Strong words from City of Peterborough skipper sparked a second-half surge

​Skipper Matt Porter had to deliver some harsh words after a goalless first-half at Dereham on Saturday.

It did the trick as main man Gareth Andrew struck four minutes after the re-start before Porter (2), Adam Stefanelli-Wilson and Louie Raybould completed a 5-1 success.

City will expect to beat lowly Upminster at Bretton Gate this Saturday (4pm) before they tackle their nearest rivals Pelicans and Bedford on back-to-back weekends.

Premier Division

(Top Three)

1- City of P’boro 8 7 0 1 +26 21

2- Pelicans 9 6 1 1 +9 19

3- Bedford 8 6 0 2 +15 18

City of Peterborough Ladies suffered a disappointing 3-0 defeat at Norwich Dragons to slip to ninth in a 12-team division. They host leaders Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday (1pm).

There wasn’t a lot of joy for City teams last weekend with only three others recording East League wins.

Jonathan Bigham scored the only goal of the game as the men’s sixths beat Newmarket 1-0 to pick up a second win of the Division Five season.

Table-topping City sevenths beat St Neots 3-0 in Division Six with goals from Will Hawtin, Andi Caddy and Toby McCoy, and the ladies thirds were 4-0 winners over Spalding seconds in Division Two thanks to goals from Tilly Stevens (2), Lauren Finding and Lisa Deacon.

Andrew Fletcher and Joshi Harriss scored the goals as the men’s thirds drew 2-2 at Ely in Division Two. The two teams who had perfect records, Bourne and March, fought out a 1-1 draw.

Division Two

1- Bourne 8 7 1 0 +27 22

2- March 7 6 1 0 +20 19

6- City of P’boro III 7 1 5 1 +11 8

Charlie Bothamley scored both goals as City men’s fifths drew 2-2 with Cambridge Nomads in Division Three, while Kelsey Brace, Ian Kennedy, Harry Dodds and Andrew Dodds were on target for the eighths in a 4-4 draw with Ely in Division Six.

Trevor Matthews scored the consolation goal as City seconds were thumped 6-1 at Division One leaders Cambridge University.