With the three-nil defeat against the M4s in the pre-season friendlies still fresh in theirs minds, Nomads were clearly looking for revenge and immediately put the South defensive line of of Bridge, Steed, Georgiadis and Haseler under pressure with a series of short corners. The visitors initially defended well, closing down any shooting opportunities. Goalkeeper Thomas went to ground to block an incoming shot but, alas, the deflection fell to one of the home forwards, who was able to guide it neatly around the stranded keeper.

This was shortly followed by a second from a baseline cross that found one of two Nomads players lurking unmarked on the far post. The third goal came from a shot just inside the D that took a deflection from South captain Steed’s stick past the bemused keeper.

In typical style, the away team came out fighting in the second half. The midfield combo of Haseler, Pashley, Marshman and Dijkstra were pushing forward and putting the Nomads defence under increasing pressure, which led to several scoring opportunities for forwards Evans and Raikes. Eventually the breakthrough came with Evans finding space in the D and neatly slotting the ball past the Nomads’ keeper, justifying the switch from his normal defensive duties!

With victory not yet out of sight, South continued to pressurise the home defence but unfortunately it was they who were able to grab the final goal and seal the victory.

Nevertheless, an impressive performance by an increasingly confident M5s team. We look forward to the return fixture at Long Road!