What a difference a week makes. The first scheduled gap in the M4s fixture list coincided with the half term holidays and it initially appeared that the M4s were going to be left with a bare bones side as stalwarts of the side started making excuses to sample other climes and spend some time using two sticks rather than one. However, late call ups in the form of Masters Mulley and Greaves Jnr helped to bolster a squad looking to improve their recent fortunes with a morale boosting win in this mid season friendly against a side we narrowly lost to in pre-season.

The early spring sunshine obviously appealed to the team as they set about their work with gusto and (despite the game being a friendly) went immediately went for the metaphorical jugular. With the welcome return of Charlie to partner Dave in Tom Ps absence, some varied distribution from the back saw the M4s taking the slightly unusual (for them) approach of building play up patiently from the back by knocking the ball to Ky and David in the full back positions and playing the ball up the wings via Tom R and Rasmus. It paid of handsomely as time and again the Saffron Walden defence was carved wide open as slick passing between the wingers and Nick and Wilco in the centre before attempting to feed the ball into the dangerous runs of Simon and John up front. However, the coup de grace was not to be applied within the first third of the half, despite the best efforts.

The pressure was definitely beginning to tell though as time and again, balls were being worked around the back of Saffron Walden and the shot count was mounting. Efforts from John G, Rasmus, Nick and Tom were all narrowly off target or repelled by the keeper before the inevitable goal came from one of the young guns on loan during half term. Some good interception work by Nick set Luke free and while his initial shot on the reverse was blocked, he reacted quickest in the scramble of bodies to force the ball home. 1-0 South.

South were now pouring forward at will and the second game in similar circumstances. Rasmus received the ball on the right and charged into the D before cutting the ball back. Luke (who obviously has been watching/hearing about Mr Barton's exploits with the 3s attempted another reverse stick shot that beat the keeper and clattered off the far post. Quick as a flash, Rasmus retrieved the ball and although the initial shot was hacked off the line by a covering defender, he managed to force the ball home at the second attempt. 2-0 South.

Saffron Walden started to come into the game more as they managed to force a few counter attacks as South kept coming forward sensing more goals were there to be had. South's over-confidence was to prove their undoing as Saffron Walden's No 55 seemed to kept waltzing through tackle after tackle and eventually set up their opening goal to bring the score back to 2-1.

Stung by this, South immediately went on the offensive and decided to stick with the current game plan. From the push back, the ball went back to Nick in midfield who fed the ball out wide to Tom. A quick 1-2 was played with Simon, providing the extra man down the left and putting the tricky right back out of the play. Tom then fired a peach of a cross into the D for the unmarked Boris to set himself and slot past the helplessly exposed keeper and restoring South's 2 goal lead. 3-1

South's collective tail was well and truly up now and everyone wanted to get in on the act. The fourth goal came from some superb individual play from Nick who on collecting the ball just outside the 25, jinked past two defenders on his way into the D before dispatching the ball to score Souths 4th of the game and the 4th of the half. Dream stuff for the 4s!

Still, we weren't finished. With the South midfield rampant, the defence lacking much to do as the rare attacks forward from Saffron Walden were swiftly repelled the Monckasaurus was getting bored and sensed he was missing out on much of the fun upfront. Coming forward into the spaces in midfield, he suddenly saw a gap wider than the Grand Canyon and shelled a trademark ball forward. Unfortunately the target, Simon was so surprised to find himself both unattended at the top of the D and with no obvious defensive prescence near him, completely failed to trap the ball cleanly and the chance was lost. Too good to be true, clearly we wouldnt get another chance like that?

Obviously, Saffron Walden had also switched off at this point as minutes later, the same gap appeared and another ball was smashed forward. This time the skipper was prepared and spinning into the D, produced what is becoming a trademark flick into the bottom corner to bring up South's 5th goal and register his 6th goal in as many games, although far too late to make a run on Barton's lead as Goal King.

This clearly woke up the opposition though as a cry of "They've got nothing except a long ball!" was met with hoots of derision and the retort "Nothing but 5 goals you mean!" which also ignored the fact only one goal had actually come from a long ball. However, it would be Saffron Walden who would have the final say as they finished the half by applying some real pressure on the South defence. A series of long corners was repelled until an errant foot caught the ball. The ball however fell kindly for a Saffron Walden player and with the umpire seeing the advantage, play was allowed to continue and the shot registered Saffron Walden's second goal and bought half time with it.

While more of the same was urged from the captain during the team talk, the word coming from the defence was; "lets keep it tight and not concede any more. If it was a league game, I'd hate to blow a lead like this.". Fair point, well made. Could we hold on, given our propensity to ship goals?

It turned out to be "no, not entirely". Despite several more opportunities including a string of short corners, South were struggling to find that spark from the first half and couldn't increase their lead. Saffron Walden though clearly regrouped from the first half and went out as though it was 0-0. They soon found their way through our defence when failing a poor clearance from the back, they found their way through to open the scoring for the second half and make it 5-3.

The game was much more even now and possession was favouring the home side more. Several last ditch tackles from the defence from short corners and some fabulous stops from Shahzad (who got several nominations in the MoM voting) kept Saffron Walden at bay. Counter-attacking became the key for South although we weren't getting as many breaks as we would have liked but they were coming.

Boris and John combined well to create several openings, but the Saffron Walden defence were having a much better half and mopping things up. Several opportunites came and went, but the best and clearest opening of the half came when a break away down the right hand side saw Nick release Simon who had gotten into some space. Cutting into the D, he did all the hard work by beating his man by feinting right and dragging the ball left and bursting into the D. He then spoilt it all when a rush of blood to the head saw him attempt the most audacious reverse stick shot that could only be best described as a reverse stick scoop; flashing high, wide and not so very handsomely of to the right of the right hand post to the utter astonishment of everyone involved. When questioned about it afterwards, the skippers response was: "Why not take the shot? Reverse stick shots seem to be the done thing these days and someday it just might come off." and nearly elicted several Lemon nominations.

Was that miss to prove costly? As it turned out, not quite. Saffron Walden did manage to find a 4th goal shortly before the final whistle but not that elusive 5th and so a vital win was registered for the 4s. In an unusual twist, it turned out that the 4s were the only team to register a win across the club. Furthermore, when voting for MoM was conducted, the skipper found himself in the position of having to place his casting vote against a choice of himself or Rasmus. Then to top it all off, word came through via Twitter on Sunday that South had flattened Ely 4s 13-0. Clearly their shell-shocked skipper simply remembered arriving in Cambridge (for their game against City 5s) and then got confused over who they'd actually played in the aftermath. Still, it all helps with the goal difference at the bottom as its starting to get quite tight. With four games left and both Bourne Deeping and Ely to play (who are level and 1pt above us respectively), there's still time and the opportunity for us to claw our way back up the table and avoid from the wooden spoon. If we take the first half of this game into the next 4 games for the entire 70 minutes, it should be a piece of cake. Either way, I think we should ignore the defence when it comes to a half time team talk...