Ten wins will be hard to follow

City of Peterborough had an historic day last Saturday, with ten wins and a draw out of thirteen league matches.  All those teams will want to be take this form forward to this weekend, especially for those that are building towards being genuine promotion contenders.

The one draw came for the Men’s 1st XI at home against Wapping – even with the strong defensive record for last weeks’ opposition, this was a big disappointment for the team, who know that was a game they should have won.

This week, they travel to Norwich City, a team struggling at the bottom end of the table.  Having only conceded one goal in the last three league games, City’s defence and their solid keeper Chris Vine are unlikely to be breached too often on Saturday.  They will therefore hope that with fan’s favourite Tom Hagues back from injury and up front, they will have enough goals in the team to win through and put pressure back on the top 4 teams.

With all the top teams having tricky away trips, City will hope for some slip ups elsewhere, so that they can start to pull back points and push towards the top again.

The Ladies 1st XI are home at the Gate in a 2.30pm pushback.  The opposition are Dereham, a team who were in the National League only a few years ago, but they are now a place below our Ladies, who are on good run going unbeaten in the last four games now. 

A win or draw will consolidate their mid-table position, but City will want all three points.

The Men’s 2nd XI have one of the longest trips in the East League on Saturday, all the way down the A14 to Felixstowe.  Waiting for them there will be former City player, James “Sharpie” Sharpe, who will relish the match up with his old chums, so there’s sure to be a little extra crunch in the midfield.

This is a tough game for the Twos, with Felixstowe pushing for promotion, but hopefully they can take last week’s form, when they beat Cambridge University, into the game.  Young goalkeeper Cameron Goodey again continues in goal for City 2nds, having performed well in his first two games at this level and in fact as he has yet to lose, he deservedly keeps his place.

The biggest Men’s home game of the day is the 1pm pushback, where the 3rds take on struggling Bishops Stortford.  Their result last week at Harleston was clearly their best of the season and they want to bring that form home to consolidate their push towards mid-table.

The 3rd team have some tough games to come soon, but this is a young side that is developing fast, so they will get better and better, perhaps causing a few more upsets during the rest of season too.

The day starts at City of Peterborough with the Men’s 5th team playing St Ives 2nds.  The visitors are one place below City, so a win for new dad Iain Green’s team will push them well into the top half of Division 3NW. 

At 11.30am, the Men’s 9th team will look to keep their unbeaten league record going.  Ably marshalled from the back by Peter “Hinger” Hings, they have three wins and two draws and lie third in the table.  They host Boston’s 1st (and only) team, who are just below City in the table.

The final game at the Gate at 4pm is the Men’s 8ths who host Long Sutton 3rds.  After their first Division 5NW league win last week, they will want to take more points on Saturday to pull away from the bottom.  The young lads are sure to keep learning, so all points gained in these early weeks of the league are sure to be multiplied later in the season, as the experience of playing at this level increases.

The key away game of the day is the Glorious Sixes trip to Spalding 2nds.  This is a second v first match-up in Division 4NW, and the Sixes new found blend of experience and youth may very well be the mix to upset the unbeaten Spalding team.

The Men’s 4th team also play away and will expect to beat bottom of the table Cambridge South 2nds.   This will keep up pressure on Division 3NW league leaders Cambridge South 1sts, but it is even possible that City may end the day at the top of table, as South have a difficult trip to Long Sutton.

The remaining fixtures are:

• Men’s 7th team v St Neots 2nds – off-site at the Thomas Deacon Academy
• Men’s Vets v Cambridge City Vets – at Cambridge University Sports Ground, Cambridge
• Ladies 2nds v Long Sutton 1sts – at the Peele School, Long Sutton
• Ladies 3rds v Spalding 2nds – at Glen Park Astro, Surfleet