St Albans Hockey Club were in a rampant form against Spalding on Sunday as their Men’s Firsts ran out 16-1 winners against their relegation-threatened opponents.

The hosts were on the front foot from the off at Oaklands and were ahead 2-0 ahead inside a coupe of minutes.

St Albans remained on top for the remainder of the half and went in to the half-time interval with a 4-0 lead.

The interval did little to stir a lacklustre Spalding side into life and St Albans remained in the ascendency early in the second half.

They scored twice more soon after the break and were boosted further by a green card for a Spalding player for a dangerous tackle.

St Albans scored from the resulting penalty before Spalding got their only goal of the game to reduce the arrears to 7-1.

St Albans took full advantage of the extra man to score four more times in quick succession to take their score into double figures.

Even when they did return to their full compliment, Spalding were unable to come close to St Albans and the home side continued to score at will.

They eventually let up with 16 goals to their name as they wrapped up the most commanding of wins.

The win keeps pressure on league leaders Peterborough, who require a win from their final game to be certain of winning the title.

St Albans, meanwhile, still have two games remaining this season due to poor weather leading to cancellations earlier in the campaign.

Elsewhere, the Tangerine’s Ladies Firsts were also on song in front of goal and scored nine without reply against Chelmsford.

The match was hugely important one for St Albans and victory means they are assured of a place in the National League East for another season.

They face Hampstead and Westminster in their final game.