On a pleasant Saturday, our thirteen men in green lined up against a confident looking St Ives 2nd XI. Following a brief warm up, the Captain Mark Williams turned up to give a thought-provoking pre-match speech, which went along the lines of: "Beat your man". Thoughtful words as ever.

With the match in full throttle, it was clear that our training session on Thursday was serving us in good stead, focusing on the zippy passing game which we all love to play. This was in stark contrast to the St Ives method of getting it to their centre-back who would then smash the ball up front (quite successfully, might I add).

Through one of these smashes, we were unfortunate to go one goal behind. Nevertheless, we held our heads up high, believing that we could still outplay the opposition, which we inevitably so did.

What happened next was nothing short of magic. From our 16 yard free hit at the top of the D, which was ringed and marked out well by the opposition, Colin executed an outrageous aerial (in a good way, this time) over two opposition heads, accurately dropping the ball in to the stride of Chris Pearson on the right wing past the half way line. Pearson, without any hesitation, sped down the line past three more defenders who were never going to catch him, glanced up, and saw Oli Lamming at the far post, who had also outpaced their entire midfield to get into position. Another other-worldly pass in this move, from Pearson to Lamming at the far post, was convincingly converted with one touch from Lamming at full pelt, with the ball at knee height, with only one bite at the apple available. The move had pace, precision, team work, everything that we have been working on this season. 1-1, what an equaliser!

With the game level, the tackling became messy from both sides and lacked discipline, leading to many free hits being given away. Out of this, it was again South who capitalised, by winning a series of short corners. After a few solid efforts, the target was eventually found by Pearson who made a daring dribble into the D instead of shooting or passing straight off, as was the original plan. A clean slap to the right of the keeper saw the ball in the back of the goal. 2-1 South.

There has been an unusually high prevalence of injuries in the Cambridge South 1st XI this season, and we are finally seeing injured players returning to adorn the green shirt once again. This has allowed a welcome number of subs on the bench, eager to add to the intensity of the game, with the likes of Tom Cosford who has been out with a broken foot.

With the game at 2-1, St Ives were battling back to regain some form of authority. There were dicey moments when a few short corners were conceded but we need not have been alarmed as Chris Graveling and Steve Parker especially, brushed away the danger time and time again. Our defence today was our strong point, and also a special mention to Dom Nelson is due for his invaluable solid contribution at left back for sixty-seven minutes of the game, a position unfamiliar to him.

John Pawson, Bhav Virdi, Chris Pearson and Mark Williams controlled the midfield for the majority of the game, and were swift to break and even swifter to defend.

To seal the game out, we needed one more goal, and that's exactly what happened when Simon Ta beat three men with a dazzling dribble down the left, to then square it to Shin Kim on the top of the D, who neatly slid it past the splayed keeper into the bottom right. With it being 3-1 to South, all we needed to do now was to see out the game.

With the whistle blown for full time, we thanked the umpires and the opposition for the well mannered game, and reflected on what was a fine victory for the Cambridge South 1st XI. Long may this tradition continue.