Cambridge South arrived at St Ives hopeful of a good result, but the game didnt quite go to plan.

After two minutes, Howard Steed earned the man of the match award by stopping a fierce goal bound effort at point blank range… with his head. The ball definitely won that little skirmish and Howard was swiftly despatched to A&E looking decidedly groggy, chauffeured by good samaritan Ky Ho, leaving the defence 50% light.

This didnt stop South opening the scoring after Andy Thomas directed one of many good quality Simon Jelley through passes into the D, for skipper John Greaves to steer - or, more accurately, randomly deflect - into the net.

Unfortunately this caused St Ives to wake up and score a couple of their own, both from attackers finding space and time to pick their spot. The excellent Shahzad Ali, making a special appearance as GK due to a club-wide shortage of mad people willing to wear silly padding and have hard balls fired at them, couldn't do much about either, especially the rifled second from distance.

In fact the makeshift defensive line of Ho(L), Georgiadis and Thomas performed creditably, marshalled by the man with the biggest, strongest stick, aka JSid, who delivered thunderbolts upfield on a regular basis.

In the second half, the home team were dominant and grabbed a third goal from a short corner melee but South stuck to the task. The midfield trio of Stu Creed, Simon Jelly and Tom Steed were regularly causing the opposition problems but the final killer ball proved elusive, and chances were rare. Cameron MacLeod, out wide, and Pip Ho provided options with tireless running and closing down of St Ives players. Greaves almost got a second in a goalmouth scramble but the keeper just managed to kick the ball away.

A disappointing result on a cold day but all returned home safely after complex logistics involving wallets, car keys, offspring and vehicles needing to be relocated with their rightful owners. Thanks to Ky Ho (hospital transport), Andy Thomas (key collection) and John Greaves (wallet, car, and offspring retrieval).

The biggest impact was on Howard Steed, who ended the day with nine stitches in his forehead, a spectacular black eye, and a heroic story to tell… assuming he can remember it.