A hard fought victory away at St Neots was down to a couple of textbook strikes, and about twenty-five minutes of hanging on grimly as the home team sought an equaliser. In the end, two goals were just enough.

The first one, after thirty seconds, was a beauty, with an unmarked Alex Pashley timing his run perfectly to meet a Rob Barton cross and bury the ball into the net. Time for a whupping? Unfortunately not. St Neots were not phased by the early setback and played composed hockey, with frequent long passes to men in space. Apparently this is what you are supposed to do. Luckily the away defence, marshalled by the returning J Sidd and backed up by the dominant George Toytown in goal making a number of great blocks, stood firm.

The lead was doubled via a simple short corner routine - Simon Jelley slinging the ball straight to deadeye Barton, who smashed it forcibly to the backboard. Half time. More of the same please.

Or not.

St Neots had the better of an end-to-end second half. Both teams tried to attack but the South moves were perhaps less controlled and too often snuffed out before reaching the danger area. This was in spite of midfield maestros Alex Pashley, Ash Dookun and Man of the Match, Ian Marshman, doing their best to drive play upfield. Passes weren’t quite accurate enough and the final killer ball eluded us. Skipper Greaves saw a snap shot slide past the post and other efforts were largely half chances. Injuries to Andy Williamson and Paul South didn’t help, although this could just have been them sneaking away from the limelight, following Mr Williamson's leg colliding with an opponent's head and Mr South doing something strange with the subsequent "bully off", including what looked suspiciously like a crafty tap of the ball after the first stick bounce.

The home team managed a P-flick consolation but were unable to find the net again.

A bit of an average performance overall, with the new 4-3-3 formation not working as well as previously. The Lemon award was in doubt until Andy Thomas, increasingly assured and dogged on the pitch, picked a fight with his own drinks glass in the pub afterwards. The glass collapsed onto the table, discarding its contents liberally amongst Andy's teammates.

Apparently South 4ths need to win thirteen-nil vs St Neots 4ths next week to have a chance of securing the Division 6NW(S) league title and promotion. Hmmmmm.