NE14 Hockey East Men s League Division 2N Spalding 2 St Ives 4 THE outstanding form of St Ives men s hockey side continued as the team made it 14 straight league wins in their quest for the title. Lincolnshire outfit Spalding tried and failed to hold a

NE14 Hockey East Men's League Division 2N

Spalding 2 St Ives 4

THE outstanding form of St Ives' men's hockey side continued as the team made it 14 straight league wins in their quest for the title.

Lincolnshire outfit Spalding tried and failed to hold a well-drilled St Ives side that played with speed and accuracy and it was third penalty corner lucky for Ben Scarrow, who slotted home after two earlier corners had failed to produce a goal.

Still dominant, it was Ian Basser who made it two for Saints before the break - once again from a penalty corner.

The second half saw a third goal by Paul Swannell, flicking into the roof of the net, to finish an excellent penalty corner routine.

After the third the hosts put together their first spell of concerted pressure to threaten the St Ives defence.

The pressure paid off as for the first time in many weeks the defence wobbled slightly and Spalding roared back into the game with two penalty corner strikes that found their mark.

The shock of conceding twice woke up St Ives and the response came when Dave Land beat the home defence to make the game safe.

The man of the match was shared between Mark Cox for his energetic work rate and Ben Scarrow. With second-placed Ipswich losing, St Ives now have a seven point lead at the top of Division 2N. Cambridge City are the visitors this weekend.

St Ives II had a comfortable 4-1 win over Cambridge City V. Saints held a 2-1 lead at the interval thanks to strikes from Stuart Perry and Chris Bollom. Tim McGlashan and Neil Tuffin made the game safe with good strikes in the second half.

St Ives III went down 4-2 at Ely where Kevin Donnelly and Scott Perry scored the goals. It was a bad day for St Ives IV who crashed 5-0 to March Town and St Ives V got no change in Cambridge as they were beaten 1-0 by South IV.

St Ives Ladies had a bad day at the office as they failed to compete at Dereham, eventually losing 7-0, while St Ives II lost their home game against Cambridge City IV 2-1.