A scorcher of a September afternoon saw the L1s make the long hike all the way up to the other end of Trumpington Road to the Perse Girls pitch for an away match at City 3s.

The warm up was spent marvelling at how accident prone Cambridge South players are...when they're not playing hockey. Turns out walking and playing some game called 'soccer' are much more dangerous than hockey and should be avoided at all costs... Whilst we shake our heads at the foolishness (exercise - it's bad for you!), we also wish all those with broken bones a speedy recovery.

...and back to the game. As always, it was a lively and evenly matched affair between the teams, but City drew first blood with a smashed strike from the top of the D somehow finding its way through a crowd of players to the back of the net. But never to be downhearted, South came back strong, with some beautiful attacking play from Naomi finding Liz, who played a lovely one-two with Caroline and then finished with a fine goal, her last for South as she's heading back to New Zealand in a few weeks. Apparently, the weather here just isn't good enough. Who knew...?!

So, half time, and the game was evenly poised at 1-1. Both teams came out strong after the break, but again it was City who were the sharper, winning a number of penalty corners. Despite two brilliant goal-line clearances from Diane and Julie, City's pressure paid off, and they converted two penalty corners with well-rehearsed routines; the first a straight strike, the second a two-pass left slip worked around the back of the defensive line. Seems that if you practise your short corners, every now and then you score one. Perhaps we should try it?

But the best was saved for last. Ten minutes to go, South dug deep, and found some energy from somewhere. The ball made its way to the edge of the D, where Sophie picked it up and looped a stunning shot over the keeper, with it dipping just underneath the bar for an early contender for goal of the season.

This gave South some hope, and the dying minutes of the game saw wave after wave of attack. But alas, time ran out on us, and the final whistle went with the score at 3-2. The campaign for 75-minute matches starts here...