Three months ago, these two teams met on one September afternoon to open up their Div 4NW campaigns for 2015/16. That game, as were those that have followed in the interim, was an up-and-down affair, with the South boys just edging it at the end.

There have been a few comings and goings since then in terms of personnel but now that we reach December, a soft/hardcore of a team has coagulated into being. The highs of victory over our larger local brothers in the opening fixture was not necessarily a sign of imminent good things to come, as the next four matches saw us find increasingly inventive ways to cough up points, but since October’s visit to (then) table-topping Leadenham, we’ve played 7, won 5 and drawn one. Friends, let’s not dwell on "the Peterborough incident". I still have night terrors.

Now, with the festive season upon us, those friendly City folks faced off against us once more. It was time to ramp up the Youtube videos circulated pre-match on Whatsapp. One more big effort was required before we could all hang our sticks above the mantelpiece for a few weeks.

Squad selection is taken from a large pool nowadays. The usual suspects were largely available, although Russell had challenged Germany to a drinking contest (which recent communications suggest he lost) and Edge was busy polishing his engine. Fourteen of us therefore took the field for Jon’s pre-match cone antics, although a couple were predictably later than is even fashionable. You could write several books about the life Shin presumably leads.

Winning the toss was a great start, as it meant we could switch ends and start with Hurricane Katrina at our backs in the first half. She was mighty keen for us to push forward and we duly allowed ourselves to be swept along. Nelson and Kim were stretching the play, as requested, leaving Mann plenty of space to twist, turn and distribute. It takes more than a hurricane to dislodge him - #solid.

Dunny was also enjoying himself, having been released from the mundane life of midfield into the glitzy cakewalk that is the front-line. He was picking off loose passes at will and capped one dart into the danger zone with the first goal.

Better was to follow as Pawson and Virdi combined with a long corner move that was straight from the training field. Shovel, burst, flump, goal. Yes!

City have been on a good run of their own recently and duly upped the tempo after half time. Thankfully, it was always telegraphed when ‘headband guy’ was going to do the ‘spinny thing’ and Walshy was lying in wait for him. Kerny likes life to be interesting and tried his best to present the ball to the opposition in as promising a position as possible. They weren’t taking the bait though and so the Captain decided to take charge. It really was a wonderful read that pre-empted the big ‘ya-hoo’ which conceded the short corner. The South boys, predictably, decided to focus on the fact that the resulting set piece led to a City goal when it came to the Lemon voting.

With the result still in the balance, Bhav invited a gangly opponent to test out the springy responsiveness of the Long Road surface. Perhaps this well-spoken young man hadn’t played here before and didn’t know that it really was quite bouncy? A two minute break was sensibly prescribed, which was carefully managed by the two sages in the South back-line. There were a couple of half-chances in the closing minutes, but no major scares for either side and the three points were ours. Roll on, 2016.