South got done over by a very competent Cambridge City 5s side. They even held meetings before their short corner routines:

So here is the match report from the first game. It is still pretty accurate, except our guest goal keeper was Shahzad Ali, goal scorer was Simon Frampton and injured defender was Douglas Gibson. And rather than ten minutes before push back, most players showed up five minutes before:

"You know that you have to work hard when Cambridge City come visit. And work hard all the South players did but to no avail. The M3s were out-skilled in all positions, bar perhaps for the guest goal keeper and Man of the Match Simon Cooper. Throughout the game there was always the sense that the City players could have turned it up a notch - a 2-1 victory was enough for them in the end."

"South got the first goal after a second short corner, where the hit came off the keeper's pads and Rasmus Petersen hit the rebound into the goal with his back to the keeper. But City just kept playing and got the equalizer before the break from open play. In the second half followed a series of short corners, and while the defensive line with Douglas Gibson, Dave Monck, Neil Sneade, and Charlie Crowther plus before mentioned MoM did their best to keep City at bay, the oppositions' winning goal was conceded in the end."

"South did try to get the equalizer, with many attacks started by James Mathews, Ian Marshman, and birthday boy Joe Whittaker. But even if the ball ended up with Rob Barton and Paul South up front, the final passes back to, for example, moving wingers or central midfielders just didn't link up."

"When Jan Brynjolffsson pulled a hamstring, players had to be moved around quite a lot. And with everybody pitching in on how everyone should play and where, the focus of individual players and the organisation of the team in general went into disarray.

And finally, if you want to win, it probably also helps showing up more than ten minutes before the push back, do a bit of stretching and a couple of passes and then get on with it. Especially if you are playing against Cambridge City - surely the pantomime villains will win then! - See more at: https://www.cambridgesouthhockeyclub.co.uk/matches/1668/"