Confidence was running high in the 4s after their 100% start to the season. And on paper a game against Nomads, a team we had beaten 2-0 in pre-season, looked like that 100% record may continue. However, strange things happen around Halloween!

With the team missing three of the midfield including the skipper the team had to recruit Nick Greaves and Laurie Ho to the team, Doug making his 4s debut and Neil, carrying a slight injury, providing cover on the bench. Adopting a 3-1-4-2 formation the 4’s soon found themselves under pressure as Nomads had much of the early possession with their number 5 running the show, providing excellent service to their two young, quick lads up front, both of whom were wearing number 9, something which seemed to cause much confusion in the 4s' defence.

The constant pressure that Nomads applied soon told as they scored three early goals, all straight through the middle. Clearly the 3-1 defensive formation wasn’t working so we soon switched to a back four which seemed to be working better until a short was conceded. Doug and Charlie running one and two managed to apply some pressure to the striker with Charlie managing to get a stick to the ball only for it to deflect into the air to loop to the right post where, with a mid-air strike, their striker cooly put the falling ball into the goal.

The first half wasn’t quite a disaster as South did manage to apply some pressure and were awarded a handful of short corners which resulted in what was probably the only save by the Nomads' keeper.

Half time and a chance to regroup. The half time formation change improved things, with Tom and Laurie playing on the wings, and Boris dropping in the middle to form a middle three with Nick and Simon and opting for a flat back four. Good discipline, better marking, taking time to slow things down and hard work from the team in the second half meant that we didn't concede any more goals (although Nomads were doing their very best to score).

Credit to Laurie for his excellent ball control and intelligent play which saw him skin their older players out on the wing on more than one occasion. An impressive debut seeing him collect the MoM award. LoM went to John G for his diving antics yet again. I see this becoming a regular. It should be noted that it was a fantastic challenge by John on a Nomads player, which led to them both going sprawling flat on the ground, and John getting the hit. Whether that was the fair result or a consequence of JB indicating fouls in the wrong direction after umpiring on 4.5 hours sleep was questionable.

A tough first half but much improved second half thanks in part to the new formation directed at half time by Neil, who also shamelessly wanted it put on the record that none of the goals were conceded when he was on the field!! What happened to winning as a team and losing as a team? Many thanks especially to Nick and Laurie for stepping in to help out. Great games by both.

Next week, back on track with a win!