Wittering Premiair secure four victories on the opening day of the Peterborough League season

Wittering Premiair enjoyed a memorable start to their new era after all four of the club's teams toasted victory on the opening weekend of the new Peterborough League season.

The two clubs - Wittering and Premiair - merged during the summer and couldn't have wished for a better start to the new campaign.

The first team ran out 5-1 winners in their home Division One clash with Tydd who have been relegated from the top flight.

Lee Croft and Grant Tippett both scored twice for Wittering Premiair with new signing Jack Travers also on target.

Both teams went into the contest with little knowledge of each other and it was Tydd who started the brightest, threatening the home goal in the first couple of minutes with a header from a set piece which in the end went over the bar.

Wittering Premiair settled and the early pivotable moment came from decent work down their left which started with a throw-in from Simon Farrow to the industrious Steve Snelling.

Snelling in turn rolled the ball to Luke Smith on the turn and he then slid a pass to captain and birthday boy Tippett who saw his piledriver smash into the top corner of Tydd’s goal.

After the initial goal the balance of play swung into Wittering Premiair's favour with a few half chances before the hosts scored their second of the day.

The pressure was mounting and, after the Tydd goalkeeper made a triple save to keep out two attempts from Croft and another from Andrew Moss, the ball finally fell to Tippett who fired home via a couple of slight deflections for his second goal within the opening 20 minutes.

Tydd responded and broke down their right-hand side before drawing an excellent one-on-one save from Wittering Premiair custodian Paul Greenhalgh.

It really looked like being Tippett's day though when Moss was hacked down in the box with Wittering Premiair's normal penalty taker James Savage handing the ball to the newly-turned 21-year-old to seal his hat-trick.

However, although Tippett struck the ball with venom, it bounced off the inside of the right-hand post to eventually go out for a throw-in.

But Wittering Premiair only had to wait a few more moments for their third goal as Croft was played in by debutant Farrow and took a couple of touches before slotting home to secure a comfortable half-time lead.

Tydd came out after the break looking more fired up and the game was played in the middle of the park for the majority of the next 15 minutes.

That was until Wittering Premiair maintained good possession in the Tydd half through some excellent play down the right-hand side.

A lovely direct ball into the feet of Tippett who, along with Ashley Middleton, toyed with the Tydd defence with the former pulling the ball back for Croft to hammer a left-footed thunderbolt into the top corner.

A momentary lack of concentration then frustrated Wittering Premiair as Chris Yaxley played to the whistle while the home defence stopped and he netted past the stranded Greenhalgh whose slight touch was unable to stop the ball from trickling home.

Wittering Premiair soon restored their four-goal lead though when debutant Travers - who has joined from Stamford Lions - collected a ball from Smith, turned well and slotted home to seal the win.

Assistant manager Lee Booker commented: "It was a high energy game and in stages there was little football played, but we did the ugly stuff extremely well.

"It was excellent to be back playing and I think that showed in the lads.

"There were two downsides to the day though - the first being player-manager Sam Cayley having to receive treatment for an injury which could potentially leave him on the sidelines for a couple of weeks.

"The second was that man of the match Tippett didn't celebrate his 21st birthday with a deserved hat-trick.

"But we go again next week with a trip to another tough game and unknown quantity in Rippingale & Folkingham."

Wittering Premiair's reserves ran out 3-2 winners in their trip to Parson Drove's second string in Division Two thanks to goals from Aidan Doherty (2) and Ben Otterwell.

Joe Dobson produced a five-star performance for the A team as they secured a club double over Tydd with a 9-2 triumph in Division Three.

Dobson struck five times with Steve Colangelo, Sam Eaton, Daniel Hook and Tom Smith also on target.

The B team completed the clean sweep of opening day wins with a 2-1 away victory at Weldon in Division Five thanks to goals from Giorgio Falcone and Liam Reilly.