Part two of Cambridge South 3s top-of-the-table double header took place on a bright, spring-like morning at the new St Neots Longsands College astro pitch. South were up against a team with a formidable record: undefeated on the pitch since the opening weekend of the season and 2-0 victors in the reverse fixture at The Leys in November. For pride as well as promotion prospects, this was a match South had to win.

While not quite inundated with the 20-player avalanche who had declared themselves available the previous weekend, South still had an impressive roster of 17 players to choose from. Or they did until Wednesday, after which numbers began to whittle away alarmingly: first captain Jelley aggravated a knee injury at pay-and-play to rule himself doubtful; then Andrew Fraser and Olly Lamming were surrendered to a short-handed 4s side; next Nick Venner, up in Nottingham for his sister's graduation party on Friday night, decided to take the free pass he was offered and skip a hungover early drive home; and finally Tom South awoke on Saturday with an asthma attack that left him with the peak flow capacity of an elderly tortoise with a 60-a-day habit. So it was that South arrived at St Neots with one fit substitute and a captain with a gammy knee.

Undaunted, South were quickly into their stride and competing well across the pitch. As expected, St Neots were savvy and difficult opponents, giving very little away and always with the capability to exploit any opening. The South defence, again featuring Paul South at centre back but with Jan Brynjolffssen restored to his old right back berth and Neil Sneade filling in at left back, were holding firm and clear chances for either side were thin on the ground. The breakthrough came from the visitors though, a well-worked short corner routine resulting in Stu Creed sweeping the ball past the St Neots keeper.

At half time the game remained tight with everything still to play for. With St Neots's well-known prowess at set pieces - over twenty goals from short corners alone this season, including nineteen from a single player - South were focusing on defending high and avoiding conceding fouls in the D. The midfield of Tristen Knight, Ali Edge, Stu and Tim Clapp, prominent in his resplendent yellow socks, were doing an excellent job of holding the line and the forwards were harrying the St Neots defence. Laurie Haslop in particular was again causing all sorts of problems with his nimble, pacy runs. By and large, the tactic was working with South keeper Chris Collinson rarely called on, although there were a couple of slight alarms when twice deep balls from St Neots seemingly headed off the back line rebounded off the posts to require hasty clearances.

Clear green water was finally found when another mazy run from Laurie drew a foul in the D. From the resulting short, strikes were twice saved before John Greaves got his statutory goal-a-game (now written into league bylaws, we believe) with a typical close-range poach.

There was no chance to relax though as St Neots regrouped and came again. Their set-piece strength paid off when a quickly taken hit from the dashed line outside the D was switched to the left for a well-taken deflected goal that looped up and beyond Chris into the corner of the South net. South weathered the storm and restored their two goal margin from yet another short corner routine. Again, the first strike was saved but on this occasion the ball dropped to South receiver Jan, who calmly pushed the ball straight between the goalkeeper's legs to roll over the line.

The game was still far from over though. St Neots hauled the margin back to one goal with a smooth short corner, slipped right past the runners before a clean strike inside the left post. Keeper Chris was also called on to earn his corn, a series of fantastic saves with pads and gloves keeping a pressing St Neots attack from finding the goal while doing a passable impression of River Dance. His grateful teammates even consented to overlook his pink neon shoes in the post-match lemon voting.

At the final whistle, a tired but happy South had inflicted St Neots 4s first home defeat of the season. Curiously, all five goals had originated from set plays! Both pre-Christmas losses having now been overturned, the team enters the home straight of the season looking to maintain its run of form.