South 3rds strong start to the season continued as a decent Newmarket team was comprehensively beaten. The performance, especially in the first half, was the best we have produced this season, apart possibly from the six-goal salvo in the first twenty minutes of the opening friendly against Stortford 5ths. In fact, that Stortford side and Newmarket today are two of the better teams we have faced. It seems that a good opponent forces us to raise our game.

As against Nomads last week, nerves were settled by taking an early lead. It came from the usual source, the Barton reverse. A good team passing move saw the ball worked up to Roy Orbison, who feed it in to Rob, posted up with a defender at his back. As we know, this is when Rob is at his most dangerous, as he worked himself some space on reverse, and then cracked the ball into the far corner.

Soon after, it was 2-0. It came from the first short corner conversion of the league season, the ball being shifted wide and then played back in as per the routine. Rob didn’t fully get hold of his shot, with the ball spinning towards the near post. There was some debate afterwards whether this was goalbound (didn’t look like it to me), but Oli wasn’t standing on ceremony, making sure from close range.

Newmarket then held us at bay for a while, and indeed were causing problems of their own with their willingness to commit players to the counter-attack. Perhaps the stretched game this created was what led to a number of balls out of the Newmarket backline being intercepted, putting us into some very promising positions. From one of these situations (actually more of a tackle, but the pass went into a player under heavy pressure) Matt was rampaging through the centre. He eliminated the final defender and slid Rob in; Rob drew ‘keeper and then knocked it past with, yes, you’ve guessed it, a reverse stick sweep.

As the first half was winding down, we made it four. This was a neatly worked set piece, a free-hit outside the 25 in the right channel which James slapped towards the far post for left-winger Tom, arriving on the run, to sweep in. Good goal. There was still time in the half for Jan’s cross from the right to just be too far ahead of Jelley as he attempted to stretch on the reverse stick and turn into in an empty net, and for Newmarket to utterly open us up, as they worked their centre-forward clean through, only for Chris to race off his line and make a good smothering block.

The half-time chat was along the lines of “Well, that was good, let’s keep it going”, whilst also acknowledged that the defence were playing high and occasionally getting caught out, but this was probably worth it because we were creating chances as a result and were likely to score more than them playing this way. Of course, Newmarket were also pondering the opening half, and made some alterations at the break that changed the pattern of the game in the second period. These seemed designed to limit the damage, withdrawing some of their livelier forwards into holding midfield roles. As a result, the game became a little bogged down. We had a significant edge in territory and possession, but were finding too many bodies in the way, leading to some less efficient passing than earlier. Mind you, there were still chances being carved out, and it would be churlish not to point out that the Newmarket ‘keeper was excellent during the second stanza.

We got the scoreboard moving again inside the last fifteen minutes, with our second short corner conversion of the day. The simplest of variations this time, as David found the target with a well-hit straight strike from the top of the circle, aided by a deflection from a defenders stick. That looked like the end of the scoring, until Newmarket forced a short of their own with less than five minutes on the clock. Similar to David’s goal, it was converted with a well hit straight strike, pinging into the far corner.

Whilst I’m sure it provided a psychological lift to the visitors, some may question whether disturbing The Kraken is completely advisable. We were suddenly faced with only drawing the second half, a serious disparity with the first, which would have left a bit of a flat aftermath. Fortunately, being goaded into action just showed the current resilience of the team, as two more goals were fashioned to give the match a more satisfying conclusion, at least from our perspective.

The sixth came after a good advantage by the Newmarket Umpire, letting play run after a foot as the ball broke to The Terminator. He fired an angled cross towards David on the penalty spot, who swept it past the ‘keeper on his near post. In the last minute, it was seven; this one came in the aftermath of a short. David had the first shot, which the ‘keeper kicked clear as far as Matt at the top of the circle. Matt gathered and flicked for the top corner, drawing a glove save from the ‘keeper, the ball running loose along the right byline. Tom raced after it, and crossed on the swivel (only 180 degrees, Jack wouldn’t even get out of bed for that) for Rob to deflect with the reverse stick, the ball just making it across the line before the covering defender could reach it.

7 league goals from Barton, 7 from the reverse stick. Just sayin’...

The final whistle blew before the game could restart, leaving the final analysis at 7-1. Later in the evening we found out the true worth of those late goals. Previous leaders Louth won at Grantham, but only by a solitary goal, meaning we have taken over top spot by virtue of a goal difference that is better by one.

Talking of Grantham, we welcome them to Chez Abbey next week, for the first ever meeting between the two clubs¹. New opponents, but not all new people. According to their website, Grantham’s vice-captain is recent Southerner Benjie Groom. Benjie can legitimately claim to be the king of Div 6NW, having played last season for South 3rds as we won Div 6NW(s), before transferring to Grantham midway through their Div 6NW(n) Championship campaign. We look forward to seeing him again.

¹ - how do I know South have never played Grantham? Well, they are not listed here, you see. Did you even know that was on our website? I’m struggling to decide if having that is impressive or scarily obsessive. Though I suppose people are going to point out that me knowing it exists is not exactly the most normal thing, either...

Thanks to Vicky for once again stepping in to Umpire at short notice.