After last weeks’ disappointing result, something which called to mind a certain Far Side cartoon, it was a relief to get back to winning ways. Wisbech’s position at the lower end of the 5NW table might have suggested they were good opponents to face in the circumstances, but their recent form (four straight wins, one of which was against league leaders Louth) told a different tale. From this match, I think recent form is more indicative of their standard; they looked far too good to go down.

The first half was end-to-end stuff, neither team dominating territory, possession nor short-corner count. We did create the clearer chances, though. The first goal came from good recycling of the ball. Neil cut out an attempted clearance and squared for Paul, who advanced towards the 25 and played it into the circle. A clever reverse stick deflection (?miss-control?) from Matt got the ball through to Rob, who swept into the bottom corner.

Our second came from a short (rarity!), but not a smooth routine (oh). The set-piece had come from an attempted clearance that rose up and smacked Rob on the arm. Feeling bruised, Rob wasn’t up to taking a clean shot and as he is normally the man in prime position, this lead to a reshuffling of positions. Rupert, now in the distributor role, actually tried to find Rob out on the wide right, but the ball was a little off target, making Rob chase. This may have drawn the defence out of position (flubbed routines have a habit of doing this), so when Rob reached the loose ball and fired across, Matt was unmarked on the penalty spot. He controlled, and flicked home.

Our lead was preserved by a key clearance from Paul off a Wisbech short. A much cleaner routine than the one we scored with saw a firm shot beat Lino, only for Paul, on station on the post, to sweep the ball away off the line. Close. Then, in the dying embers of the first half, Wisbech gifted us a three-goal lead. A hopeful ball from well inside our half had taken a deflection off a Wisbech stick and was trundling harmlessly into their circle. Most of the players remained the other side of the halfway line, so the home ‘keeper took the decision to prevent a long corner by trapping the ball. Ali chased up to apply what he surely believed was token pressure, only for the ‘keepers attempted kick pass to pick him our perfectly. A couple of paces to reach the circle and Ali was able to roll the ball into the open goal. To make matters worse for the home stopper, time in the half expired just as his team were getting the ball back to centre. If he had let it out for a long, we probably wouldn’t have even got to take it!

After that particular blow to the ribs, it wasn’t really surprising that the home side came out in the second half slower than they had for the first. We were having more of the game, breaking up play in midfield to feed our wingers and generally looking fairly comfortable. Indeed, Matt thought he had added our fourth when turning a lifted ball into the goal, only for it to be chalked off on grounds of danger.

Wisbech threw more bodies forward as the half progressed, in particular no.19 (the best player on the pitch by a distance) pushing up from his defensive position. With 13 minutes left, he set up a goal as he used his pace to go around the outside of our defence and then pull the ball back for a teammate to sweep in. Wisbech also forced a number of shorts as the second half progressed, and when one of these squirmed under Lino and then sprang up and hit Paul on the line, we had conceded our customary penalty-flick. Conferring with the Umpire told us there were 94 seconds left to hang onto our win. Except... The flick hit the bar, landed a couple of inches in front of the goalline and stayed out.

After the miss, the flick-taker collected the loose ball and slowly dribbled it back to centre, to everyone’s bemusement. Whether he honestly believed the ball had rebounded off something inside the goal or was trying to pull the wool over the Umpires eyes is one for him to answer, either way they stood firm in their decision. With so little time left and a two goal cushion, it was game over. Three valuable points secured.

Elsewhere, Bourne Deeping 4ths showed there was nothing personal in their continual undermining of our promotion challenge by also taking out one of our rivals, Boston, 2-1. Combined with our victory, we have moved back into 2nd place with Louth the only team ahead of us, by a margin of two points. They come a-visiting next week for a top of the table clash, our last match this season against a promotion rival. Catz, 13:30, all support welcome!