South 3rds kept ourselves vaguely in touch with the Div 5NW promotion places with this narrow and hard fought win over Bourne Deeping 4ths.

The only goal of the match came relatively early on. Tom R (returning after months out with a broken finger, great to have you back!) played the ball hard in to Paul, with his back to goal near the penalty spot. The goalscoring touch came from this position, with Paul letting the ball run off his stick to wrong-foot the keeper and roll slowly just inside the post. Was this really clever or a lucky break after a miscontrol? You decide.

The rest of the half continued without anything too clear cut being created. We had a couple of chances from open play, specifically the fable Barton reserve-stick. But that was misfiring on this occasion. There were a few shorties, but they produced little. The Dragons also had some shorts, the first of which was fizzed narrowly wide of the near post.

After the break was much in the same vein, i.e. rather close to stalemate. Again Barton’s reverse side was our most likely source of a cushion, the visitors' keeper managing a spectacular save late on when Rob seemed certain to double the advantage. Shorts again provided Bourne Deeping’s biggest threat, with Jason making a strong double save from one set piece.

With goalmouth action limited, it was lemon-worthy incidents that stuck most in the mind. The 'winning' moment came when Rob decided to hold an impromptu mid-match rules discussion with Josh. His teammates were voluble in their advice on this, which can be summarised as ‘bad idea’. Rob persisted. One green card latter and his skipper, who had been the most strenuous in urging Rob to find another course, was making a substitution: Rob off, Paul on. Was this simply the next change in the rotation, or a reaction to captain’s objections being ignored? A little from column A, a little from column B. This just edged out Tim’s ‘self-pass, fall over, put ball out for opposition sideline’ long corner routine for the award. I don’t remember that one in our training sessions...

Next week is the return match against Cambridge City 5ths. Win this, and we might be fully back involved in the chase for promotion. Lose it, and it will be another season in Division 5NW for sure.