Hockey East Men s League Division 2N St Ives 3 Cambridge City III 2 SAINTS chairman Simon Fairhall believes his side can claim promotion for a second successive season after another hard-fought victory. Having completed a superb season last time round to

Hockey East Men's League Division 2N

St Ives 3 Cambridge City III 2

SAINTS chairman Simon Fairhall believes his side can claim promotion for a second successive season after another hard-fought victory.

Having completed a superb season last time round to earn promotion, St Ives now find themselves four points clear at the top of the league with eight wins from nine games.

Fairhall said: "We have a good mix of players and although we are not an old team there is plenty of experience on the field.

"After gaining promotion last year we recruited some new players with real quality.

"We also welcomed back into the ranks former players Chris Duncan and Paul Swannell giving us real depth and cover.

"Everyone at the club felt that we would have a good year and to date everything has gone well.

"If we can reach the Christmas break on top of the league it will be a great achievement and should be the impetus to take us forward in the New Year."

On Saturday, Saints maintained their winning run with a home victory against Cambridge City III that owed more to hard graft than attacking flair.

After starting slowly the hosts took an unexpected lead when Alex Drummond stabbed the ball home. The visitors were soon level but St Ives worked hard and re-took the lead when Drummond netted his second.

The second half was an end-to-end affair and Cambridge equalised with a soft goal before John Marjason-Stamp fired in the winner.

Elsewhere, St Ives II visited Spalding and returned home with a good 3-1 win, Saints III drew 1-1 with Cambridge City V, St Ives IV saw off Newmarket 4-3 but Saints V lost out 3-2 at Bourne.

St Ives Ladies returned home empty-handed from their trip to Lowestoft despite a goal from Helen Clarke and heroic defending from captain Vicky Leighton.

Leighton was again in the action in another fixture for her side when she scored the equaliser in a 2-1 cup victory against Broxbourne. Clarke sealed the win with a golden goal.

St Ives Ladies II thrashed Saffron Walden 5-0 thanks to Pippa Atkins, Louise Scotney, Tracy Bryden and Vicky Warner, while St Ives III had to settle for a 1-1 draw against Market Deeping, with Kate Hendry scoring.

* Lively Cambridge University proved too strong for Huntingdon Ladies, who went down 2-0 despite a battling performance from Karen Armstrong.