The first real winnable game of the season seemed to have the odds stacked against South from the start - a poor week for availability meant that a skeleton crew was hastily put together. Regulars Ian E, James B, David B, Simon F and James M were joined by James R, Andy T and newcomer Douglas. But that wasn't enough for a team - meaning John G, Nick G and Tom R doubled-up after a unsuccessful game against Nomads for the 4s. So a quarter of the players were tired and a few would be playing out of position due to lack of a keeper and an excess of strikers, but South would give it a go and hope that we would get enough goals to survive the sixteen man squad of St Neots.

The game took a while to start, which was fortunate since Andy T had thought the game started at 4pm and had to frantically got himself to the game after Simon called him at 3pm. For his lacking of email reading skills he was put in goal, but not after Ian E had already kitted up - all this was possible because St Neots only had 1 umpire. Eventually everyone was present and accounted for and positions were sorted and the game started.

The St Neots team were mostly youths but with a couple of experienced players in each area providing the much-needed support for the inexperienced youngsters - a common sight these days. South started very positively, attacking into the enemy D early and creating chances. Nick G was linking up well with James M down the right side and a few shots were taken. South even managed to get a short, which hit the keepers pads.

Things were positive, but St Neots were very quick on the break - so when we lost the ball it would shoot straight down the other end which meant a lot of running. We clearly weren't going to keep up the pace in this game and when every fifteen minutes St Neots subbed on five players we could see that we'd need to win it in the first half.

A great attack was started by Douglas at right back, who dribbled round multiple attackers before sending the ball onwards to James M, who in turn passed to John G on the back line, who took it past a player before passing to Simon on the P spot, who hit the backboard with a well placed shot. 1-0 South.

Unfortunately you're weakest defensively when you've just scored and St Neots went on the attack straight away, managing to slip a ball though to their experienced striker, who neatly placed the ball past Andy T in goal. 1-1 St Neots equalise. Halftime.

The second half was extremely frustrating. Firstly the tiredness really started to show - we could only attack with three players maximum because otherwise we couldn't get back to meet the counter. The legs started to go so easy passes became more and more out of reach. Runs that would've been great in the first half just ended up running into St Neots players. It's surprising how sloppy you can become when tired. I found myself just missing the ball or misjudging passes, and it was slightly demoralising when you got around one player to find two more behind them.

On occasion Simon and James M valiantly counter-attacked into a sea of light blue players - but rarely got anywhere. But most frustrating of all were the constant short and long corners; we'd be locked in long corner mode for upwards of five minutes before giving away short corners left right and centre, some of which were very soft.

After ten-plus short corners, St Neots eventually scored the winning goal. And that was basically it. The second half was mostly spent defending. Everyone played well despite the tide being heavily against us.

Anyway - next week is Ely 4s WHICH WE WILL...MIGHT...probably will... hopefully will... WIN - so please come and play.