For the first match back after Christmas we were facing nobody’s best friend, City 5s. There were mixed verdicts on the choice of opposition, at least in my head. Tough opponents considering the number of mince pies we were collectively carrying following the festive period but an opportunity to prove ourselves against a team who had sneaked past us in November and were now sitting a few places above us in the league.

A New Year had brought a return for Jan from his elbow injury and a haircut for Ras, a full £29-worth complemented by a green headband. Apparently his mum was too far away to come and cut it for him! Some things hadn’t changed though: the Moncks were as punctual as ever.

With a team compromised entirely of regular M3 players we made a good start to the game and the first half passed without major incident. Marking was effective and though City had a few players with good stick skills, if they ever did get a shot at goal Jason dealt with these with some solid kicks.

Our passing was good and accurate with the midfield especially excelling, running into gaps and getting the ball upfield quickly. We were perhaps unlucky not to be in front by the break with James hitting the post and a ball going narrowly wide. At halftime we remarked on how well we were playing as a team and the general comment was “more of the same lads”.

The second half started much the same as the first half had ended. With City getting frustrated by the effectiveness with which the Fab 4 (Sneade, Monck, Gibson and Brynjolffssen) ended any attacks through the middle, one of their defenders started throwing more aerial balls over the top in the hope they would catch us out. Which they didn’t, until a ball propelled towards the goal and looking like it was going to bounce over the backline stayed in play allowing City’s mini maverick to sneak round an unsuspecting Douglas and slot the ball past Jason.

The shock of going 1-0 down against the run of play didn't affect us and we rallied and scored an equaliser not long after. Crisp passing from the midfield worked the ball to Rob at the top of the D who made some space for himself on the left and struck a sweet reserve stick shot across the keeper and into the side netting. No evidence of Christmas rust there!

With the contest evenly placed we took more control of the game. Jason was called upon to make some saves including a fine boot from a short corner contributing to his MoM award. With ten or so minutes to go City switched off allowing Ras to dribble into the right corner where he then switched back along the baseline before pushing the ball to a waiting Nathan who calmly swept into an open goal. 2-1 and we had City on the ropes. All that was left was to keep City under pressure preventing them from hitting back and stealing our advantage.

This we did effectively with the only incident of note being Ras falling over unchallenged as he tried to get into a gap to receive a ball from a free-hit. Watching from the back I found this hilarious, though I think I must have been one of the few who witnessed this. Ras was duly voted Lemon for a combination of his impression of a giraffe on ice, expensive haircut teamed with headband and because he’s captain and being voted Lemon is a responsibility a captain has to shoulder.

With the final whistle came great pride in our performance as we reflected on how well we’d played as a team. We don’t play City until mid-February but look forward to repeating our domination of them.