An even game was decided by the first half brace scored by Horncastle. The Cambridge South fightback ultimately fell just short of gaining a deserved draw.

The 2 hr trip to sunny Lincolnshire was, as is traditional, improved by the Little Chef brunch stop for a very civilised pancake or two.

Once the whole team had assembled at Horncastle, things went downhill with an early goal conceded. The 4ths were suffering from being unable to string passes together and an opposition up for the fight, getting to loose balls first etc.

Nevertheless, we gradually got into the game with the Brynjjjollllffsssennn / Siddorns / Radford / Jelley defensive wall repelling all boarders in front of the increasingly solid goalkeeper, Shahzad Ali, and Ninja Nick Greaves driving the ball forwards repeatedly when he wasnt harassing the star Horncastle number 11.

South did have some really good attacking moves using Owen Vaughan and Shahbaz Ali on the wings but things all too often broke down before the danger area was reached. Forwards Boris Lossy and Skipper Greaves saw smartly taken long range efforts slide by, or get deflected behind.

Horncastle scored a second shortly before half time from a melee in the D, with Shahzad unsighted. This was probably deserved as their three key players were demonstrating superior skills and were able to boss things in the middle of the pitch. 

The second half was a great improvement, with South being more more assertive in the tackle and intelligent passes opening up opportunities, usually emanating from midfield dynamos Marshman and Greaves (Junior). We were rewarded by a fine goal from man of the match Boris Lossy, positioned well up front to receive a demon blaster from defence, before he rounded the keeper confidently.

This was not quite enough, although it served to annoy further the already tetchy Horncastle centre back...which was a good thing.

The teas were lovely afterwards, prepared by one of the umpires. Good man.