MEN’S HOCKEY: Perfect starts continue for St Neots 1sts and St Ives 2nds

The 1sts continued a perfect start to the campaign with a fine first-half display in a 3-0 success at Cambridge City Veterans.

Danny Stevenson deflected in a Brad Forsdick pass to open the scoring and the same player created their second goal for Rob Mitchell.

Forsdick completed a hat-trick of assists when releasing Brett Nunn to strike at the second attempt and complete a comfortable Division Three North-West outing.

A solitary Alex Kenyon strike was enough to earn St Neots 2nds a first win of the campaign in Division Four North-West as they overcame Bourne Deeping 4ths.

And Danny Rowland was at the double as the 3rds triumphed 3-2 at St Ives 3rds to also register a first success of 2017/18.

Paul Ray also found the net in that Division Five North-West derby triumph, while Miles Jones and Nat Edwards hit the St Ives goals.

St Neots 4ths have started the season with two draws at the same level. Alex Stubbs (2) and Mark Harrison struck in a 3-3 deadlock against Wellingborough 1sts.

Only one St Ives team managed success last Saturday. That was the 2nds, who saw off Bourne Deeping 3rds 5-3 to claim a second consecutive triumph in Division Four North-West.

Peter Liddle and Oliver Cooke both bagged braces with Michael England also on target.

The 1sts were denied back-to-back wins of their own by a late leveller at Norwich City 2nds.

They had to settle for a 1-1 draw in the Division Two North clash despite leading for much of it courtesy of new signing Dave Haslegrave’s first goal for the club.

He finished a smart move involved captain Alex Prestage and David McCarter to open the scoring in the first half, but the home side levelled in the final minute.

St Ives 4ths and 5ths were both beaten by their Cambridge South equivalents in final friendlies ahead of the start of the Division Six North-West campaign this weekend.

The 4ths went down 4-0 and the 5ths were beaten 5-1 with Ben Rowbotham hitting their consolation.