After a slightly disrupted pre-season (and week of selection issues!), the league campaign could finally begin.

Winning the toss and choosing to have the first go with the ball was clearly poor captaincy. It should have been expected that, given we’re polite chaps from Cambridge, we’d give it straight to the visitors and let them take an early lead (Rob generously suggesting that we at least managed to keep a clean sheet for 30 seconds of our Long Road debut).

With that out of our system, the game proper could begin.

It would be fair to say Bourne Deeping had the better of it, as we struggled to come to terms with the bounce of the pitch and the incessant rain that had greeted our arrival. Thankfully, our main defensive tactic of giving away short corners (in increasingly novel ways) was going well, as our opponents had decided to go down the Barnes Wallace injection route, much to the chagrin of their stopper. At the other end, we did start to have chances of our own, with Dave Monck getting off a couple of thwacks, but certainly it was with relief that we somehow smuggled it to half time at only one down.

After a minor rejig, we started the second period in promising fashion, with Ollie Lamming making an impression having been moved into the left half role. From one flowing move that started at the edge of our own circle, we worked the ball through midfield, via Dave Monck in the, ahem, high pivot position, to eventually be confidently roofed by the impressive Chris Walsh.

Could this be the great escape? No, sadly. A remarkable mid-air goal-line save from Nick Venner kept the wolves at bay for a few minutes, but eventually our luck ran out at the shorties – a neat slip-slip-slip-‘goal!’ corner seeing parity vanish. A third followed relatively quickly as an attacking position was squandered; they shelled it down the left; our skipper lined the ball up, missed it; and the increasingly lurky high forward popped one over an onrushing Lino. Damn.