It was always going to be tough against high in the league Newmarket 1. From the whistle Newmarket dominated possession, but South did an amazing job in defence, organised by Dom, denying several attempts. Unfortunately it wasn't enough with Newmarket going one up. Unfazed South stepped it up a gear with lots of movement, runs and passes taking the fight back to Newmarket and creating some chances of their own. Pressure from Newmarket remained throughout the half, but South held their ground, Shabaz in goal making several saves and good marking from South forcing Newmarket to try the million-dollar pass more often that they'd like.

After half-time, it was South that came out the strongest, putting pressure of their own on the Newmarket defence. Mere minutes into the half, they had their reward: a short corner neatly slipped right found its way to the skipper for a half-foot tap in (that's distance, not fouling, you cynics). South was back in the game and could even be said to be on the front foot.

Soon after, the visitors had the best chance yet to pull ahead. Untiring runs from Nick, Russ and Tim made a slip by the defence inevitable. Tim pounced on a bad received ball and found himself alone with the Newmarket goalie. A sliding tackle just clipped enough of Tim's feet to put his shot wide and the umpire didn't hesitate to give a flick. Naturally, Newmarket felt this was unfair (though we note that the goalie never did complain...), but who would ever doubt an umpire's decision? Selflessly, Dom stepped up to try his luck, mano-a-mano with the keeper. Even more selflessly, he decided to keep the game interesting: a low ball to the keeper's right met with stick for a save.

Now the boot was well and truly on the other foot. Newmarket was revitalised and South lost some of their spirit. The rest of the half is a bit of a blur: Newmarket scored a few times. They had more shorts that Nick's made inappropriate comments to girls. We tried hard to get one back, but failed. Dave ran circles around every single person in the Newmarket defence. Tim thought he was the Pope and kissed the turf, in the hope that would give us some divine inspiration.

Final result 5-1. Overall South did well against league leading Newmarket, never surrendering and creating opportunities until the bitter end. This is the kind of hockey we should play against every team in the league!