Spalding Hockey Club round-up
Charlotte Maplethorpe led the scoring spree as Spalding Ladies 2nds recorded a convincing 11-1 win against their Newmarket counterparts on Saturday.
Maplethorpe netted four times while Karen Timby struck a hat-trick in an emphatic victory at Glen Park.
Spalding started brightly with Maplethorpe creating a solo opening chance while a quick counter from Newmarket forced keeper Freya to make a fine save early in the game.
The first goal arrived in the 10th minute when Sam Maltby delivered a pinpoint pass to Maplethorpe who opened her account with an unstoppable strike.
Goal number two came from a short corner with the now classic Timby top D strike.
The pressure continued for Newmarket with Zoe Moore securing another short corner and birthday girl Kelly Tizzano tapping it home from a deflection.
Minutes later player of the match Honor Moore was justly rewarded with a goal having received a strong ball through from Leanne Pick.
Newmarket were not giving Spalding an easy ride and were awarded their own penalty corner which they scored decisively from.
The second half saw Spalding calm their game and, with improved passing throughout the team, led to a short corner being slotted home by Timby.
Some wonderful passing between Hennie Boekestyn, Tizzano and Maplethorpe resulted in goal number two for the latter.
An on-fire Timby completed her hat trick with a top right-hand corner blast into the net.
Throughout the game Vicky Worrall launched some ballistic shots across the Newmarket defensive lines.
Boekestyn, having put herself in some strong supporting roles, was finally given her spotlight moment with a goal of her own.
With Steph Wilson popping on and off the pitch, creating play through to Moore who worked hard with birthday girl Kelly Cooper for yet more penalty corner pressure.
This time the Timby strike took a deflection only to be picked up by a diving Maplethorpe to bring her own hat-trick home.
Sally Pilgrim returned to the pitch at left back and played much higher to give Boekestyn a beautiful pass that allowed her to turn and give goalscoring machine Maplethorpe strike number four.
Not to be left out of the party, Cooper picked up another Timby deflection, matching the diving style earlier demonstrated by Maplethorpe for goal number 11.
The ladies' first team showed a positive and refreshed mindset after last week as they recorded a 2-1 success over Cambridge City 5ths on Saturday.
The Maroons began brightly and passed the ball around maintaining possession as they worked up the pitch.
Spalding won a few short corners they were unfortunate not to convert.
Cambridge pressed well, catching Spalding out, and managed to score a goal.
Spalding kept pushing and managed to get the ball to Ellie Holland who took a shot from the top of the D into the bottom corner to equalise before half-time.
After a positive team talk, Spalding entered the second half eager to score another goal.
Cambridge were also pushing hard, but Spalding continued to maintain possession and push the opposition back into their own half.
A strong run from Georgina Maplethorpe through the midfield enabled a perfectly placed ball into the D for Amy Naylor to poke into the goal for a 2-1 victory.
Spalding's men's fourth team secured their first league win of the season after a 3-2 success against Long Sutton 3rds on Saturday.
The Maroons started strongly and took a deserved lead after 10 minutes when good work from Brian Read found Peter Wright on hand to slot home.
Long Sutton thwarted the fast starting Spalding and equalised with a short corner goal from Andrew Shore which found its way into the net via a couple of deflections.
Long Sutton took the lead through another short corner from Shore after the break before excellent defensive work on the line by Lorenzo Mendoza kept the score at 2-1.
Despite the setback, Spalding continued to play expansive hockey and were rewarded as Danny Wright found Peter Wright to equalise from close range.
The momentum shifted and, with ten minutes to go, a well worked short corner was clinically despatched by Dave Burrell.
Spalding saw out the final 10 minutes with little drama to secure a first win of the season and a first win for many of the young side in league hockey.
Illness crippled the first team squad again as they were beaten 5-4 after the long trip to Ipswich on Saturday.
The game started with high intensity and, following a drive into the D by an Ipswich attacker, a shot took a massive deflection and looped into the bottom corner to put the home team ahead.
Spalding reacted very well and a quality link up between Dan Azzopardi and goalscorer Jacob Baker gave the Maroons an immediate equaliser.
The goal gave Spalding the momentum to win a short corner that Stuart Cunnington calmly converted through a drag flick into the bottom right corner.
However, their numbers in attack left Spalding vulnerable to a counter which led to an Ipswich overload in the visiting D, giving the Suffolk side an equaliser through a pass to the back post and good finish at near post.
Once again, Spalding reacted well, scoring two goals via Cunnington and Darren Grooby, who scored his first goal for Spalding first team through a wonderful first time finish assisted very nicely by Baker to put Spalding 4-2 up at half-time.
A tired Spalding invited a lot of pressure from Ipswich, which was made more difficult following a green card for Will Baker.
The Spalding defence was eventually broken down through two quick short corners, and a reverse shot late on, through many bodies and deflections, ended up in the top corner to put Spalding behind.
Despite Spalding’s best efforts to respond again, they could not find the goal, meaning the game finished 5-4 to Ipswich.
Two first half goals sent Spalding's second team to defeat against Cambridge City 5ths.
They had started the game strongly, playing out from the back well and putting Cambridge on the back foot with a few opportunities to score but just falling at the last hurdle.
Unfortunately, some Spalding mistakes allowed Cambridge to break away and win a short corner which they were able to convert.
After scoring, Cambridge came alive and managed to wriggle their way into the D and score a second not long after their first.
Spalding were able to hold on until the end of the first half thanks to some great goalkeeping from Rob Callaby.
After half-time, Spalding started to claw themselves back into the game with some great play through the middle and they found themselves attacking the opposition D but just lacking the final touch.
Spalding's press was maintained for the majority of the second half, finding a few short corners, however, Cambridge were able to hold until full time.
A depleted third team went down to an 8-0 away loss at a strong Ely City 2nds.
Spalding started on the back foot with Ely scoring first and, with the Maroons not being able to play out of their own half, the hosts continued to pile on the pressure and they scored four more to make it 5-0 at half-time.
Spalding upped their game in the second half and started to put some pressure on.
Ely remained in control and, although Spalding kept a strong structure in defence and midfield, the hosts scored three more in the second half to make it 8-0 at full time.