Buoyed by last week’s victory over table-topping Leadenham, we welcomed a high-flying Nomads team to Long Road with some optimism. Owen was disappointed to be missing out with a broken thumb sustained during last Saturday's heroics, but he gamely offered himself as a pitchside manager. What a good egg.

The opening exchanges, and in fact the whole match, were largely constrained to the central third of the field. Possession and play went this way and that, but entries into the circle were few and far between and neither keeper was overly extended.

In a bid to break the deadlock, Russell introduced Shin to the fray. Bearing vampire fangs from the previous evening and smelling like he’d been marinated in bathtub gin for a week, this loveable rogue was guaranteed to liven things up. So it proved, as he delivered a smiling curate’s pickled egg of a fifteen minute cameo, then retreated for a lie down.

Thus, honours were even at the interval. Whilst Cooper was drivelling on, Ali was revving up his little diesel engine for another thirty-five minutes. He chugged up and down the right flank with plenty of enthusiasm, linking up well with the recently re-branded Nightingale. Down the left, Karran was picking up Shin’s pieces and attempting to release the pace of Monck, whilst Barton and Mann were on a sturdy central wavelength. A couple of short corners followed, and after Jon had started Nomads' attacks with the first two, a slow bobbler eventually reached Inshaw to wallop home the opener. In a game of few chances, all we needed to do was keep it simple, keep it tight. Playing keep-ball between Anns and Cooper was an excellent theory, but the execution left a little to be desired. At least passes off the pitch are better than passes to the opposition’s centre forward.

There was time for a visiting C-Bomb to talk himself off for a breather as the final minutes ticked past, and for Barton to nearly bag his M2s' goal for the season (the Nomads stopper did well to come out and close down the angles). The expected onslaught from the away side never really materialised though and we retired to Cantabs with another three points in the bag.

It wasn’t a great game, but mention must be made of the spirit in which the game was largely played – this must be the most thoroughly civilised of local derbies. Honestly, it was a wonder we didn’t crack out the olives during each break in the play and compare notes for our February half-term skiing plans. Kitzbühel this year?