St Neots Hockey Club are slowly turning their Longsands Academy home into a fortress after some superb performances.
All three teams who played at home won. The men’s first team led the way with a 2-1 win against Long Sutton, sealed with a great comeback and late goal.
The visitors had taken the lead but 15-year-old Sam Evans evened things up and in the dying minutes they were rewarded with Bradley Forsdick scoring the winner from a short corner.
The men’s third team won 3-1 against St Ives fourths, Ian Cunningham scoring twice to put them second in the table, Simon Penney on target for St Ives, and the sequence was completed by the ladies’ seconds.
Their victory was the most comfortable of the lot, beating Cambridge City 4-0. Holly Harper, Paula Bingham and Alex Pope made it 3–0 at half-time and Lorna Marshall finished it off in the second half, with goalkeeper Amy Harley the player of the match.
The form at home, however, was in complete contrast to those playing away with all but one team losing.
The ladies’ first-team lost 4-2 to Watton, even with a stunning shift from Charlie Churms and another goal from skipper Caz Osborne, while the fourths went down 2-1 to their St Ives counterparts, Charlotte Smith and Patrycja Stanek scoring for Ives.
The thirds also lost, 4-0 to Cambridge City, while in the men’s section there were defeats for the seconds and fourths, 3-2 to Cambridge Nomads and 6-0 to Ely City.
The one team that bucked the trend was the ladies’ fifths who thumped Broxbourne 4-1 with all four goals coming from Ruby Lane.
The club’s development team have now won all four of their matches so far, conceding only two goals and scoring 23.
The two first teams at St Ives both came up winless but the men did pick up a good 3-3 draw with East Hockey League Division Three North West leaders Long Sutton.
They may be disappointed to have only gained a point though after goals from Mat Bamford, George McCarter and David Haslegrave have given them a 3-1 lead.
Long Sutton kept pressing and got one back after a well-struck shot beat the Ives keeper and in the dying minutes grabbed an equaliser from a penalty corner.
The ladies meanwhile lost 2-1 to Bourne Deeping.
They had taken the lead through Jules Griffiths and held that until that break.
In the second half Ness Pearson kept out a penalty flick and Tara McCarter turned in a starring performance but two late goals from Deeping gave them the win.
Both third teams won though, the ladies beating Cambridge South courtesy of a Lucy Harris goal while the men had Tom Hingston and Jon Wildin to thank for a 2-1 win over March Town.
The only other win in the club came from the men’s second team, also against March Town.
This one was by a 3-2 score at home and needed the hosts to come from 2-0 down not long after half-time.
But Ives refused to let their heads drop though and a big attacking effort pulled one back, Alex Grange hitting the top corner from a short corner.
The comeback was completed thanks to skipper Jamie Sewell. He had already equalised and with just a few minutes left a slap shot from a second short-corner routine brought the victory.
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