Our squad of sixteen gathered together at Cambridge University's very pleasant facilities on 14 June with the morning sun on our backs and hopes of victory in our hearts. Or so it seemed. One or two players appeared more concerned with listening to the end of the England Rugby team's magnificent win over the All Blacks in New Zealand, than warming up for the action they were about to take part in. I know, as I was one of them. Jonny Wilkinson, a true English hero! Ahem…

Our first match was against the tournament hosts, Cambridge City. Despite some hard work, especially from the midfield of Amy Forlin, Andy Rose, Jenny Fleck and Ruth Fasham, we spent most of the game on the defensive, with City grabbing two deserved goals. Some nice moves were put together with the little possession we received, but without the ball there wasn’t much South could have done to force a different result.

Next up was what appeared our most winnable game of the day, against the Pretenders. After the somewhat sleepy start against City, it was important that more drive was put into the game and that was exactly what we saw. A very even match ensued with chances at both ends. South forwards Rob Barton and Andy Lewis had a few half sights of goal but unfortunately, the Pretenders goalkeeper proved too big an obstacle, and no rebound fell quite right for the South players following up. That said, at the other end the Pretenders had their chances, with keeper Will Benedikz called into sharp action on a couple of occasions to preserve South's point.

Still, some good stuff was played, especially in one flowing end-to-end move which began with sweeper John Benedikz, and passed on through right-back Dasa Brynjolffssen, midfielders Zoe Rose and Andy Rose before Barton saw his final shot smothered.

With a break until the next match and with the sun having just about got itself over the yardarm, it was time for the beers to appear. Only problem was no-one had brought a bottle opener with them. Eventually something best described as ‘a thingy on the netting surrounding the astro’ was found, with which the life-giving liquid could be extracted. Providing your chosen beverage hadn’t been shaken too hard before opening in which case, as Tim Poole and Dasa Brynjolffssen found, you received an early, beer-scented shower.

Onpwards and upwards, with the next match against a Cambs Nomads XI seeing South put on their best performance of the day. It was built on solid defence, well marshalled by Matt Bailey and Lynda Byrd, which allowed Steve Fleck to run the game from central midfield. The closest we came to scoring a deserved winner was when Jan Brynjolffssen was played down the byline by Fleck, from where he pulled the ball back across the face of goal. Emma Cowan had made an excellent run from her left midfield position to get onto the far post, but a covering defender just managed to get in front of her and get a touch on the ball to knock the cross away.

Despite our lack of a goal, South keeper Will Benedikz informed us afterwards that he hadn’t had a shot to save all match, which South took for a moral victory. However, with the tournament rules not recognising such a concept and only awarding one point for a goalless draw, South were now bottom of the pool with one match remaining, and that against the already-confirmed pool winners, the Pat Butchers.

South continued their good work from the Nomads game against their fancy dress-wearing opposition. After already going close once with a well worked short corner routine, South got the goal their play in the last two matches had earned. A good clean push out by John Benedikz and stop and switch from Steve Fleck gave Andy Rose the time to line up his shot. His flick of the ball towards the goalkeepers top left hand corner was only heading for one place. It did need a superb bit of evasive action by pusher-in Johnny B to arrive there, hitting the deck with alacrity to avoid heading Andy's shot clear. Snide observers could suggest that it was the sharpest John has moved for seasons, but that would be grossly unfair…

From that peak, the Butchers, in lovely floral dresses and wigs but also with not-so-lovely faux-Cockernee accents, began to take control. A strong performance by Tim Poole between the sticks kept the damage down to three, which was a very respectable result all told, though it did mean finishing fifth in the pool, which was a mite disappointing.

Overall an excellent day's hockey, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks to Rob Barton for organising.

Cambridge South squad: Dasa Brynjolffssen, Lynda Byrd, Emma Cowan, Ruth Fasham, Jenny Fleck, Amy Forlin, Zoe Rose, Matt Bailey, Rob Barton, John Benedikz, Will Benedikz, Jan Brynjolffssen, Steve Fleck, Andy Lewis, Tim Poole, Andy Rose