A rusty but keen 4th team arrived in good time but not completely prepared for the hockey education that was to come - and that was more than just the plethora of confusing new rules.

The opening exchanges were even, and the away team opened the scoring with a fine Barton-esque reverse stick effort from Shahbaz Ali. This only served to wake Bury up and they rather inconsiderately decided to score four goals of their own.

This was a shame, as the midfield generals Phil Harvey and Stu Creed, backed up by Duracell Boy aka Tom Steed, had some success against a quality Bury team. We were unable to capitalise, as strong home defence snuffed out attacks and Bury's demonstrations of strong tackling, smart interceptions, and long passing kept the pressure on the South defence and stand-in keeper Nathan Monck.

Cambridge South did have some breakaway attacks and Shahbaz got his second goal, another reverse stick special, this time with a bit of help from a defenders foot.

The second half was similar until the tiring away team began to lose shape (some of us never had it), and came under constant pressure. Alan 'The Rock' Radford was dominant in defence throughout, and without him the scoreline could have been worse as he demonstrated his normal robust marking, firm tackling, and wise clearances. He even managed to score a goal, though sadly it was past his own keeper.

Bury finished the match on a high with the best goal of the game , an unstoppable rocket from a tight angle into the roof of the net, from their star centre midfielder, aka "the Ginger Ringer”.

A difficult start to the season for the 4ths, but at least we had enough players, Andy Thomas found the correct pitch, and the teas at the Woolpack in Fornham afterwards were excellent.