The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
City aim to become a National League force
City of Peterborough are determined to become an established National League club after securing the East Premier A Division title in spectacular style last weekend.
City defeated a pumped-up, and strengthened, Chelmsford side 8-2 away from home to seal a return to the upper echelons of the sport for the first time since 2013.
And they intend to stay there.
“We’ve returned at the right time,” City manager Graham Finding said. “There is no relegation next season because of re-structuring so the chance to establish ourselves and progress further is there.
“The players and the club deserve the opportunity as they’ve been outstanding all season. We won’t be going up to enjoy the experience, we want to be successful.
“We travelled to Chelmsford expecting a tough game. You could see they were up for it before the start and they had GB international Glen Kirkham in their squad, but we started the game so well it became surprisingly easy.”
Joe Finding, son of Graham, opened the scoring after just five minutes from City’s first short corner and they were 5-1 ahead by half-time.
Ben Read, twice, Danny Sisson and Brendan Andrews, with a terrific finish, all scored from open play before the home side pulled a goal back from a short corner. City kept pressing in the second-half and were rewarded with a sixth goal in the opening moments from Sisson and the same player completed his hat-trick minutes later.
Chelmsford converted another short corner for 7-2, but Min Patel completed the scoring with City’s eighth.
As a result City, who are coached by local legend and former Welsh international Mike Yeoman, pipped a powerful St Albans side to top spot by a point having won 18 and lost just one of their 22 matches, scoring 118 goals and finishing with a goal difference of +90.
“It’s a fantastic playing record,” Finding added. “The East League is tough to win.” Men
Premier A Division - Chelmsford 2, City of Peterborough 8 (Sisson 3, Read 2, Patel, Finding, Andrews).
Division One - Bishop’s Stortford 9, Long Sutton 0.