Shefford & Sandy bounce back in double header to book third
At home to relegation threatened Cambridge on Saturday it was clear from the start which team were most up for it. Cambridge were 2-0 up at the break and the second half continued in much the same vein.
After Cambridge collected their third, and with S&S pride stung, the hosts finally upped their intensity. In the last 15 minutes S&S were camped in Cambridge’s half and Danny Price was on hand for a neat deflection to make it 3-1 and with a few minutes left Chris Fell collected S&S’s second.
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A leveller almost came via Stu Robson but the mighty relieved visitors hung on.
They travelled to Harleston in Norfolk on Sunday to face another relegation-threatened side. The Magpies came at S&S like a ton of bricks to take a two-goal lead which could have been more but for keeper Pete Houghton in goal.
What came after was a transformed S&S side that patiently built from the back to spread the ball across the defensive line. Chances fell to Liam Stevens, Stu Robson and Jamie Hall, and just before the break S&S pulled one back through Robson.
S&S dominated the second period and Chris Fell equalised with a drag flick. Midway through the half, a good move down the left involving Jeff Hall and Doug Dawson led to Robson receiving the ball and he drifted across the Harleston ‘D’ before unleashing a great finish into the bottom right-hand corner for a 3-2 lead.
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Harleston side fought back to level but S&S pressed hard to create several chances before Alyn Meredith provided a finish to make it 4-3.
It was a great team performance. Steve Williams, Ramohan Bhogal and Robson were the standout players.
The men’s IIs lost 2-0 at Berkhamsted.
The IIIs guaranteed the Division 7SW title with two games to play after a thumping 9-0 win over Bedford Vets.
Their performance was typified by patient passing moves. The highlight was a cheeky goal from Ed De Luca, ghosting in to deflect a pass from outside of the D that caught the keeper unawares as it rolled into the goal.
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Other goals came from a Steve Ashdown hat-trick, a Kev Wilson brace, Matt Stevenson and Kev Orchard. Man of the Match was the hard-working Ryan Devlin.
They IVs played Rickmansworth in the late fixture at Sandy on Saturday and narrowly went down 1-0.
A balanced first-half saw chances at either end and S&S keeper James Steer pulled off a string of saves during some continued Ricky pressure. In the second period Ricky converted a short corner with just six minutes remaining. Minutes before, S&S were unlucky to have a goal chalked off after the official spotted a foul on an S&S player just before the ball hit the goal’s back-boards.
They travel to relegation-haunted Blueharts next.