South 3rds finally saw competitive action for the first time in 2013, as we made the short trip up the A14 to take on St. Ives 3rds in a top-of-the-table clash. Some players break from hockey had been longer than others, though. Whilst most of the squad were regulars from the opening half of the season who had last tasted league hockey in December, this match saw the return to goalkeeping duties of Lino ‘the Cat’ Di Lorenzo, on the pitch after a mere 46 months out resting a back injury. Welcome back to the fray, mate.

We went into the game with a new formation of 4-2-3-1, the result of some deep tactical analysis from Herr Commandant. A shield in front of the defence and a platform to play off was the idea. And it worked a treat, especially in the first half. Players were always available, allowing us to move the ball around as well as we have done all season. It is good to have an additional option to the 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 we played pre-Christmas.

We were creating chances, putting a number of shots on the Saints goal in the opening twenty minutes, beating the ‘keeper on a couple of occasions only for defenders covering on the line to block the shots and swing the ball away. The home side were trying to get the ball upfield more rapidly, hitting into their (excellent) centre-forward, who would hold it up and spring runners bursting from midfield. If this wasn’t necessarily creating as much as us, when it did come together it looked very threatening. In particularly, one swift counter required some sprightly action from the Prodigal Returned to smother, Johnny B sweeping the loose ball away.

It was somewhat against the run-of-play when the Saints took the lead. It stemmed from a straight strike from a short corner that Johnny B cleared away off the line. With his left foot. And his right, for good measure. Penalty flick, clinically dispatched. Our reaction to this set-back was obviously important, and within five minutes we were level. Some crisp passing worked the ball up to Rob in the circle. His shot was saved by the ‘keeper, but the attempted clearance from a defender was intercepted by Joe, who wasted no time in firing an undercut across the ’keeper and into the far top corner. Sweet.

That was all the serious action for the first half, with the half-time message being that we were playing well, if we kept moving the ball as we had done the chances would come. As it turned out, this happened sooner rather than later. Less than two minutes into the second half, JT made a tackle on a Saints defender to turn the ball over on halfway. JT fed The Somnambulist, clear down the right channel. Tom showed good peripheral vision to detect Rupert racing up in support, and took advantage by drawing the ‘keeper and squaring the ball across the face of goal. The pass wasn’t quite perfect, being slightly in front of Rupe, but that just made the diving reverse stick conversion all the more spectacular. Two opposition mistakes exploited with well-taken goals.

Rather than push on, our ambition got a bit limited after this. Or possibly the Saints upped their work rate in search of an equaliser. Either way, the second half became rather a rearguard action. We struggled to clear our lines at times, but at the same time did a decent job of preventing the Saints from creating too many clear-cut opportunities. They certainly had some, and we rode our luck as shorts went unconverted and open play shots passed narrowly wide of both posts. That said, I can’t remember a shot on target that Lino had to save (I can remember a shot off-target that was saved and which fortunately was put wide on the rebound by the forward following up. After that long out, we can forgive Lino for not exactly having his bearings yet).

As time wore down, things got a little heated. Matt and a Saint had a coming together in midfield, followed by an aggressive confrontation that needed Umpire intervention to restore calm. Soon after a Saint turned sinner as he reacted to a foul from Andrew Wouldn’t-Say-Boo-To-A-Goose by threateningly raising his stick towards him, and received a green card for his attempted intimidation. Their frustration was evident but we were keeping our cool, clearing our lines and doing a decent job retaining possession where possible. In fact, in the last ten minutes, our counter-attacks looked the most likely source of any further goals, with a number of near things from Ali, Rob and Tom. That wasn’t to be, but the two we had had proved enough.

Having gained what could prove to be key win, along with the three points received for last week’s bloodless coup over Boston, our position currently looks decent. We need to keep the effort up, with some potential banana skin games in the offing. Such as next week when we host a Bourne Deeping 4ths team that gave us a 6-2 shellacking at their place earlier in the season.