Cambridge City move off bottom of England Hockey Men’s Conference Midlands table after win over Barford

Having gone 12 months without a victory, Cambridge City have now posted back-to-back England Hockey Men’s Conference Midlands wins.

Their latest triumph came at the expense of Barford Tigers at the weekend as City ran out winners by a 4-3 margin.

Player-coach Conor Annand put City in front with seven minutes on the clock before former Pakistan international Muhammad Irfan drew Barford level.

However, the hosts then took control of the scoreboard courtesy of goals from Riley Shelton, Harry Naylor and Will Jones and while Barford set up a nervy finish with two of their own, City held out to move off the bottom of the table ahead of their trip to St Albans on Sunday (1 December) for what will be their final fixture of 2024.

Elsewhere, in the East Men’s League Division 1 North, goals from Teddy Clifton and Ally MacDonald earned Cambridge City II a 2-1 home win over UEA.

In the East Men’s League Division 3 North West, Dimitri Amireh scored four goals in Cambridge City III’s 7-0 victory at the expense of Ely City II. Sim Jones, Tom Liley and Nish Afsar also got their names on the scoresheet.

In the same division, Cambridge City IV ran out 4-2 winners over City of Peterborough IV thanks to goals from Henry Cotton (2), Geoff Sheir and Jack Forsythe.

In the East Men’s League Division 4 North West, Bill Davidson returned from that Masters World Cup to score a brace in Cambridge City VI’s 4-3 win away at Kettering III.

Nigel Anns and Ollie Earl were also on target to help seal the victory on the road.

Cambridge City moved up to second place in the England Hockey Women’s Conference Midlands with a 4-2 win over neighbouring Cambridge University.

For City, Emily McStea scored two penalty corner goals before Isla Campbell dived to dramatically deflect in at the far post from a broken down penalty. The fourth goal was scored by Holly Dean, who showed a clinical touch from close range.

The match also marked a face off between sisters Fenella and Rosabel Clarke – the latter playing for City.

On Saturday (30 November) City will travel to face St Albans before breaking for the winter.

Like club-mate Davidson, Chanre Bond also came back from the Masters World Cup to score in Cambridge City III’s 2-1 home win over Bury St Edmunds in the East Men’s League Premier Division.

After Bond had notched City’s first goal the points were made safe by Anna Gomez.

In the East Women’s League Division 1 North, Cambridge City IV thrashed Bury St Edmunds II 5-1.

Goals from Alice Beardmore, Becky Hayward and Eva King put City in command of the encounter before two late goals from Immie Tooley sealed the victory.

However, it was not such a positive weekend in the East Women’s League for Cambridge City II, V, VI and VII – all of whom suffered defeats in their respective fixtures. The final round of East League matches of 2024 will take place on 7 December.