South 3rds picked up three more points towards our promotion push after a hard fought game against relegation-threatened Ely 3rds.

We went into the match with our 2nd highest goalscorer absent from central midfield. South père reported he had been unable to shift the slugabed, either for our game or for the 4ths friendly in the morning, which Tom had been meant to Umpire. This promptly got him the Lemon vote from both the 3rds and 4ths. Winning multiple awards by refusing to leave your pit! Beat that Linda Evangelista.

Those that had made the short journey for the 3pm(!) push-back started the game on top, working the Ely ‘keeper and seeing chances go narrowly off-target. However, we didn’t manage to convert our quick start into a lead, and having weathered that the hosts settled into their game, generating a pretty even contest.

The first half was nearly up before a breakthrough was made, and importantly it came for us. Rob collected a loose ball towards the left edge of the circle, worked himself around onto his front-stick (!), and squeezed a shot through a narrow gap between the ‘keeper and his near post. Limited time remained in the half, but there was enough for Johnny B, back between the sticks this week, to be called on to make a sharp save. The identity of the player trying to put the ball past him was a bit of a surprise, one of his own defenders. The anonymous culprit (anonymous as he presumably didn’t mean to do this) deflected a hard-hit Ely cross goalwards, but JB’s reflexes were quick enough to put the ball out for a long corner. We turned around a goal ahead, which felt about right on the balance of play.

Best period of play came in the opening fifteen minutes of the second half. We kept Ely pressed back and were regularly creating chances, just like the opening exchange of the match. Those chances became goals when the rolling substitution plan returned Joe to the fray, but as a forward rather than a midfielder. The impact was immediate, Joe and Stu exchanging passes down the left to get Stu to the byline. The ball was worked from there via Joe to Rob at the top of the circle. Rob dragged left to shift the ‘keeper and put the ball home.

Soon after, Rob thought he had his hattrick when the ball sprang up off the ‘keeper and he smacked the hanging orb into the goal. Only problem was it was at least 6 feet up, maybe nearer 7 when he connected. Rob’s attempt to prove he had taken his shot from shoulder height was met with general derision, and when that demonstration was allied with a hangdog “But that was my dream goal!” we had a co-Lemon alongside Rip Van Winkle. The main thing to take from this was that if one ever finds oneself on the opposite side of a Badminton net from Rob, beware the forehand smash.

The third was soon in coming however, and like our second it was well-worked. Ali jabbed the ball away from his opponent on halfway, drew the full-back towards him and fed Rob, who had spun right into the channel. The Ely sweeper was forced to cover, so when Rob’s cross cut out the Centre-Back and found Joe, he just had the ‘keeper to beat. As the stopper came out to meet him, Joe showed admirable vision in slipping the ball right, leaving Andy, racing up in support, with a simple finish into an open goal. However, simple wasn’t Andy’s thing. Instead he carried the ball to a yard out and then flicked it up into the goal, managing to make it stick behind a stanchion halfway up. Fancy embellishments ‘r’ us. Soon after, Joe thought he had added a fourth when he fizzed an undercut from the top of the circle high into the net, but it was (correctly) ruled out for a foot in the build-up. Sweet finish, mind, and the decision was accepted without any histrionics.

Ely pulled a goal back midway through the second-half with a neat flicked finish from a short corner. At roughly the same time, Matt had hobbled off due to a smack on the knee, which unfortunately necessitated moving Joe away from the front-line, where he had been causing Ely all sorts of trouble, to fill the gap in central mid. Though everyone was in accustomed positions we lost impetus with this re-jig and with Ely taking encouragement from registering, the home side had more of the play in the remaining time. Despite a number of shorts forced, they didn’t add to their tally, giving a final score of 3-1.

Sunday morning brought the news of a significant result elsewhere in 5NW as Boston won 2-0 at leaders Louth, thus eliminating the cushion Louth had established by beating us a week ago. As a result the top of the table has concertinaed-up, with none of the sides having margin for error in the remaining games.

Remaining fixtures

Louth

St. Ives 3 (a)

Grantham (H)

Ely (H)

Boston

Ely (H)

Nomads (a)

Newmarket (H)

South

St. Ives 4 (H)

Newmarket (a)

Grantham (a)

St. Ives 3

Louth (H)

Bourne Deeping 3 (a)

Nomads (H)

One final thing. South 3rds ‘12-‘13 now have the best record any South team has ever complied in Division 5NW. And that includes the 2nds, who spent the best part of a decade trying, before they sneaked up to 4NW via the backdoor after finishing 4th (events higher up the hockey pyramid lefts gaps, which it is not inconceivable might also occur this season). Seeing as the 2nds never actually finished in a promotion spot in this Division, they should damn well come back and do it properly, Yuh-Huh!