It was a bright, warm morning that greeted the South team. The team was excited to be playing a beatable opposition. Even Emma South turned up early, only to find she'd forgotten all of her kit (stick, shirt and all) earning the Lemon vote.

Earlier in the week, it looked like we would have five subs. Unfortunately, we ended up with 1.5 subs as Cath was saving herself for the half-marathon the next day (where is the hockey commitment?! Just kidding Cath, we still love you).

With the sun shining, two of the Nomads players decided to wear sunglasses though it was the South team playing into the sun for the first half. The game set off with South looking strong with an early break down the left wing that put the ball across the goal. Unfortunately, the South team couldn't quite get a stick on it to score.

Despite South having a lot of the possession, a counterattack from Nomads gave them a shot on target that beat the keeper but fortunately, Lottie was there to stop the ball on the line, twice. The ball was cleared and we reset. Nomads showed they weren't going to be an easy to team to beat with several hits towards the goal. At one point, Nomads looked like they'd scored but the eagle-eyed umpire noticed a bit of football on the way and the goal was disallowed.

South continued to apply pressure, winning multiple shorts with good link-up play between the midfielders and forwards. Unfortunately, South couldn't quite seal the deal with some quick running from the Nomads closing down hitters at the top of the D. An attack from Nomads led to Shannon displaying some quick reactions in goal but unfortunately our defenders weren't quite so quick and a short corner was awarded for Nomads. Nomads capitalised on the short and struck a hard hit into the corner.

South heads dropped a bit but we still hoped to come back in the second half. Cath focused the team talk around movement and keeping our spirits up. The second half started with South dominating again, immediately attacking down the left wing. One of the attacks led to a Nomads player getting a green card for swinging dangerously in a last ditch defense.

South penned Nomads in their side of the pitch for the majority of the second half but couldn't quite find the goal. Balls were driven into the D by Steph, applying the pressure on Nomads. We had a few more opportunities that weren't quite converted before the game came to an end.

Overall, South played well and though we didn't win, our spirits were lifted by some fantastic teas (lasagne with enough portions for seconds... or thirds in the case of some!) out in the sun at The Tally Ho.

P.S. About an hour after the match, Cath received a text from Yumann saying she'd completely forgotten about the match. Can we revote the lemon??