Promotion target in reach for City squad

It has been three years since the club first gained promotion to the British League and they have been comfortably mid-table in division four since.

Now their sights are set on moving up to the next level and they showed at Trafford that promotion is a real possibility.

City’s team manager Paul Farres has every confidence they can achieve their target.

He said: ‘With such a small team it was impossible to cover every event and this had an impact on the final total.

‘However, to be only four points behind the second-placed club Nene Harriers and to beat Doncaster, Reading and Brighton was a fantastic effort.

‘After two rounds we are only 23 points away from the automatic promotion spot.

‘On paper with a full team available, we could still take second place in the league.’

In the 100m Harry Pocock was placed second in the A string with the same time as the winner and he went on to win his favourite event the 400m with a personal best time of 48.58sec.

Gavin Bodrell was second in the 100m B string in his first outing for the club.

He also got a personal best in the 200m, as did fellow youngster Matthew Galbraith.

City’s middle distance training group led by coach Alex Budd continued their excellent form.

Ed Dodds was second in the 400m B string with a new personal best as he went sub 50 seconds for the first time.

He then won the 800m A string, with his training partner Tom Walker second in the B string.

In the 1,500m Matt Gordon was second in the A string and Zack Lahlal won the B string with a personal best.

Lahlal took third place in the 5,000m and Walker was fourth in the B string.

Ismael Moreno secured a second place in the high jump, while Tom Farres won the pole vault and still remains undefeated for the past four years in league events for the club.

Galbraith showed his versatility as he placed fourth in the B string Long jump and third in the A string triple jump, where Tom Farres also got a third in the B string.

In the throws Paul Derrien finished third in the B string shot, second in the B string hammer and second in the discus.

Dawid Marchlewicz came even closer to the magical 50m in the hammer with a throw of 47.55 for second place in a highly competitive A-string hammer event.

City’s dedicated, multi-talented athlete Adam Akehurst added many points as he competed in the pole vault, long jump, 110 hurdles, discus, javelin and shot.

The next match for City of Portsmouth is at Bedford on Saturday, July 15 and they finish at home in Portsmouth on Sunday, August 20.