A below-strength Cambridge South finally gave up their seven game unbeaten record with a ragged performance under the floodlights at Long Sutton.

Missing the influential Matt Readman, Chris Massey and Peter Carey as well as Andy Rose and John Taylor (the latter banished to Siberia after failing to score last week), South conceded an early lead when the defence was wrong-footed by a deflection from a home long corner.

Despite two short corner opportunities and creative runs from Jonny Tostevin and Sanjay Agarwala on the wings, South failed to tax the Long Sutton defence sufficiently over the first quarter, and both Chris Graveling and Jim Thorpe had to bring off inch-perfect tackles to prevent the home team making further inroads. Long Sutton's slick short routine was twice bravely thwarted by Keith Simpson and South escaped further punishment when Rick Erlebach's last-gasp intervention forced a home attacker to slice just wide after running unchallenged from halfway.

The pendulum swung slightly in the final ten minutes of the half as Tostevin drew two good saves from the keeper and Erlebach and Rob Barton at last found some room for manoeuvre. Hopes of a second-period comeback were quickly dashed, however, when, from a thirty-eighth minute short corner, Long Sutton went two ahead with a well-placed drag flick of a pace and weight rarely seen at this level.

South swiftly countered with three shorts of their own but, despite gaining a rebound and laying on a deft switch, stopper Graveling saw his efforts go unrewarded. Long Sutton then gradually forced the South defence deeper by playing a man high and the action soon reverted to the visitors' D, with Steve Parker first blocking a player coming in from wide and then making a sliding tackle at the edge of the circle to break up another threatening move.

Frustration began to set in at this point and South's hitting from defence became less assured as they struggled to find consistency. There was little of the midfield cohesion that was so much of a hallmark of the Spalding game and South largely had to rely for their chances on the strong and inventive running of Agarwala, who evaded a tenacious marker to sprint round the back of the defence and go clear in the D, only to be foiled by a good save.

South pressed forward with increasing urgency, Barton giving his all in a clash of titans with the keeper, but Long Sutton, who were unafraid to bang the ball down the wings, repelled further danger despite Agarwala again going close on the far post in the final minutes. The key strengths of South's game in previous weeks - decisive clearances, coherent support play through the middle and control in the opposition 25 - were not so evident against the determined and well-disciplined Lincolnshire side and, though luck in the D notably deserted them, South could have no complaints about the final result.