For the Mens 4ths trip to St. Ives, we were joined by apprentice umpire Graham, who during the car trip up made it clear that he wouldn't hesitate to send off the South captain if he failed to keep his team in check. Was this game destined to be a bad-tempered affair with cards aplenty? We had hoped not.

To give us some respite during the game, we were blessed with two subs and 13 was adjudged to be a good number by Dave Monck. Our opposition looked to have a secret weapon before the game had begun, though. A mix-up with the shirts meant that St. Ives did not have their away kit (as arranged months earlier) with them, and a quick trip to the club storeroom sorted that out. However, they each slipped on their away shirts over their green kit. This was significant, as with temperatures close to zero and the odd snowflake making an appearance, St. Ives looked warmer than South, perhaps explaining why we were more eager to get the game underway.

From the start, the Cambridge South pressure seemed to be working wonders, with some high pressing forcing the errors from the St. Ives defence. When on the ball, some simple passes and good runs enabled us to get into the opposition D, and often attempt a shot. It was during one of these chances that the keeper struggled to get rid of a bobbly shot from Boris, and Tom Rosselli made sure to finish the job, and doubled his tally for the season. 1-0, and the game was looking promising, with much South possession and urgency, resulting in a lot of time spent in the St. Ives half.

The second goal for South went in from a short corner. Another strong push-out and trap - the short corner routine seems to be getting better and better lately - and the familiar Dave Monck cannon had found its way to the backboard, taking a touch on the way. Surely there were more goals to come.

As the half came to an end, St. Ives became more of a danger with a few breaks allowing them to shoot on goal. Defenders working back, and Shahzad's persistence ensured that none of the shots were made to count. There was time for one last South chance though. A short corner was won as the whistle sounded, but despite the additional supporting players available for the routine, the shot unfortunately went wide.

At half-time, there were shades of last weekend's goal-fest at Saffron Walden, but with two goals scored, we weren't going to sit back, so a repeat of the first half was necessary. A few of us were a little under the weather due to illness, while others noticed that the star-player/s lacked their usual spark. We needed to finish the job. The second half started strong, with the first 10-15 minutes finding South camped up in the St. Ives half, the ball didn't cross halfway. Long and short corners came and went, and a myriad of South players contributed their shots, but the ball just wouldn't go in. Though we couldn't recall the last time that so many of our shots were on target, the St. Ives keeper was on form, with his defence helping him out during one messy scramble. A short time later, a solid shot (from outside the circle?) which may have hit a foot resulted in the ball smashing into the goal, but the three umpires and video referee disallowed it unanimously.

St Ives again had a stronger spell in the latter half of the half. but the defence were holding firm. Shahzad was not excessively troubled as Dave, Charlie and Ky snuffed out any danger, and David Bridge was on hand to make some last-minute, one-armed tackles. Despite his thigh-strain coming back, Charlie was not interested in subbing off, but was promptly banned from crossing the halfway mark by Boris, as he had made some cracking runs several times earlier. This instruction was to fall on deaf ears.

As the match came to a close, we were treated to what was a highlight of the match for some. A chance for St. Ives went begging after two of their players came together in the South circle, and the burly gents fell to the ground one on top of the other. The lower of the two took his time in getting up, and soon after, the game was over. It was a great team result, a clean sheet, and an away win against a mid-table team - not bad at all.

From the post-match analysis, it was clear that this was another good team performance from the 4ths. The MOM nominations confirmed this, with seven separate players being nominated, and Dave Monck winning a tight vote. Ultimately it was translated that he owed the MOM to "being fairly quiet". Well done Dave.

On the way home, it was revealed that even Graham was impressed with the way we played, and that our disciplined positional play and lack of crowding apparently made the game easy to umpire too. [Thanks to both umpires.]

Four home games now await the most in-form Cambridge South team, including three league games with a point to prove to Bourne Deeping, Peterborough Vets and, of course, Ely.