The men's 1st team produced another excellent performance to beat a solid Peterborough side that started the day top of the league. Again short on numbers, South were forced to dig deep, work hard and on a few occasions, ride their luck but over the course of the game South were the more dangerous side and the team felt they deserved the victory that now sees them in joint second position along with 5 other teams!

South started the game extremely well putting Peterborough under immediate pressure and forcing them to play rushed passes and concede possession in their own half. Thanks to this attacking high line South found themselves 1-0 up within a couple of minutes with a move straight off the Captain's (slightly anal but clearly useful) magnetic coaching board. From a free hit Virdi found Parsot who caressed the ball into the path of McCulloch who deflected past the keeper. His proposal later in the weekend . . . that it was the best goal he'd ever scored fell on deaf ears!

South remained very solid and difficult to break down for the duration of the half, affording Peterborough only a couple of half chances. Organisation and hard work were the keys to this success with midfielders Halse and Virdi working extremely hard to cover breaks and track back. McCulloch dropping deep also made a difference allowing Pearson and Hawkes to express themselves with freedom up front. Unfortunately none of this freedom of expression resulted in anything resembling a chance on goal! South did however possess a real threat when attacking the D from deep lying positions and at least two balls into the area could have been deflected in had we had a man on the post. A couple of good short corners nearly resulted in goals and one was messed up by Williams just before the break, leaving South with a deserved but precarious lead!

The second half was all about South managing their energy levels going forward in search of the second goal without leaving Peterborough the space to break away and get back on terms. For the large part South got the balance between attack and defence spot on and when Peterborough did break through our back line they found Steve Parker in fine form, on 3 occasions he left his line at lightning speed to block a shot or force an attacker wide of goal and out of shooting range.

Going forward South continued to look dangerous, particularly on the right with Halse and Pearson linking up well and running at defenders willingly. Unfortunately the reward for all the effort South's players had put in didn't materialise as quickly as we would have hoped and inevitably the number of attacks began to slow down. With Peterborough pushing on hard and South beginning to tire, Dave Aston nearly ruined the day by under hitting a suicidal pass right across the top of the D that went straight to their centre forward. Fortunately Parker did just enough to put him off and the shot went inches wide, sparing Aston's blushes - at least I think it was Aston's pass, Chris Graveling would never do something so stupid!

Shortly afterwards South finally managed to double their lead from a short corner won by Halse after a good forward run. The initial move broke down but Williams was on hand to slam the loose ball into the goal allowing the team to breathe a sigh of relief.

South hung on in the final few minutes and should be very happy with the win and their second clean sheet in 3 league matches.

Thanks to Rob and Steve for umpiring and to Colin for his words of advice!