In their final league game before Christmas, South demonstrated their strength in depth by beating Wisbech Town 2nds with a side that showed five changes from the previous week. Notable absentees included Messrs. Carey (fatherhood), Massey, Tostevin, Rose and Thorpe - the latter apparently away on a business trip rather than curry-tasting in preparation for the forthcoming social - and this forced a major defensive rejig with a back line of Keith Simpson, Rob Hay and John Benedikz partnering Matt Readman at sweeper.

Simpson and Readman were quickly instrumental in dispossessing Wisbech down the right and, thanks to Readman's intricate manoeuvring and drive upfield, South were immediately able to set up camp in the visitors' twenty-five. Excellent ringing of hits out kept the Wisbech defence under constant pressure, allowing Chris Graveling, Steve Fleck and the electric Sanjay Agarwala to give full rein to their skills and it was no surprise when the first goal arrived after eight minutes. Rick Erlebach, returning to the heart of midfield, flat-footed two defenders with a superbly-weighted through ball which Agarwala sprinted on to, forcing the keeper into a rash clearance attempt with his stick. Agarwala then whipped the ball away from him, raced along the goal-line and delivered an inch-perfect feed to the onrushing John Taylor, who used his exceptional reach to beat off the competition and slot home on the reverse side.

A series of South shorts followed, with Rob Sprawson and Graveling drawing saves from the keeper, who made up in bulk for what he lacked in balance. A rare foray by the Wisbech forwards was neatly thwarted by an interception and save from Steve Parker in the home goal before the one-way traffic resumed as Fleck just failed to round the keeper on a three-on-one break which left the defence for dead.

Two further shorts met with an equal lack of success and it looked as though South might only have a single goal to show for their first half efforts when Erlebach, who had just stemmed the tide as Wisbech flooded down the right wing, hokey-cokeyed into the visitors' D and beat three men before teeing it up for Steve Fleck to bulge the net with a clean first-time strike, a move described by unofficial team guru Mick Beasley as "liquid hockey".

The second half started in similar vein, with Erlebach "scoring" from just outside the D after Agarwala had conjured a centring pass out of nothing, and both Fleck and Graveling having good attempts well blocked. A momentary wobble on the left was rescued by the strong-running Simpson and, when Wisbech finally created enough room to string one or two passes together, Readman and Benedikz cleared their lines in unflustered fashion.

Respite for the visitors was only temporary, though, as Agarwala - who earlier in the game had given a great display of two-way hockey by racing back fifty yards to win the ball in left defence - started a three man move which saw Fleck net his second from a wrong-footing reverse-stick pass by Rob Barton. Wisbech countered with a penalty corner but the D remained inviolate thanks to solid team defence and the Wisbech midfield were gradually strangled again.

Agarwala, Fleck and Barton contrived to win more short corners for South and Sprawson and Taylor completely dominated the right hand side, with the latter's shoot-on-sight policy posing a particular threat to the visitors' goal. But despite two further shorts in the last five minutes, the home side could not add to their tally and, though the Wisbech goalie recovered well from an awkward start to keep the score within respect­able bounds, it was slightly disappointing that none of the nine penalty corners South won was converted.

Nevertheless, the overall team performance was confident and committed and 100% effort and discipline was maintained for at least 65 minutes. The "new-look" defence gave nothing away - with Hay in particular playing a superb positional game - and everyone contributed to creating a steady supply of chances, thus showing the side can play both solid and liquid hockey!

South have reached the halfway point in the season in positive form, with a wide range of scorers, a solid defensive core, good reserve strength and, importantly, momentum and self-belief. Skipper Steve Parker, taking time out from intense negotiations for a six-figure nude calendar deal for the team, stressed that, in the words of a slightly more famous leader, "This was not the beginning of the end, but more probably the end of the beginning". On a more serious note, he praised the 1st team squad for the considerable strides made in the first half of the season while emphasising the need to maintain the impetus built up so far. He also pointed out that, with key members of the squad unavailable for much of the second half, there was absolutely no room for complacency.