Long Sutton have a reputation as a difficult side to beat at home, and so they proved, but a determined Cambridge South kept up the pressure to the end to win 2-1.

Cambridge South launched a number of determined attacks from the start of the first half, many of which led to short corners but unfortunately no goals. The Long Sutton goalie had the approach of smothering the ball, lying flat, at short corners - a tactic that may have been heavily penalised by some umpires and which led to some messy goal mouth scrambles. An experimental high flick at one of Cambridge South's short corners unfortunately was premature - the goalie had not yet dived to the floor!

Long Sutton always looked dangerous on the break - they had strong players along a central axis of centre back, centre midfield and centre forward - but the Cambridge South defence didn't panic and held firm. Andrew Leonard and Rod Richardson surpassed themselves and kept position well, slowing attacks and allowing the midfield to return to support. Finn Johnson at right back also had a very strong game and supported the midfield admirably.

Cambridge South had the majority of possession and attacks and this eventually paid off when a long corner from James Bridge found James Pope at the edge of the circle. His strike at goal was slowed by the Long Sutton defence but then driven home by David Bridge to put Cambridge 1-0 ahead. South continued to look dangerous with Jack Chalk leading the attacks from centre forward. Support came from wingers Rory Johnson and Wilco Dijkstra who were a continuous danger to the home side's defence.

Just before half-time one of Long Sutton attacks led to a short corner and the resultant strike, rising slightly towards the goal was deflected below the backboard to level the score at 1-1.

A rousing half-time talk inspired South to keep playing hard in the second half despite the psychological disadvantage of entering the half having just conceded a goal. Cambridge launched attack after attack but also had to face a series of short corners from Long Sutton arising from counter attacks. Goalkeeper Will Benedikz did very well to keep a clean sheet, making two key saves from Long Sutton strikes. Rod Richardson and James Pope also made goal line clearances to keep the game alive.

Throughout the second half it was Cambridge that looked the more dangerous and it was they who eventually scored again. A build up by the famous Johnson brothers (Finn and Rory), who played intelligent passing hockey all game and never stopped running, found Wilco Dijkstra who slotted home yet another goal at the far post.

Cambridge also had a number of near misses - Rory Johnson was taken out by the Long Sutton goal-keeper inside the D, a spectacular run by James Pope from the sixteen yard line all the way to the opposing D unfortunately ended in a miss-hit, a desperate lunge by James Bridge beat the Long Sutton goal-keeper and full back but unfortunately passed just the wrong side of the goal post.

Towards the end tempers were close to fraying on both sides but the game was a good lesson in that Cambridge South won by playing to the very end despite exhaustion and frustration at launching many attacks which came to nothing. The midfield of David Bridge, James Bridge and James Pope achieved an incredible work-rate throughout the whole game and never failed to support either the defence or attack.