In order to showcase their excellent pitch at Long Road Sixth Form's open evening last night, the school invited our mixed team to a 'friendly' match. Due to work commitments, Colin was unable to play in this match so I was left to hold the fort.

We all managed to arrive on time (despite the early meeting time) except for Neil who was stylishly late and the opposition umpire who never showed up at all. Thankfully, Alice came all the way from Leeds to step in and join Tom in umpiring the first half (which was interesting, to say the least).

Playing in yellow (or a sexy white tank top if you're Kim) Cambridge South got off to a great start. Our passing was strong, as was our running on and off the ball. Long Road had a couple of very talented kids that tried their hardest to beat our whole team single-handedly but the brick wall that was Neil Sneade blocked, bounced or barged anyone that dared to get anywhere near our D.

The strong passing from South eventually led to a well worked goal, ending in a pass across the goal from myself to Chris. The kids got a bit stroppy after this and managed to equalize from a short corner (thanks for giving them that, Tom!) The chances kept coming for South but I admit I didn't have my Weetabix yesterday and struggled to score, despite excellent passes from Kim and Ollie Lamming (sorry team). Special mention must go to newcomers to the club and to the mixed team, Nadia and Ollie, who made some impressive tackles in defence.

A corner in Cambridge South's favour resulted in their best player taking what looked like a very painful ball to the ankle (might have been my fault) and although it looked like he might have to be subbed off, he pulled himself together and played on (brilliant). Just before half time, Long Road make a break for it, battered Dani in the face for good measure (at least she didn't get any black eyes this time), and scored a skillful goal from a reverse strike that made me slightly jealous. Half time score, 2-1 to Long Road.

During the half time team talk, Chris asked if goals scored in mixed matches counted towards the Goal King award. When Neil assured him that they did, Chris decided he would 'actually try' in the second half. Tom (thankfully) retired his whistle and Neil swapped in to umpire the half with Alice. Long Road started to tire quickly (I suppose it was getting close to their bed time?) and began playing the long game, throwing aerials at any opportunity. Since we didn't have Colin, our passes were staying firmly on the ground. We all enjoyed Tom yelling 'I've got it!!' when an aerial came his way, then totally missing the ball. Thankfully, Douglas was there to tidy up after him.

Cambridge South dominated the second half, with a nice break resulting in a goal from Dom and then another goal from Chris. Shin, Hannah, Georgie (the good one) and Georgie (from now on known as Nigel at her request) made excellent runs in midfield, keeping the pressure in the opposition half. If you want to make Neil blow his whistle reallllly hard simply take a swing at a small girl and clatter your stick against her while being nowhere near the ball (again that might have been my fault). Or to make Alice shout at you, you can try knocking a different small girl over and arguing that she must have tripped up (classic Nigel).

Despite Chris's best efforts in stopping anyone else from scoring by 'accidentally' not stopping the injected ball at a short corner, I finally managed to get one past their keeper on the post. Long Road made a couple more attempts to balance the score sheet, including performing the best spin out of a tackle I've ever seen (Colin, you would have loved it) but thankfully Loopy was there to make some fantastic saves. Right when we thought it was all over, Kim found herself unexpectedly in their D and slotted a neat goal past the keeper (lemon votes acquired for no prancing though).

So there we have it, a nice 5-2 win to showcase Cambridge South Hockey Club at Long Road's open evening.