Ok, it's Sunday afternoon and I think I've just about calmed down enough to write this report. Away matches at St Neots are always enthralling, closely-fought physical encounters. And this match was no exception...

Aware that St Neots were currently lying in third position in the league, South knew that if we wanted to avoid slipping on this potential banana skin of a fixture, we'd have to keep our wits about us. So it was mildly concerning to the team when Chris P, observing the word 'Saints' on the St Neots' shirts, remarked that he didn't really get where the 'Saints' reference came from. Awh - bless his little shinpad-less cotten socks!

St Neots' tactics were clear - given most of their players had spent the entirity of the warm-up practicing their short-corners. From the start it was obvious we'd have to work for a win this week as Saints (still with me, Chris...?) passed the ball confidently and quickly round the back, making South work hard all the time. A green card for John P (stick tackle) and a couple of early short-corners for Saints, awarded for infringements outside the circle, ensured South had to treat the umpires with a greater level of... respect.

With Colin's aerials firing again and Paresh's 'tree trunk' stick blasting balls forward, South had most of the early possesion, applying pressure down both wings. The break-through came courtesy of a botched short-corner routine, with John P rescuing the loose ball, feeding Graham on the P spot, who stoppped, swivelled and smacked the ball home through the keeper's legs. Alas the lead was short-lived as St Neots soon replied with their own short-corner goal, this one more orthodox (maybe there's something in this crazy 'practicing short-corners' idea of theirs...?) with Jason just unable to reach a well-placed low drag-flick to his left.

But that was as much as we gave them. All other shots from St Neots (and there were a few, to their credit) were confidently repelled by the trusty Mann in goal. In front of him, Tom was making crucial tackles and reading the game like a... Cambridge City Vets player, I guess. The midfield was coping admirably with the absence of Mark (who?) and Bhav (victim of a viscous attack to the face by his team-mate Craig during training). And up front there was no shortage of fire-power as Jim and Graham both blasted shots over the crossbar and Jack, not to be out-done, managed to get his deflection over the fence and out of the grounds.

The match agonizingly poised at 1-1. Tensions were mounting, mistakes were creeping in on both sides, and tackles were becoming more desperate. Chris G secured his lemon award after one particularly fierce 'mis-tackle' from his opposite number, uttering some words I hope his watching children couldn't hear, and dramatically throwing his glove to the floor in protest. Embarrassing for all concerned, really. Captain Jim almost out-did him ten minutes later with a quite surreal 'get flattened by the opposition -> bounce up -> yell and square off to the player -> smile and give him a friendly side-hug instead' routine. I particularly liked the side-hug - quite devastating.

With ten minutes to go, a loose ball in the Saints circle was pounced on by Graham and whipped reverse-stick into the bottom corner - bringing one of the biggest yells of celebration from South this season (surpassed later that afternoon by Paresh, watching some foreign team chasing an egg-ball. Priorities, eh...). Another St Neots short-corner, awarded in the dying seconds, had South fearing the worst (and incidentally earned Craig a green card for an over-enthusiastic disagreement with the umpire's assessment of the situation). Fortunately it came to nothing and South had won the match. Credit to the St Neots players and their two umpires - our biggest challenge so far this season.

Match teas were skipped in favour of watching the Rugby World Cup final. As it transpired, the 'voting by SMS' saved Graham from Lemon of the Match as six players returned to his house armed with a stack of oven pizzas for the 'Alternative Match Teas', only to discover his oven was broken! Fortunately Domino's came to the rescue.

As a side-note, is this the best start to a season for a Cambridge South side? Currently Won 9, Drawn 0, Lost 0. Its probably no coincidence that goals are being shared around nicely - with the top five M1 goal-scorers (Craig, Graham, Mark, Jack and Chris P*) collectively averaging 0.95 goals each per game. 

* Yes, Pearson - that's not a typo.