At approximately 9.45am on September the 20^th Dr Captain George (as she now likes to be referred to) was giddy with excitement as she described this day as "the best day of her life" (sorry Lee). It wasn't just the news that Alice was finally leaving Cambridge South for university that was putting a smile on her face but in fact the day had finally come to play at our new home ground.

As the most important team in the club, the Ladies 1s' were given the honour of christening the pitch. After a few pictures (the local celebs that we are) we were ready to start warming up. Unfortunately, what we hadn't realised was that Haverhill had beaten us to it and were already using the pitch. Not to be put off, we quickly began to reclaim our fortress.

As the match started it soon became apparent that our new pitch had a certain bounce to it. While it took a few of us a while to adjust, Granny Serin was delighted, having grown up in the age of the grass. The first half started in a blur, mainly as the ball was whizzing past all of our sticks. It did not take CSL1s' long however before we gained our composure and the new 5-3-2 formation paid off with a classic goal from Jess ,who was stood exactly where she was supposed to be!

There was some flare play from Caz and Ellie, who both had superb matches for South. We also started to pass the ball round nicely using Kim to distribute to the insides and forwards. Haverhill were not going to let us keep the lead easily and soon had chances to equalise.

The second goal came after being awarded a short corner just before half time. Elaine struck the ball sweetly and hit the bright blue backboard of our new snazzy goals. We also began to improve our fluidity by passing the ball around - something we need to continue to improve on.

During the second half Haverhill came out with a new tactic - man marking. It was fairly stressful especially for the hotter-headed among our team. However our forwards had secured us a lead and the defence of Diane, Serin, Julie and Naomi stayed strong. Loopy saved some remarkable goals which were flying at her from every angle. Despite all of Alice's bribery and tactical voting, Elaine was awarded man of the match, not only for her incredible goal but also for not falling asleep on the pitch.

Despite our new formation and pitch it would not be a Cambridge South Saturday without one of a few things: a fall from George, a mouth injury from Serin and an argument with someone from Kim. Fortunately for our adoring fans we did not disappoint. And so as we say farewell to Alice Hug, we remind her, once again, to be a little less like herself and she will make all the friends she needs. :-)

We are looking forward to defending our fortress and making sure we use her, and her bounce, to our advantage.