After last week’s debacle against St Ives, Cambridge South M2s were itching to show that they hadn’t quite lost their ability to play hockey. And what better way to do this, than taking on their intra-club rivals in a showdown at the crack of dawn?

Having overcome Mark Williams’ cunning ploy of providing the wrong starting time to key members of the 2s squad, it was the brilliantly bedecked men in yellow (and pink in one memorable occasion) that started out the most enterprising, probing the 1s’ defence with simple play and decisive passes from the midfield. At the receiving end of one of those, Rob Barton showed a flash of genius and commendable calm to twist away from his marker and beat the league’s best ‘keeper in a 1-on-1 and put the 2s ahead.

As the 1s started to settle and pressed forward, it was the 2s’ defence that started to get tested, resulting in a string of short corners. Despite heroics by rushing defenders and Shahbaz, nobody could stop the flick going straight into the top corner. Various chances came and went on either side, without any further score (albeit in one case assisted by fortuitous umpiring).Half-time and the score was all square at 1-1.

The 2s smelt blood and came into the second half all guns blazing. Unfortunately, so did the 1s, who were getting more and more frustrated with the 2s’ stubborn refusal to roll over and die. Even after a second goal snuck through the 2s’ defence, the game remained hotly contested, with both teams pushing forward as much as possible. Had there been any neutral observers, they would’ve undoubtedly called it “riveting end-to-end stuff”. It seems only fair that the game ended in style - another determined attack by the 2s saw the ball into Dom Nelson in the D; he didn’t stop to question how it got through, but simply slipped it into the far corner to secure an unexpected, but deserved point for the 2s’ league campaign.

Once again, the 2s showed that they can compete with any team in this league, as long as they keep the drive and determination for the full 70 minutes. Credit where credit’s due, though - we still need to work on our comedy lemon votes, if we want to challenge the 1s in that department...