan Fletcher bagging a hat-trick for the fourths in a 5-0 win over the fifths in Division Four and Eesa Najib claiming the only goal as the sixths beat the sevenths 1-0 in Division Five. City sixths are second.

City of Peterborough results…

Men: 2nds lost to Cambs Uni II 1-3 (Cole Bowtell); 3rds beat Cambs Uni 3rds 3-0 (Jules Catto 2, Charlie Bothamley); 4ths beat 5ths 5-0 (Ewan Fletcher 3, Manny Patel, Will Astbury); 6ths beat 7ths 1-0 (Essa Najib); 8ths lost to Ely 0-7;

Women: 1sts beat Cambridge City 4ths 2-0 (Hannah Grimshaw 2); 2nds drew with Pelicans 1-1 (Emily Desmond); 3rds drew 0-0 with Cambs Uni 3rds; 4ths drew 2-2 with Cambs Uni 4ths (Sara Teesdale 2); 5ths lost to Ely 0-1.

Spalding men have won all 17 East Division Two North games this season to forge into a 13-point lead. They came from behind to win 3-1 at Wisbech on Saturday after the hosts had scored in the first minute through Jason Mallett. Bourne Deeping beat Ely 5-1 in the same section.

Standings (all played 17): 1 Spalding 51pts, 2 St Ives 38pts, 3 Cambridge Nomads 37pts, 4 City of Peterborough III 28pts, 5 Bourne Deeping 26pts, 6 Ely 21pts, 7 Wisbech 19pts, 8 Cambridge Sth II 18pts, 9 Cambridge Uni III 17pts, 10 St Neots 15pts, 11 Newmarket 14pts, 12 Cambridge City III 7pts.

Other Wisbech results...

Men: 2nds lost to Spalding 2-6; 4ths beat Spalding 4-1 (Finley Morby-Jones 2, Elliot Peck, Oli Brown); 4ths lost to Newmarket 2-4 (Charlie Bester, Jonathan Boyall).

Ladies: 2nds lost to Cambridge South 0-1; 3rds lost to Pelicans 1-2 (Layne Thompson); 5ths lost to Newmarket 2-5 (Kimberley Mackett, Millie Hubbard).

**City of Peterborough men’s first team are back in National League action at Bretton Gate next Saturday when they host University of Nottingham seconds (6pm). City are currently sixth of 10 teams, a point and a place behind this weekend’s opposition.