On a fine Spring morning, South set out looking to damage Horncastle's hopes of a 100% season. The away match had proved a tad disappointing for South, who were looking for revenge down at fortress Leys.

South started the game with aplomb, with some of their best passing and moving hockey of the season starting to trouble the league's best defence. Mark Pears, Tim Clapp and Rob Leigh were looking increasingly dangerous in attack, whilst Jack Chalk was linking the defence with the midfield well.

Up the other end, Horncastle were looking dangerous going forward, showing why they have scored over 130 goals so far this season. However, the defence were standing firm, being helped by the continuous running and tracking back of the four man midfield. When the defence was pierced, some excellent goalkeeping from Ben Buckley helped push a reverse stick effort round the post.

Then, towards the end of the half, South took the lead. Mark Pears raced on to a through ball from the left and attempted to bury a shot past the keeper. The shot was well saved, but John Hawkes was on hand to lift the rebound over the defenders sticks into the goal. On the balance of play at the time, this was a merited lead, and good further work by South ensured it stayed that way at half time.

Emerging after the break, Horncstle were almost level immediately, when a goalbound shot which beat Ben was stopped on the line by Manu. Unfortunately this was with his feet, so a penalty flick was awarded. Ben however was not to be beaten, staring down his young adversary to ensure that the flick only hit the back of the football net behind the goal, and not the hockey net destination for which it was intended.

Buoyed by this, South set about extending their lead. Again, the Horncastle keeper came to his side's rescue, smothering one on one attempts from both Robbie Leigh and Mark Pears. A further shot by Tim Clapp drifted agonisingly wide of the far post.

Unfortunately, South were pegged back, and then fell behind midway through the half. The skilful opponent's front line pinged a ball across the D at pace, where after an intitial save from Buckley, the Horncastle forward swept in from close range. This was soon added to from a short corner, expertly placed inside the bottom corner.

South refused to lie down, and expert keeping again came to Horncastle's rescue when further one-one-ones were thwarted. Short corner attempts were also charged down or saved, and the game started to become stretched. As South poured forward, a quick counter from Horncastle led to a game of pinball in the South D, with the opponent forward finally lifting the ball into the goal at the third attempt.

Despite one further short corner attempt being thwarted at the end, South were unable to come back, and the game finished 3-1. However, this was as good a performance as any this season and nobody should be downhearted- in fact most of the matches in which South have won the performance was nowhere near as good as Saturday's.

The final match of the season sees South travel to Spalding- and a repeat performance from this weekend should see South finish the campaign with 3 points.