Parson Drove, Wisbech Town Reserves and Sutton Bridge eyeing promotion
Three of our teams will come out of Lockdown II with promotion very much on their minds.
Premier Division Parson Drove, Division Two side Wisbech Reserves and Sutton Bridge United in Division Five are all looking to progress.
In the Premier, Parson Drove looked to be mounting a credible promotion challenge towards Step 6 when they won their first three games of the season.
But defeats to Uppingham Town and Stilton United have left them in sixth place, although that would be enough to be considered for promotion by the FA.
They were also dealt a blow when the referee called off the game with Stamford Lions, after Drove’s line marking machine broke, meaning the pitch could not be marked out properly.
They subsequently had to concede the game and were docked a point, decisions they hope will be overturned on appeal.
Dan Hempson has netted five times so far for Drove, whose manager Robbie Harris said: “Our season has been a bit up and down so far. We have had some exceptional results by beating Peterborough North End Sports and Netherton in consecutive weeks, but failed the week after, losing at home to Uppingham.
“We also lost the last game before lockdown and failed to perform on the day. If we turn up and are on it, I do believe it would take a very good team to take any points off us, but we currently have too many off days.
“Our objective at the start of the season was to win the league and obtain promotion and that hasn’t changed. We need a run of good performances to really kick-start our charge to achieving our goals.”
Long Sutton have endured an up and down campaign thus far. Big victories against Cardea and Oakham have been mixed in with heavy defeats against Netherton and Crowland.
One positive for the tenth placed Magpies is the form of Matthew Eaton who is currently third top goalscorer in the league, with seven goals in nine games.
Manager Dan Monaghan said: “So far I think the resounding feeling amongst both the management team and the players is what could have been.
“We feel that we should be four or five points better off at present than we are - and that’s not including the disappointing defeats to Netherton and Crowland.
“But quite simply we haven’t been good enough, nor consistent enough, in hitting the levels we expect, considering what we believe is a talented and very capable group of players.
“But in football the table doesn’t lie and, hopefully, we will get the opportunity after the lockdown to right a few wrongs, regroup and perform to the levels we should.
“It’s a great bunch of lads that we have and I’m confident we will come back strong.”
Currently sitting in 12th place out of 16 is Leverington Sports, whose 6-1 hammering of bottom side Oakham United is their only win so far.
Harley Hollis scored two in that game and currently has seven goals in nine starts.
Manager Marley Coe said: “After a slow, poor start to the season, we’ve recently started to find our feet and pick points up with a few decent performances.
“If we could put teams to bed and finish our chances when on top and turn our draws into wins we would be higher in the table.
“But that’s the nature of the Peterborough Prem – you can easily be punished. Not to mention we’ve given away penalties in all but three of our nine games.
“If we can keep the squad together every week without losing players to injury or players being unavailable, we will keep climbing, I’m sure.
“We have a great group of lads here at Leverington and recently added a couple of players to it. I’m looking forward to getting the boys back out there and pushing on from where we left off.”
In Division One, relegated Tydd have overcome a tricky start which saw them pick up only a point after their first five games, to go into lockdown with four successive wins.
Much of that has been down to the goalscoring form of Dominic Easey, who has scored nine goals in his eight appearances this season.
Tydd joint-manager Stuart Easey said: “Myself and Alan Burch went into this year new to management, but with an idea of the players we wanted and how we wanted to play.
“Even with losing a few games early on, we could see plenty of positives in the way we were playing. Another positive was adding the experienced Marcus Burrell to our management team.
“We know we have a long way to go, but we are very happy with our progress so far.”
Newly-formed Wisbech Town Reserves have made an encouraging start to life in Division Two and sit in third place with six wins from their opening eight games, Mariusz Kudyba netting seven goals so far.
Manager Lee Brooks told the Citizen: “We have made a good start to the season, the team has started to gel and is looking strong.
“For a team that was only formed this summer from scratch, we are producing some good performances, which is very pleasing.
“We made two good additions just before we went into lockdown, with Kieran Hamilton and Gaje Drew joining. They will both bring a lot to the side.
“Hopefully, we will get a couple of games in before the Christmas break and look to keep pressure on the teams above us. We just want to keep around the top three or four and see where it takes us.”
In the same division, Long Sutton Athletic Reserves currently sit in ninth place, with four wins and five defeats from their nine games, youngster Jack Greenacre having netted five times in as many appearances.
Joint managers Jay Rauch and Carl Taylor said: “We took our time to settle, with some new players, but once we got it sorted we achieved some decent results.
“The second lockdown came at the wrong time as we looked like there were games coming up that could have pushed us up the table.”
In Division Three, Tydd Reserves are ninth out of 15 and Leverington Sports Reserves 13th.
Tyron Elms has scored nine and assisted in five from just eight games for Sports, while Philip Large has scored five.
Tydd Reserves, like their first team, have discovered some form after a poor start, winning three of their last five games.
Manager Duncan Rees said: “We had a rocky start to the season and picked up a number of injuries, including a broken leg for Jordan Adebisi who will be a big miss this season.
“At the start of the season, we suffered some heavy defeats to strong competition, mainly due to injuries, including our goalkeeper, but the squad stuck at it and continued to play with belief and passion.
“With key players coming back into the side and some new additions, I believe we now have the talent to match any team within the division.
“The squad are also now looking the part off the pitch, with full sponsorship of tracksuits, polos and match day bags kindly provided by L8 Protection – Legionella Control.”
Our only side in Division Four is Long Sutton Athletic A, who sit in sixth place out of 13, with four wins, four defeats and a draw from their nine games. After failing to win any of their opening four fixtures, the Magpies have now won three out of four, Kye Bunce their top scorer with three.
The most successful of our teams so far is undefeated Sutton Bridge United, who top Division Five with seven wins and two draws from their nine games.
They also boast the division’s top scorer in Kurt Scott, who has netted 16 goals in those nine games, with strike partner Joseph Sutton netting ten times.
Joint manager Ben Thompson said: “We are delighted to be sat at the top of the table going into December, especially after the struggles the club faced last season.
“Myself and Liam Burton have worked hard to recruit a strong squad of both old and new faces who have gelled together really well and we now have a tightly knit squad who are always willing to work hard for one another to get the result.
“The lads have been chipping in with big performances all over the pitch and we couldn’t be prouder of them.
“We were very pleased with the early season results but feel that the performances have continued to get better and better as the season has progressed and we can’t wait to get back to action on December 5.
“It’s looking like being a great battle at the top between us, Thorpe Wood, Langtoft and Rippingale.”