With the mercury hovering around freezing, Arctic crosswinds and the winter evening rapidly drawing in, the L1s had to be coaxed out of the changing rooms and o nto the pitch by Captain (what's your accent?) Diane this week to face Haverhill.

One man down on the day from our teamsheet of fourteen (rumoured to be literally: fallen down a drain but somehow escaping winning LOM - nice one Mossy), the instinct for self-preservation against hypothermia seemed to kick us into action from the start. Despite looking sharp out the blocks, we faced a nervy first quarter as a number of attempts were denied by some excellent goalkeeping, the post and… well, probably the less said about the open goal misses the better.

We got over this, however, and some sharp passing (a lot of which actually mirrored what we have been doing in training!) resulted in three goals from George (Jeff) and Soph up front (in some combination). Haverhill got a goal back in the final stages from a well-executed short corner.

South had a good second half, with some impressive passing moves involving most of the outfield players creating a number of chances in the opposition D. Either Soph or George (depending on who actually got the first half goals - but I wasn't paying enough attention) got another goal, and Laura smashed one in, at the ends of moves launched from our strong midfield combinations of Bex, Fairlie, Georgie (the Third), Kim and George (Old and Grumpy).

Top marks for commitment this week have to go to George Jeff throwing herself at the keeper, Bex taking flying lessons, and George (Old and Grumpy) showing off her Chris Ashton swallow dive in the D. Loopy's otherwise quiet and shivery day was made up for with a cracking point blank save towards the end of the second half.

In the final minute, South won a short. With ten of us around the D (lack of effort there, Loops - poor), we won another. With the second shot stopped on the line by a foot, the match was set for a dramatic conclusion. Our Irish hotshot stepped up to take the flick (she didn't need too much convincing with the Goal Queen contest notably exciting this year) and slotted it away clinically to finish the match on a high.

This win leaves us third in the table and with the best goal difference in the league. The stage is set for taking on the league leaders at Fortress Long Road next Saturday. It's gonna be big…