A tidy looking M4s squad arrived resplendent in green shirts and purple socks (urgh!!) ready for the first Long Road fixture of the day. The 10am pushback time came and went with still no sign of the opposition. We considered challenging the South Juniors to a friendly but soon realised this would probably end up in a walkover for them!

Eventually several car-loads of 'Waldenites' arrived and battle commenced.

South started with a flourish of energy and enthusiasm, with defender and stand-in captain Steed finding himself in a rarely seen scrap with the opposition keeper on the line within the first few minutes of the match. This attacking spirit continued throughout the first half, with South regularly pushing ten outfield players into the opposition half. Despite several narrow misses the first half finished goalless.

South continued to dominate in the second half, although keeper Matt Saint-Gower was called upon to deal with several decent Walden attempts on goal. Finally the breakthrough came with a characteristic Alex Pashley assist finding super-sub Greaves lurking on the post from where he clinically dispatched his shot past the Walden keeper.

The home (or was it away?) team continued to press hard but were unable to get any closer to the eight-nil scoreline from the previous meeting. There was one scary moment when Walden broke through the otherwise solid South defence for a one-on-one with the keeper. Fortunately, a momentary lack of composure in front of an open goal resulted in the shot going wide.

Andrew Williamson was a worthy MoM for keeping the South defence honest whilst always being available as a back-pass option for the midfield.

Vice captain Howard Steed was the only candidate for LoM for attempting to award his captain's goal to the wrong person!