South M5s' rearranged game against Ely proved to be a slightly more one-sided game than the score suggests. Ely fought hard in defence but lacked composure up front at times. South, on the other hand, buoyed by the win against St Ives last time around, came out all guns blazing in the first half. We quickly worked our first opportunity to get a strike on goal, albeit to close to the keeper on this occasion.

The first goal came soon enough and it was a well worked team move. A swift turnover and counterattack was launched by Phil, who fed the ball to a deep-lying Rob. Pinging the ball out wide to Tom, the ball was advanced up the wing, where an overlapping Joe was slipped the ball to fire a cross right through the D. The ball evaded Simon F, but Simon J was lurking at the back post to claim the tap in. 1-0 South.

Sensing goals galore, the midfield were harrying Ely relentlessly and either winning the turnover or forcing the error that relinquished possession to South. Quickfire passing between Phil and Joe in the centre, who were exchanging passes with Simon J and Tom on the wings, meant balls were being fired across and into the D from all angles, but not quite sticking.

Sonn enough though, one did. A virtual carbon copy of the first (why change something that works?), the same combination of Phil, Rob, Tom and Joe worked their way wide but this time when the ball was fired through by Joe, Simon F connected cleanly with a blaster that flew into the roof of the net. 2-0 South and now we wondered how many more we could get.

No more came in the first half, although several more chances came and went as Tom, Rob, Joe and Simon F all missed opportunities to further extend South's lead and the few times that Ely managed to threaten our D, the defence of Owen, Howard, Ian and Douglas were more than up to the job of snuffing them out.

The second half continued along the same vein. South created several more good chances that either went straight to the keeper (Simon F), flew just wide of the post (Joe, Rob, Tom, Phil and Simon F) or were mopped up by Ely's defence. Ely pulled one back with 6 or 7 minutes remaining, but despite mounting pressure and Douglas trying to take an early bath (see Lemon), South stood firm and held on for the win.

And a handy win it is too, as it guarantees we won't be left with the wooden spoon in Div 6NW(S) this season. As St Ives lost to St Neots today, we even managed to climb one place in the table. With one more game to go, can the 5s make it 3 wins in a row? Let's find out in two weeks after our enforced rest next week.