In a week of dire availability, it was only Friday evening when a makeshift team came together for the Battle of the Bottom. When a game really should be won (Wisbech 3s is just ahead of us in the league), it's worrying when the warm-up must be started with a round of names. More so when just about all these names seem to be "Tom". On the other hand, at least we had a warm-up - unexpectedly, the opposition seemed to lag behind on this, even though it was their home game.

Formalities over, we settled down to the serious business of getting something out of this game. Warned by Colin (in such a shameless display of name-dropping that he'd have the Lemon sown up on any other day) that Wisbech are dangerous on the break, the order of the day was to keep our defence tight and not get drawn forwards too much. Of course, that doesn't really help much if you let one of their attackers smack the ball past Shahbaz on his reverse side. 1-0 down. Damn.

But what's this? Heads did not drop. Shouts were encouraging. Passes were short and sharp. Tom South was awake (no, really. We checked) and lurking at the far post. 1-1. All that did was make Nick jealous, so he insisted on getting a goal of his own. Not really understanding the rules of hockey, he powered the ball in from outside the D and trusted on someone to deflect it in - who would've thought it would be Wisbech's goalie that did the honours? Still, 2-1 to us.

And that prompted yet another first - a half-time teamtalk without spitting rage. Maybe we should try that more often...

The second half was a lot less exciting. Wisbech got themselves a stack of shorts, but couldn't convert any of them. We had a couple of decent chances from open play, but the Wisbech goalie had a point to make and denied further goals. And as Wisbech were getting more and more desperate to find an equaliser, South started to move everything just that little bit more slowly to wind down the clock.

It's probably fair to say there was a little bit of luck in our win. But equally, it was the determination of all those on the pitch to make something of the trip that got us these three points. Makeshift team or not, postivism and hard work won the day - let's carry that through to next week and get some more points on the board!