Louth Hockey Club men’s sides claim winning treble

Louth Hockey Club’s men’s sides strengthened their promotion claims with a hat-trick of wins last weekend.
Toby Parker was the Second XI's man-of-the-match against Long Sutton EMN-190403-172430002Toby Parker was the Second XI's man-of-the-match against Long Sutton EMN-190403-172430002
Toby Parker was the Second XI's man-of-the-match against Long Sutton EMN-190403-172430002

The First XI won 7-1 at home to St Neots to stay top of East :League Division 5NW, while the seconds beat Bourne Deeping 5-2 on Saturday and the following day defeated Long Sutton 2-0 in a rearranged fixture.

But the club’s ladies sides were out of luck, with the First XI losing 5-2 at Sheffield Hallam, and the second team suffering defeat at Bourne Deeping.

After playing the last two games without a win, Louth Firsts were looking to put a change to that at home to St Neots Second XI.

John Medlar battles for possession EMN-190403-172410002John Medlar battles for possession EMN-190403-172410002
John Medlar battles for possession EMN-190403-172410002

St Neots came out with a high tempo, looking to apply early pressure, and were rewarded when they took the lead through a mix of defensive errors and good composure from their striker.

Louth slowly built their way back into the game, and soon after conceding, levelled through Chris Higgins.

This then led to a flurry of goals for Louth who went in at half-time leading 4-1 thanks to goals from Stu Trotter, Alex Bell, and a second from Higgins.

In the second half, the number of substitutes Louth had to choose from began to pay dividends as St Neots, who were without any replacements, began to tire.

Louth keeper Olly Trotter EMN-190403-172420002Louth keeper Olly Trotter EMN-190403-172420002
Louth keeper Olly Trotter EMN-190403-172420002

Louth scored three in the second half, through Richard Limmer (2) and Rob Chamberlin who scored from a well-worked short corner to make the game 7-1.

The home side had to survive a scare midway through the second half when the St Neots striker found himself one-on-one with the keeper.

However, Olly Trotter did enough to put off the attacker, and the scrambling Louth defence dealt with the danger.

Overall Louth recorded a relatively easy win to maintain their lead at the top of the table.

* Louth men’s seconds won the first of two games against Bourn, taking an early lead when George Cruickshank fired home following Ishasha Stewart’s through ball.

Adaam Peera then doubled the seconds’ advantage, smashing home after a short corner broke down, and Louth grabbed one more before half-time when man-of-the-match Ben Vickers tapped home his first senior goal.

Despite plenty of pressure in the second half, Bourne grabbed a consolation before Cruickshank grabbed his second, pushing the ball into the corner past the keeper.

Louth then scored their fifth when Max Greenfield slapped home from the centre of the circle, before the visitors scored a second consolation.

* The Seconds then produced a strong performance to earn their second win of the weekend against Long Sutton.

Playing a re-arranged fixture after snow cancelled the original fixture, Louth went ahead early on through George Cruickshank, who slapped the ball home when one-on-one with the keeper.

Louth carried on playing well, with lots of good passing across the midfield.

Alex Armstrong and John Medlar controlled the play and made many good chances for the forwards, but they couldn’t find another goal before the break.

Louth maintained the same pattern in the second half and found themselves in the D many times, but they has to wait for their next goal when Alex Armstrong fired a great strike past the keeper into the bottom corner to make it 2-0

The home side continued to pressure, but couldn’t find any more goals, with the defence making plenty of strong tackles to limit their opponents’ chances at the other end.

The man-of-the-match award went to Toby Parker for his strong tackling in defence.