Men s East Hockey Premier B Long Sutton 3 St Neots 4 ST NEOTS Men overturned the recent run of bad results to record a much-deserved morale-boosting win over Long Sutton. Saints manager Phil Gillett was understandably pleased as his side have endured a d

Men's East Hockey Premier B

Long Sutton 3 St Neots 4

ST NEOTS Men overturned the recent run of bad results to record a much-deserved morale-boosting win over Long Sutton.

Saints manager Phil Gillett was understandably pleased as his side have endured a difficult time since their promotion last year.

He said: "We were forced into wholesale changes for the match, with four players unavailable the team was very much a patched-up side.

"After 10 minutes I feared the worst but once the guys got used to the team structure they played better than they have all season."

Inside seven minutes the home side had galloped into a 2-0 lead as the Saints players seemed all at sea with each other. It was the wake-up call the visitors had needed and they gradually began to gel and produce some very good hockey.

Tim Brewer and Simba Chigwada then produced an outstanding goal from open play as Chigwada fed Brewer who blasted home.

Three superbly-worked short corners added to the confidence of the visitors as Chigwada netted twice and Ian Moor snatched another to give Saints a deserved 4-2 lead at the interval.

The second half was more of a rearguard action by Gillett's men as Sutton threw all but the kitchen sink at them. Led superbly by captain Iggy Coles, and with the back four of Moor, Wayne Tunnah, Grant Bidale and 16-year-old Deon Hayden giving nothing away, they managed to hold out to record a 4-3 win.

Gillett added: "The back four were awesome and our goalkeeper Ian Worsfold pulled off a series of stunning saves to keep the points intact."

n St Neots III visited Peterborough VI seeking a win to keep promotion on the horizon.

The 0-0 score at half-time favoured neither team but it was Saints that increased the ante in the second half and steamed into a two-goal lead courtesy of Stuart Day and Andy Cheung.

What seemed plain sailing turned sour as the Peterborough hosts smashed three past a tired-looking St Neots to get home 3-2, scoring the third with less than two minutes left on the clock.

* St Neots Ladies III got the better of Tring III in an entertaining affair that ended 4-2.

Charlie Gillam netted the first goal but visitors Tring soon equalised.

Juliana Dickinson restored the lead just before the interval but again the visitors hit back to net a second early in the second period before Chris Deeks steadied the nerves with number three and Dickinson hit the fourth to make the result safe.