Wittering Premiair maintain their unbeaten record in Division One of the Peterborough League with victory over Pinchbeck United Reserves

Unbeaten Wittering Premiair made it four wins from four Peterborough League Division One games with a 6-2 victory at Pinchbeck United Reserves on Saturday.

Lee Croft scored four times for the early season table-toppers as a second half goal blitz sunk their hosts to maintain Wittering Premiair’s impressive start to the campaign.

The hosts had the strong wind in their favour in the opening period and set out with an attacking formation.

However, it was Wittering Premiair who struck first as Simon Farrow’s pinpoint free-kick picked out James Ould who calmly headed back across goal for Croft to tap in from close range.

Croft had a second effort disallowed for offside shortly after and Wittering Premiair then started to lose their way slightly by showing a lack of composure.

They did double their lead though 10 minutes before half-time when Farrow again found plenty of space down the right-hand side.

His accurate through ball released Croft who slotted home past the on-rushing keeper to give Wittering Premiair a two-goal advantage at the break.

A third goal in these sort of games often sparks a shift in momentum and, within five minutes of the restart, Pinchbeck had halved the deficit.

They countered with numbers down the left flank and the ball was superbly crossed in for Pinchbeck to peg one back in off the shoulder of the oncoming player which completely wrong-footed Paul Greenhalgh in the Wittering Premiair goal.

The balance of play swung and Pinchbeck had a spring in their step which gave them belief.

A break in midfield saw the Wittering Premiair defence wrong-footed which allowed the Pinchbeck forward to place the ball neatly past Greenhalgh for an equaliser.

The balance of play and possession swung in Pinchbeck’s favour with Wittering Premiair having to dig deep to try and turn the game around.

The hosts created the next big chance on the edge of the Wittering Premiair box, but Greenhalgh made a spectacular save down low to his left-hand side.

That proved to be the turning point as Wittering Premiair regained their composure and showed a lot of character to grab the game by the scruff of its neck and battle for everything.

They had crucially regained the lead within five minutes as a short corner from Croft to Farrow saw his perfectly-shaped cross to the back post headed into the top corner by Lee Booker.

This changed the complexion of the rest of the game as the Wittering Premiair players felt the pressure drop and momentum swing in their favour.

Within a couple of minutes, Croft had completed his hat-trick as Luke Smith gathered the ball in an advanced position within Pinchbeck’s half before a sliding a pass through to Wittering Premiair’s marksman who shot across the keeper right into the bottom corner.

Croft wasn’t finished there as Wittering Premiair had now found their groove.

The same two players again combined with Smith lifting the ball to Croft who smashed his effort home with a reverse shot across the keeper into the top corner.

The scoring still wasn’t finished as moments before the end James Savage played a lovely diagonal free kick onto the head of Booker who nodded down for Steve Snelling to smash home a half volley from 22 yards into the top corner.

Wittering Reserves went down to a heavy 8-1 home defeat against Farcet in Division Two with Ben Otterwell netting their consolation.

The unbeaten A team were 6-5 winners in their thrilling away clash at Dreams in Division Three.

Joe Dobson and Sam Eaton both bagged braces with Matt Barber and Mark Watson also on target for the early pacesetters.

The B team completed a double over Dreams with a 5-0 victory over their reserves in Division Five.