On a sunny Saturday morning, eight M3 players turned up an hour ahead of the scheduled start time. However our captain, goalie and key defender were still miles away, held up on the A14 near Swavesey as a result of an accident. With it looking unlikely that the missing three would arrive in time, Rob managed to negotiate a 15 minute delay but with no Ras, Dave and Jason we were forced to start with only eight players.

With a stacked defence we managed to survive fifteen minutes of pressure with the ball rarely leaving our own half. Though Bourne Deeping got the ball into the D on several occasions there was only one shot on target, a rather simple stop for Charlie acting as kicking-back. Just as our three remaining teammates arrived we conceded a short corner and, with no goalie on the pitch, Bourne Deeping went ahead with a flick that went in via Charlie’s stick and forehead. 0-1.

With eleven men on the field it took time for everyone to settle into the correct positions and during this period Ras took the opportunity to continue a rather worrying trend, his third card in as many games and an inevitable lemon! But shortly before half time we drew level with some great passing up the left wing; Rob to Ian, to Simon on the baseline who crossed it to Nick to slap into the goal. 1-1.

The second half started pretty evenly with neither team threatening either goal for some time. However Bourne Deeping went ahead again from a well worked short corner that took out the two runners and allowed their attacker to direct the ball in from the penalty spot. 1-2.

Following this setback the South midfield came into their own, Charlie and man-of-the-match Nick really bossing things in the middle and delivering great balls to the attack. And it was as a result of this superiority in the midfield that we got our second goal. From a free hit in our own half Douglas passed upfield to Nick, who passed to Simon on the baseline who squared it to Rob, directing the ball in at the near post. 2-2.

With the scores level we were eager not to allow Bourne Deeping to get ahead. Some great defending and marking, impressively lead by James S and Dave, denied the opposition any productive advances into our D and ensured the draw. In unfortunate circumstances, a decent result, but we’ll need to take our chances next week if we are to beat division 5NW’s pantomime villains, Cambridge City 5s!