Long Sutton Hockey Club round-up

Long Sutton put in their biggest shift of the season so far as they claimed a fantastic victory against high-flying St Neots on Saturday.

The Saints had only lost one game in the opening quarter of the season with the half-term holidays affecting availability for Sutton.

An early pushback has commonly been a curse for the men in green but, with one of the best starts to a season of any first team for some time, they were ready to do battle.

The opening exchanges of the game were nothing short of cagey on both sides.

The defence of Michael Donaghy, Josh Fyson, Dan Oldfield and Luke Proctor were tested early but absorbed the pressure well.

It was testament to the quick passing Sutton have played this season that counters were quick and swift and they soon found themselves in and around the St Neots D.

Nick Ellis, McKenzie East, Dan Plant and Olly Taylor ran tirelessly to create chances and short corners early doors.

Sutton's attacking ventures would eventually prevail with East netting his first of the afternoon 25 minutes in.

This seemingly rattled the cage of St Neots who responded with waves of attacks, but yet again the defence with Sam Gray and Dominic Ibrahim in the centre of the park kept the Saints at bay as Sutton led at the interval.

Keen to put the game to bed after the break, Sutton maintained their quick passing style of play and again made in-roads.

A quick aerial pass found East who strolled into the D and finished neatly on his reverse for his second of the afternoon.

St Neots were not going down without a fight and a couple of crucial saves from James Cliff and a ball to the post created some nerves in the Sutton ranks.

Fyson saw green and, at the same point, St Neots pulled their keeper to go to 11 outfield to try and salvage something from the game.

Their efforts would be rewarded as their forward put away a flick which made for an interesting final six minutes.

A final St Neots short corner set up a tense finish - the first effort was but it wasn't over as the umpire had blown for yet another short corner. This one was well ran down and cleared as Sutton took the three points.

Long Sutton 2nds secured a second successive derby victory after a 3-0 away win in their table-topping clash with Wisbech 2nds.

Sutton started well as Wisbech struggled to cope with Daniel Batten who looked to continue his fine vein of goalscoring form.

It did not take him long to break the deadlock as he opened the scoring with a clinical finish to make it 1-0 after three minutes.

Wisbech were shocked and, before they had time to collect themselves, Troy Croxford scored with a deflected finish to double the lead after just six minutes.

With their marauding front-runners creating chance after chance, the score would have been more if it had not been for the resolute defending of the Shippey brothers for Wisbech as the home side tried to come back into the game.

Sutton were having none of it, playing their best half of hockey all season, and it was little surprise when Batten scored his second and Sutton's third after 23 minutes.

Three goals down, Wisbech were left with a mountain to climb - in an area where mountain climbing is rare.

Sutton's forwards were excellent along with their defence with Tom Baguley and Simon Clarke as assured as ever with more than able support from Stefan Fox and Ben Hales.

Sutton controlled the second half and, although Wisbech came back into it a little, there really was no doubt of the final outcome.

The ladies' first team went down to a 2-0 defeat against Cambridge City 4ths.