SO, it seems the worst Manchester United side I can remember is still going to be good enough to win the Premier League.

Not a great advert for the competition, which seems to have lost a bit of quality in recent seasons.

We may still have the most competitive and exciting football league on the planet, but if a team with Jonny Evans, Michael Carrick and a couple of OAPs regularly playing can still take the title, we’re certainly low on ability.

Manchester City are by far the best team in England, but have choked badly in recent weeks. I backed them for the title from the off, but it seems United’s experience has once again paid off.

But even the most partisan of United fans must recognise their shortcomings.

Bilbao, Ajax, Benfica and FC Basel all played without fear against the Red Devils, and reaped the rewards.

Premier League teams should have taken note.

I’M not too sure who decided the scheduling for the two FA Cup semi-finals next weekend.

Fans of Everton and Liverpool will have to be up at the crack of dawn to dash to Wembley for a 12.30pm kick-off on the Saturday, while city natives Chelsea and Tottenham do battle at 6pm the following day.

Bearing in mind Chelsea have a Champions League semi-final against Barcelona the following Tuesday, it beggars belief. Whether it was ITV or the police that had the final say, it’s just shocking stuff. Sunday’s anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster had to be considered, but Chelsea must be feeling hard done-by.

SPEAKING of poor scheduling, Holbeach United face four games in seven days next week (see back page). A quite ridiculous plight for a United Counties League team.

It seems more than a little unfair that the third and final ‘South Holland clasico’ with Spalding United has been brought forward a couple of weeks to this Wednesday, especially as it’s the Tulips’ final game of the campaign.

Much like Chelsea, it looks like the Tigers are being punished for their own success when it really wasn’t necessary. With a cup final on the horizon, this is the last thing they needed.

AILING finances mean one of Spalding’s social clubs will close its doors at the end of this month – with no hopes of it relocating elsewhere.

The committee behind the British Sugar Sports and Social Club have revealed it will close on April 30, after months of attempting to turn around its fortunes.

The club in West Marsh Road had been forced to reconsider its future after building owner InterGen announced its intention for it to be demolished to make way for a Spalding Power Station expansion.

The club had then been tasked with coming up with a robust business plan for South Holland District Council in a bid to gain vital cash from the Section 106 fund for a replacement facility – a plan which has since failed.

Chairman Tony Harper said: “We met with accountants but on our past form there is no way we can make a sound business plan.

“It became obvious that we could not carry on. We threw the towel in because having to prove to the council that it was a viable concern was impossible.

“The committee decided there was no future in it. We had to look at what we had to do in real terms rather than what we would like to do.”

The social club was already established by the 1940s to serve employees at the British Sugar factory, which opened in 1925.

It had up to 400 members in its heyday but this has since dwindled to about 230.

A number of clubs using the building as a home, including the bowls team, have also folded as a result of the social club’s uncertain future.

Mr Harper said: “While everyone says it’s a shame, we are in a situation where if we had more support we could have carried on.

“Everyone is sad. It’s the end of an era.”

Club members hope to go out with a bang, with a disco on Saturday, April 28, from 7.30pm for past and present members, and a nostalgia day on April 29 from 12pm.

Anyone with old photographs and other club memorabilia is asked to take it along on the day.

Other remaining events include a Northern Soul night on April 21, and a sequence dance on April 29 from 7.30-10.30pm.

An auction to sell off the club’s remaining assets will be held in due course after its closure.

THE sound of rhubarb growing in the dark makes great music, at least when it’s interpreted by a remarkable musician and composer such as Duncan Chapman.

He’s done the same with a field of sprouts, as his audience at St Laurence Church at Surfleet discovered when Duncan gave a short talk during a concert performed by musicians from London Mozart Players.

Now Duncan wants people living and working in the district to come up with suggestions for their favourite sounds of the area to be transformed by him into something called the South Holland Symphony, which will be performed in Spalding on Thursday, July 19, by London Mozart Players, “one of the greatest orchestras in the world”, says Duncan.

To get involved in the project it is not necessary to know anything about music, or the “dotchits and crotchits” as Duncan jokingly refers to the technical skills of music.

“There are lots of ways we can compose music and I can compose music with you that doesn’t involve reading music,” Duncan told his audience at Surfleet.

He demonstrated this by turning the flat landscapes of the area into a melody performed by the Mozart Players, with long notes representing the level horizon, rolling notes suggesting the spouts growing in the field and a flowing baseline to signify the earth.

The concert was one of a series being held across the district together with a number of composition workshops that are open to people who don’t have a clue when it comes to music, but have strong feelings and emotions about the sounds of South Holland.

In fact, two young people who play the cello came to the workshop at Surfleet the day after the concert, and brought their instruments with them so that ideas could be immediately translated into musical notes.

We were also lucky to have violinist Nicoline Kraamwinkel, from the London Mozart Players, at the workshop and she interpreted some of my favourite sounds for me, such as tawny owls calling at night, the wild sound interrupting the normal domestic noises of home.

Duncan says if you do happen to play a musical instrument, that’s fantastic, but he adds: “Having ideas about music can belong to everybody.”

Duncan is creating a storyboard from the ideas that come out of each workshop and he will go away and turn that into the symphony. Ideas so far – and to listen out for when the symphony is played – relate to distant bells, agricultural motifs such as tractors and crops, the birds that are typical to the area and the idea of big open skies as well as stars in a black sky.

If rhubarb and sprout music sounds a million miles from what you might expect from the Mozart Players, don’t worry. Duncan says music is abstract and even if you do understand the technical language of music, it is still hard to talk about sounds.

“There isn’t a language to do with describing sounds that is shared by everybody,” he points out.

“There isn’t that common language, which is why music is magic because you can hear the same thing as me and have a different idea in your head.”

The South Holland Symphony Project is a partnership between South Holland District Council, Orchestras Live and the London Mozart Players, supported by Arts Council England and The Steel Charitable Trust.

The London Mozart Players will be performing (with a composition taster session from Duncan) at St Mary Magdalene Church, Gedney, on Thursday, April 19 and Crowland Abbey on Friday, April 20, with workshops at Crowland Abbey (April 21, May 12 and June 9 from 10am to 12 noon), South Holland Centre, Spalding (April 21 from 2pm to 4pm), and Holbeach Methodist Church (May 12 from 2pm to 4pm).

Tickets for concerts are available from South Holland Centre – workshops are free but register your intention to attend at South Holland Centre or by emailing rrowett@sholland.gov.uk.

The South Holland Symphony Concert is at South Holland Centre in Spalding on Thursday, July 19 (7.30pm) – tickets from South Holland Centre.

And if you’re wondering, apparently rhubarb makes popping sounds as it grows...

DEEPING Rangers moved up to fourth in the UCL Premier Division with a 3-1 home triumph over Cogenhoe United on Saturday, while Holbeach United drew 0-0 at Desborough Town and Spalding United were beaten 2-1 by high-flying St Ives Town.

After falling behind early on at Outgang Road, goals from Josh Moreman (38 and 68) and Ciaran Holt (82) extended Deeping’s remarkable unbeaten league run to 13 games.

There was more good news for Tuncay Korkmaz’s men too, with Ashley Stevens making his debut as a half-time substitute.

In contrast, Holbeach’s winless streak dragged on to five games after a second successive Desborough draw.

John Chand’s charges are now in fifth place, with third-placed St Ives now six points clear of them.

That’s because the Saints sentenced Spalding to a third defeat on the bounce. Speedy striker Conor Washington buried a brace to sink Pat Rayment’s Tulips, who are now six games and almost two months without a win.

In the Peterborough Premier Division, Pinchbeck saw their lead cut to three points after a 1-1 draw at Peterborough Sports. Luke Wilson grabbed the goal for Ian Dunn’s side.

Deeping Rangers Reserves hit six against basement boys Alconbury, Ian Bradbury (2), David Weston, Ryan Birtles and Thomas Waumsley notching in a 6-2 success.

That was also the score at Snowden Field, but Crowland Town were on the receiving end of a 6-2 beating against title-chasing Eye Sports.

See Tuesday’s Lincolnshire Free Press for more on the weekend football.

RESULTS

UCL Premier Division: Daventry United 3 Boston Town 2; Deeping Rangers 3 Cogenhoe United 1; Desborough Town 0 Holbeach United 0; King’s Lynn Town 2 Peterborough Northern Star 1; Long Buckby 4 Sleaford Town 0; Spalding United 1 St Ives Town 2; Stewarts & Lloyds Corby 1 Wellingborough Town 2

UCL Division One: Buckingham Town 2 Raunds Town 2; Bugbrooke St Michaels 1 Huntingdon Town 0; Harborough Town 2 Rothwell Corinthians 1; Northampton ON Chenecks 4 Wootton Blue Cross 0; Northampton Sileby Rangers 0 Rothwell Town 2; Wellingborough Whitworth 5 Eynesbury Rovers 1.

Peterborough & District League: Premier Division – Alconbury 2 Deeping Rangers Res 6; Coates Athletic 1 Ramsey Town 2; Crowland Town 2 Eye Sports 6; Leverington Sports 0 Kings Cliffe United 3; Oakham United 1 Netherton United 4; Parson Drove 8 Oundle Town 2; Peterborough Sports Parkway 1 Pinchbeck United 1; Whittlesey United 2 Uppingham Town 2. Division One – Hampton Sports 2 Whittlesey Blue Star 4; Ketton 2 Long Sutton Athletic 3; Moulton Harrox Res 3 Langtoft United 2; Powerleague AFC 1 Holbeach Utd Reserves 1; Riverside Rovers Senior 2 Thorney 2; Sawtry 0 Stilton United 3; Stamford Belvedere 1 Netherton United Res 4; Warboys Town FC 1 Peterborough FC Internazionale 3. Division Two – Castor & Ailsworth 5 Peterborough Rovers 0; Eye Sports & Social Res 3 Hartford Sun FC 2; Parkside 0 Farcet United 5; Pinchbeck Utd Res 4 Guyhirn 2; Ryhall United 2 Sutton Bridge United 2; Woodston 4 Oakham United Reserves 1. Division Three – Crowland Town Res 4 Leverington S Res 3; Langtoft United Res 5 Whittlesey United Res 1; Oundle Town Reserves 6 Peterborough FC Internazionale Res 0; Peterborough Sports Parkway Reserves 5 Uppingham Town Res 0; Ramsey Town Res 1 Deeping Rangers A 3. Division Four – Coates Ath Res 2 Woodston Dynamo 3. Division Five – Farcet United Reserves 7 Oakham United A 1; Leverington Sports A 3 Ryhall United Res 0; Sutton Bridge United Reserves 1 Sawtry Reserves 5; Thorney Reserves 3 Warboys Town Reserves 1.

VOLUNTEER “headers” and stewards are needed to help out at this year’s Flower Parade which is just a month away.

Fixing tulip heads to the floats – known as heading – needs all hands on deck and at least 60 people will be required on each of the three days before the parade, May 2, 3 and 4.

And the organisers are looking for a further 20 volunteers to serve as stewards so the floats can travel around the town centre without anyone being hurt.

Parade manager Kathleen Codd, of Kenyon Communications, said: “You may have been involved in the past or perhaps you would like to get involved in 2012 for the first time. In either case, we would love you to get in touch.

“The fully foamed frames need to be covered in thousands of tulip heads.

“You will be amazed as the ghost-like white structures are transformed into a stunning blaze of colour.

“Stewards are an essential part of parade day to ensure that floats can travel safely around the route without fear of anyone being injured.

“With approximately 50,000 visitors descending on Spalding on parade day, crowd safety is of paramount importance.”

If you can help out in any way, or would like to know more, please contact Kathleen at Kenyon Communications on 01673 828764 or send an email to kathleen@kenyon-communications.com

l The 54th Flower Parade takes place on Saturday, May 5 with a theme of Food Glorious Food.

One talented South Holland youngster, Sophie Oldfield (11), from Lutton, designed a float called Five-a-Day to remind us all to stay healthy by eating lots of fruit and vegetables.

Sophie’s entry won our float design competition and yesterday she saw it, fully foamed, for the first time in Holbeach.

She said: “It’s amazing.”

Sophie can’t wait to see Five-a-Day fully covered in glorious tulips and is even more excited at the prospect of riding on her own float on parade day.

She attends Peele Community College in Long Sutton.

THE Kerfoot family of Gosberton Clough appears to have an idyllic lifestyle on their family farm, where three generations work and live closely together.

Cattle munch sweet smelling hay in ancient byres, young sheep, goats and pigs are tended in small enclosures and a couple of old heavy horses graze in a field where the medieval ridge and furrow indicate there has been a farm on this land off Chopdyke Road for centuries.

Ashley Kerfoot and his brother James work the land, growing arable crops to feed to the animals so that they are almost self-sufficient.

They are assisted by Ashley’s wife Vikki, who has been getting up in the night with the new-born animals, despite the fact that she gave birth to the youngest of their three children, Cameron, three days before Christmas.

William (76), who bought Orchard House Farm just over 40 years ago, is still involved, and says he is always doing some welding or fetching and carrying. “We are all in it together,” he explains. “I like it that way.”

His wife Jane babysits Cameron and the other two children, though five-year-old Clayton and his big sister Collette (8) like to help out with the animals.

The Kerfoots’ lives follow the rhythm of the farm, with the cattle and lambs and kids born in the spring going out on to grass in mid-April, followed by hay making in June and harvest later in the year.

Ashley has checked farming records going back 70 or 80 years, during his grandfather’s time on a farm elsewhere in the country, and discovered surprising similarities, with his grandfather also producing crops to feed his livestock.

It all seems tranquil, but Ashley says family farms like theirs are under threat. It’s undoubtedly hard work. Ashley and James undertake contract work to help make ends meet – and it has its stresses.

As Ashley told a friend who envied his lifestyle: “We have got the bank manager, accountants and the weather against us and as for the markets, we don’t know what we are going to get. It’s nice to see the little ones enjoying it though.

“You don’t know what the future holds. The number of small, family farms that’s gone in the last 15 to 20 years is unbelievable. There is only a handful left in the village. It’s not good.

“I’d like to think the kids would take over, if the red tape doesn’t stop them. There is that much red tape with lifestock and everything.”

In the meantime, William can still see the evidence of the old farming practices around him, in the remaining heavy horses that were used up until two or three years ago and their time-worn harnesses hanging in the barn.

In the workshop, there is every tool imaginable – “if you want it and the Kerfoots haven’t got it, it’s not worth having,” jokes Ashley – as well as grandad’s old tractor, bought in 1936, the same year William was born.

However, there is no time for nostalgia on a busy working farm, with between 100 and 120 cattle and their calves to look after, mainly Hereford and Short Horns crossed with Continental bulls and Charolais crosses, and 50 ewes who had given birth to 14 lambs at the time of our visit.

Vikki says: “There is nothing so uplifting as lambing when it is going right, and nothing so disappointing as when it is going wrong.”

Then there’s a litter of Large Blacks to care for, the horses, five nanny goats, a Billy goat and their kids, the hens as well as domestic animals and hand-rearing a lamb and three baby goats.

It is tragic to think the Kerfoots’ sheds and barns, their animals, the ridge and furrow and 200 acres might all one day in the future be swept away in the path of commercial pressure towards industrial-size farming.

n Ashley says they are short of sheep grazing and could do with an extra field or two. Call him on 07951 124376 if you can help.

SECONDARY school students have been given some hot tips on what keeps the Royal Navy fit and ready for action.

Students at the Sir John Gleed School boys’ campus in Spalding and The Deepings School were shown how to cook chicken curry by one of the Royal Navy’s ‘Fit For Life’ chefs, Petty Officer Skally Smith.

Gleed Boys’ PE teacher Ian Billinghurst said: “We are a healthy eating school and the day was about showing students we can still have nice food and be healthy.”

Petty Officer Smith also gave a demonstration of his recipe for curry with a secret ingredient, an insight on what servicemen eat during active duty and a careers talk.

Some students ate their curries for lunch, while others took them home.

Two armed men who “terrified” an elderly shop worker during a New Year’s Eve robbery at a village store have each been jailed for more than five years.

Luke Hamilton and Fabio Teixeira (both 26) got away with £1,000 from the village store in Langtoft, after employee Vylma Denniston was confronted with a knife.

The pair were convicted of robbery after a five-day trial at Lincoln Crown Court last month.

The jury were told they chose the isolated store because it was a “soft target” after making a reconnaissance trip from their Peterborough homes.

Passing sentence, Recorder Stuart Sprawson said Mrs Denniston was terrified by the experience.

Recorder Sprawson told them: “Vylma Denniston had worked in that store for 21 years. She was just nine weeks away from retirement.

“Following your activities she decided not to return to work and slipped in to her retirement prematurely.

“Anybody who has seen the CCTV can not fail to appreciate the fear you instilled in her.”

Teixeira, of High Street, Fletton, was jailed for five and half years. The court heard in July 2005 he was sentenced to 30 months in a young offenders institution for a street robbery.

Hamilton, now of no fixed address, was sentenced to five years and two months imprisonment. Both men had denied the robbery on December 31, 2009.

Gorden Aspden, prosecuting, told the jury Mrs Denniston came out of a store room and was frightened into opening the till by Teixeira who stood several yards away holding a knife.

Mr Aspden said: “She was no doubt looking forward to knocking off for the day and seeing in 2010 with her family. Unbeknown to Mrs Denniston she was to be the victim of a robbery at the hands of these two.”

Shortly after 3.10pm CCTV showed the two masked men walking into the store. They were wearing balaclavas and were armed with a crowbar and knife.

“Hamilton went behind the counter and tried without success to get the till open. Teixeira stood guard with the knife,” Mr Aspden added.

The pair drove back to Peterborough in Teixera’s car but had made a number of mistakes which led police to identify them.

A camera outside the shop showed the robbers hanging around before they pulled down their balaclavas, and Hamilton’s fingerprints were later found in Teixeira’s car.

In mitigation, the court was told the two men hoped to rob the shop while Mrs Denniston was in the store room and avoid any confrontation.

COUNTY councillors are being urged to continue to support any potential rail hub scheme for South Holland before major employers choose to go elsewhere.

The warning that “we must act now” has been given to the members of Lincolnshire County Council’s economic scrutiny committee in a report due to be discussed next Tuesday.

“We are aware that major road/rail hubs are proposed in other parts of the East Midlands, creating a real risk that some of our existing major employers will relocate to sites with better transport connections by road and rail,” it warns.

“We must act now, not only to retain the jobs which already exist in the area, but to provide further local job opportunities for the next generation.”

The plans, although not yet submitted to the authority, are understood to be in the pipeline for later this year through a mystery developer.

South Holland District Council has revealed its preferred site for the hub would be in Deeping St Nicholas, despite fierce local opposition to the suggestion.

Haulage firm Fowler-Welch has confirmed it has agreed to operate it should it go ahead.

The report to county councillors explains how the rail hub could be built to coincide with Network Rail plans to upgrade the line through Spalding for rail freight, which would create a “one-off opportunity” to minimise local disruption.

It also reassures about the size of the potential proposal: “It is understood that scale of any submitted proposals will differ from what was previously envisaged in the Intermodality report; the focus now being on providing a rail terminal facility to serve existing local business.

“This then has clear implications for how the development would look, and the level of road and rail traffic generation associated with it, in the short term.

“However, in the longer term, there might be demand for expansion of any initial development if it were to prove sufficiently successful from commercial and sustainable development perspectives.”

The report also warns that while councils are strongly supportive of improving transport links, it will be for the private sector to prove its worth.

GROT spot cash is to be used to clean up Spalding in a ‘pro-active’ response to littered areas.

Members of the Town Forum have agreed to each put £100 of their budgets into a fund to tackle the problem.

They will then employ the Community Payback team to go out on a monthly basis to deal with the worst areas, such as the river bank.

Coun Roger Gambba-Jones said the clean-ups would be in support of the work already done by South Holland District Council’s street cleaning team.

He said: “Zone one is cleaned every day, but then nothing happens in some areas.

“We could look at cleaning other areas of concern.”

Coun Graham Dark said he liked the idea of being “pro-active rather than reactive”, which was the way litter problems has been dealt with in the past.

Regular clean-ups would be a way of getting on top of a “less than adequate system”, said Coun Gambba-Jones. He said: “It’s got to change – the town is getting busier.”

Chairman Coun George Aley said: “This could have a knock-on effect. If you give people a clean space, they will look after it.”

There was concern £100 each would not be enough as four new litter bins, at £50 each, were already on order. But councillors eventually agreed it was a good starting point and a form would be produced so they could sign-off any work needed.

SPALDING RFC welcomed 18 teams as they hosted their first-ever NLD Regional competition.

The club’s junior section held the under-13 three counties sevens event, which saw Town progress to the semi-finals and Bourne’s youngsters win the Shield event.

In the pool stages at the Memorial Field, Melbourne A, Newark, Matlock and Spalding A all won their groups to book spots in the last four.

Melbourne had just too much for Spalding in the semi, before edging out a committed Newark team with a ‘golden try’ in the final to win 28-21.

Spalding do have the chance to take revenge when they meet Melbourne in the 15-a-side NLD Cup final on April 29 in Glossop, though.

Meanwhile, Market Rasen were winners of the Plate final, beating Notts Corsairs 21-7.

Bourne then triumphed in the Shield competition, crushing Paviors 26-7 in the final, while Southwell took the Bowl final 26-19 against Kesteven and the Rugbyman trophy went to Ilkeston.

Spalding RFC’s Jeremy Chew said: “Thanks to all the supporters who came and watched a great day’s rugby and also a big thank you to all the volunteers who helped.

“Once again Spalding’s girls’ squad provided pitch management to ensure games ran on schedule.”

SPALDING UNITED 1 (Good 58) ST IVES TOWN 2 (Washington 35 & 59): PAT Rayment lamented two “appalling” Conor Washington goals as Spalding suffered a third UCL Premier Division loss on the spin.

The Tulips’ chief did hail what was a much-improved display at the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field, with Ben Good firing his first goal since returning to the fold.

But the nature of Washington’s Saturday double rankled with Rayment, who admits he’s never seen such sloppy defending in his entire footballing career.

“We conceded two appalling goals,” admitted the former professional. “It’s getting comical, we just give stupid goals away all the time.

“It’s a nasty Achilles heel that we’ve got. We have to work incredibly hard to score, yet the opposition has to do very little. I’ve never seen anything like it.

“We did battle much harder though and I’d say we deserved something from the game.

“They are one of the toughest teams in the league and we pushed them all the way. But you can’t expect to get anything when you concede goals like we did.”

After a low-key start, teenage hot-shot Washington – who is attracting interest from a number of Football League clubs – dinked home the opener on 35 minutes.

Spalding deservedly levelled just before the hour though, man-of-the-match Good getting on the end of Max Wright’s cross to power a header into the roof of the net.

Parity lasted less than 60 seconds, with Washington netting at the second attempt after Nick Conroy spilled his intitial effort.

The defeat made it six games on the trot without a win for the Tulips.

Tulips: Conroy, Ford, Hussey, Porter, Fuff, Ashton, French, Bolland, Good, James, Wright. Not used: Allen, Lyon, Woods, Coaten.

DESBOROUGH TOWN 0 HOLBEACH UNITED 0: JOHN Chand admitted Holbeach should have ended their winless streak in this bore draw on Saturday.

The Tigers made it five games without a victory after a second-successive UCL Premier Division stalemate with Desborough – although this clash failed to yield the thrills and spills of the Carter’s Park reverse.

Holbeach, who have now slipped down to fifth place, wasted a string of great chances and played the last 15 minutes against ten men after Mitch Griffiths was two-footed by Eddie Mills.

Chand said: “I thought we played pretty well if I’m honest. They didn’t really offer anything and if we’d have got a goal, we’d have won three or four nil.

“It was pleasing to see we were much more solid in defence from set plays too, I just couldn’t see them scoring.

“Credit must go to the referee. Some would have bottled the red card at this level, but Mitch has four puncture marks very high up his leg.”

The best three chances of the first period went the way of Holbeach’s leading scorer Andrew Tidswell – but the 26-goal hitman sent two efforts wide and saw the other saved.

Leigh Overton made a couple of smart saves from Brad Harris and Ollie Jones in the second period, before Mills saw red to turn the tables.

Tidswell saw a header saved late on, while James Wilson’s deflected effort in the dying seconds somehow stayed out.

Tigers: Overton, Flack, Jackson, Brown, Allen, Stupple, Kennedy, Goodhand (Griffiths 61), Tidswell, Nimmo, Treacher (Wilson 65). Not used: Elston.

DEEPING RANGERS 3 (Moreman 38 & 68, Holt 82) COGENHOE UTD 1 (Wells 5): BUOYANT Deeping supremo Tuncay Korkmaz wants to go the rest of the UCL Premier Division season unbeaten after jumping up to fourth place in the table on Saturday.

Josh Moreman made it 35 for the season with a double, as Rangers registered a 13th league game unbeaten at Outgang Road.

Ciaran Holt bagged the other, helping the hosts come from a goal down to complete a Cogenhoe double.

Korkmaz said: “It’s another good three points but we had to work hard for them.

“It keeps the good run going and we’re aiming to go unbeaten through our final four matches to the end of the season.”

Perri Wells fired the Cooks ahead early on, only for Moreman to smash home a blistering leveller.

With Ash Stevens on as a second-half substitute, Moreman’s finish from a tight angle put Rangers ahead, before Holt’s stunner from distance settled it.

Deeping: Doughty, Tinkler, Jackson, Logan, Julian, Weston, Brader (Beck), Holt, Ginty (Stevens), Heron (Burton-Jones), Moreman. Not used: Simpson, Gilbert.

• Saturday: Deeping v Boston Town (3pm).

A MAN remains seriously ill in hospital with life-threatening head injuries after a collision involving two cars in Sutton Bridge.

The 19-year-old man from Long Sutton was airlifted to University Hospital in Coventry by the Derbyshire Air Ambulance following the crash on Bridge Road shortly after 5pm on Sunday.

He had been the sole occupant of a yellow Peugeot 206, which had collided with a blue Peugeot 106.

Police say he remains in a serious but stable condition.

The driver of the 106, a 19-year-old man from Holbeach St Johns, was also airlifted from the scene and taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn by the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance.

He is being treated for facial and chest injuries.

His passenger, a 17-year-old girl from Holbeach, was also taken to King’s Lynn to be treated for non life-threatening facial and back injuries.

Police are now appealing for anyone who witnessed the accident to get in touch with them as soon as possible. Officers are particularly keen to trace a light-coloured Vauxhall Astra van, which may have been in the area about the same time as the collision. It is believed to have been silver or white.

Anyone with information should contact Sgt Jason Baxter of Lincolnshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 322 of April 8.

KEYS to the new community centre on Bourne’s Elsea Park have been handed over to the estate’s community trust.

The £750,000 building from Kier Homes, which will be known as The Centre @ Elsea Park, includes a main hall with a stage, meeting facilities, kitchen and offices.

Elsea Park Community Trust chairman Angela Bailey said: “The centre will provide Elsea Park with a real heart. As more and more people have come to live in Elsea Park, we are beginning to see a real village atmosphere develop and having a facility such as the new centre can only further engender that feeling of community. “The specification of the building is wonderful and I can’t wait to see The Centre in full use.”

Elsea Park residents are to receive a 25 per cent discount on the hire rates.

SPALDING United cruised past Peterborough Northern Star 4-1 in the UCL Premier Division on Monday, while Holbeach United were beaten 2-0 by King’s Lynn Town and Deeping Rangers beat Blackstones 2-0.

In their final home game of the season at the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field, doubles from Ben Good and Tom James sunk depleted Star as they finished with a flourish.

It’s a first win in nearly two months for Pat Rayment’s men, who go into their season finale at Holbeach on Wednesday night (7.45pm) in high spirits.

The same can’t be said of the Tigers, who were undone by an early Jason Turner brace at Carter’s Park.

John Chand’s men turned the tables on league leaders Lynn in the second period, but couldn’t get themselves back into the game, as their winless run stretched to six games.

In contrast, Deeping made it 14 league games unbeaten with an Outgang Road success over rivals Blackstones. Alex Beck and Ashley Stevens netted for Tuncay Korkmaz’s men, who are now five points clear of the rest in fourth place.

Down in UCL Division One, Bourne Town were beaten 3-0 at the Abbey Lawn by leaders Huntingdon Town.

See Thursday’s Spalding Guardian for more on the Easter Monday football.

RESULTS

UCL Premier Division: AFC Kempston Rovers 1 Newport Pagnell Town 1; Deeping Rangers 2 Blackstones 0; Desborough Town 2 Stewarts & Lloyds Corby 1; Holbeach United 0 King’s Lynn Town 2; Long Buckby 2 Daventry United 2; Northampton Spencer 1 Cogenhoe United 1; Sleaford Town 1 Boston Town 3; Spalding United 5 Peterborough Northern Star 1; St Ives Town 5 Yaxley 0; Thrapston Town 1 Wellingborough Town 3.

UCL Division One: Bourne Town 0 Huntingdon Town 3; Buckingham Town 2 Harborough Town 3; Eynesbury Rovers 4 Raunds Town 1; Northampton ON Chenecks 2 Olney Town 3; Northampton Sileby Rangers 1 Burton Park Wanderers 2; Rothwell Corinthians 2 Rothwell Town 0; Rushden & Higham United 1 Wellingborough Whitworth 3; Wootton Blue Cross 0 Potton United 1.

FORMER drug addict Stuart Grogan stole two cans of paint from Halfords to annoy staff after he thought they had called him a “smackhead”, a derogatory description for a heroin user.

His solicitor, Mike Alexander, said Grogan had no use for the paint and was going to throw it away.

Grogan had told him: “It wasn’t for my own gain.

“I just wanted to annoy them.”

Mr Alexander said Grogan used drugs in the past but had made great progresss and got himself “clean”.

The solicitor said: “He thought staff in the shop had called him a smackhead and he thought ‘that’s not nice, I am not’.”

Grogan (29), of Park Avenue, Spalding, pleaded guilty to theft of two cans of paint worth £13.98 on March 19.

Sentence was adjourned at Thursday’s hearing to June 26.

Rebecca Ritson, prosecuting, said Grogan was one of two men who entered the Holland Market store and was observed on CCTV putting one can of paint “up his trousers and one in his jacket”.

Miss Ritson said Grogan told police he knew he was being followed and “was expected to steal the items.”

A COUPLE have spoken of their shock at a bridge collapsing at their home and fracturing a gas main.

The drama sparked a seven-hour closure of one of South Holland’s busiest roads as police cordoned off the area at the Moulton end of Whaplode.

Motorists faced lengthy diversions as they were sent around the A16 and A17 while National Grid workers controlled a gas leak.

The incident on Thursday has resulted in the bungalow being cut off from High Road and without a gas supply.

The couple living there, who asked not to be named, said they have only been in the village for six weeks.

They described how a builder’s van, arriving to work on their conservatory, had driven over the bridge onto their driveway seconds before it appeared to break in half.

“The van had got three-quarters of the way into the drive and they heard a rumbling noise and the bridge broke,” they said.

“We heard the noise in the house. It was just a shock.”

The couple called National Grid for help as they begun to smell gas, who then called the police.

Officers closed the A151 and imposed a 50-metre cordon around the site just after 9.30am. Traffic, with the help of Lincolnshire County Council’s highways department, was diverted back on to the main A roads.

The couple said: “After a while we were told to leave the building because of the gas and we came back at teatime. We went to a neighbour.”

The couple were provided with electric heaters by National Grid to keep them warm overnight.

Emergency repair work was completed on the medium-pressure gas main shortly after 4pm, with a hole just remaining barriered off on the road.

National Grid spokesman Sarah Wilcox said: “No one was evacuated but some residents chose to leave their homes.

“There would have been quite a strong smell of gas.”

The builder’s van was taken off the drive through a field at the back and then taken into a neighbour’s property. Some trees had to be removed to make a route into the field.

Students were surprised at what the food and drink industry could offer them when the University of Lincoln held an Appetite for Skills session at the Holbeach campus.

The event included presentations by representatives from Marks & Spencer, Britvic and Samworth Brothers.

More than 170 young people attended, saying, they found it “interesting and relevant” and that “they didn’t know about apprenticeships until they attended the event”.