After the previous week's bloodless coup, when Alford automatically conceded by failing to raise a side, South were raring for action in this crucial encounter against opponents who had been defeated 3-0 at the Perse before Christmas but who were unbeaten at home all season. Though missing Jim Thorpe, Veejay Agarwala, Keith Simpson and vice-captain Rob Barton from two weeks ago, South were pleased to welcome back Matt Readman in the heart of the defence and John Taylor, Rob Garrett and the evergreen Steve Fleck up front.

The opening exchanges were dominated by South, with midfield general Rick Erlebach right in the thick of things as the Spalding goalie was forced into two good saves following a second minute short corner. Erlebach quickly had his measure, however, when, in typical steel-wristed fashion, he whipped the next short cleanly into the bottom left hand corner to give South the lead after three minutes.

Galvanised, Spalding spread the ball around in midfield and, after Chris Graveling had calmly sold keeper Steve Parker a dummy and cleared with aplomb, they won a free hit which was fired in hard and trapped in the D. Parker made the save on the ground but an eager Spalding forward was on hand to knock in the loose ball for a seventh minute equaliser. Determined rescue work from Readman, twisting and turning out of trouble, and the solid John Benedikz prevented further incursions before Spalding broke clear down the right and, rather luckily, won a twelfth minute short as Parker brought off what appeared to be a perfectly-executed reverse-stick tackle to save an almost certain goal. Justice was done, though, as the Spalding skipper, always a menace before a leg injury restricted his participation later on, shot just wide.

In the fourteenth minute, South restored their lead when Fleck collected an Erlebach free hit from the top left and cleverly lured the Spalding keeper to his doom before setting up Taylor for an unopposed tap-in. Chances continued to flow thick and fast, with Fleck, Graveling and Garrett sorely troubling the home defence and Andy Lewis running hard from left wing to reach some excellent goal-scoring positions, but South were still forced to work hard at the back and, when Spalding found a man free on the far post, Parker instantly spotted the danger and defied him with another reverse-stick tackle. He then blocked a sweetly-struck home short stone dead before sweeping to safety and this presaged another South charge upfield, with Garrett roasting the defenders up the right and Taylor cracking a trademark first-timer straight at goal. Brave work from the home keeper stopped the rebound from close range and South were unable to capitalise on the resulting short corner despite a neat, space-winning jink from receiver Erlebach.

Spalding repeatedly thrust forward in numbers but, once again, the granite-hard Readman proved both a rock and a hard place, contesting every ball to the max and once sending a thwarted attacker spinning with an optimally-timed handbrake turn. After determined defensive work from Jan Brynjolffssen, who again played an impeccable positional game, the inspired Readman then put Fleck away for a defence-burning run that left him one-on-one with the keeper. Fleck feinted left but, at the last moment, laid the ball off rightwards to the onrushing Garrett, who escorted it safely into the unguarded net to make the score 3-1 after twenty-eight minutes.

Strong cover by Graveling and John Benedikz at the back, allied to stout, if unintentional, defensive interventions by various parts of Taylor's anatomy, slowed Spalding's attempt at a comeback, but they still won two short corners in quick succession. Parker dived athletically to stick away a screamer bound for the bottom corner and then Brynjolffssen alertly read a wrong-footing switch and was in perfect position to take the ball off the intended receiver homing in on the post. The rest of the half belonged entirely to South, with Garrett (twice) and Lewis both coming close following incisive runs by Fleck and the serpentine Erlebach, and Spalding owed their continued survival solely to the efforts of their now slightly overworked keeper.

South stepped up their quest for a killer fourth goal immediately on the resumption, with Garrett nearly reaching a through ball by virtue of his giraffe-like strides and Taylor using long-arm leverage to shoot as soon as the opportunity arose. Taylor then beat four men with a belligerent drive after Graveling had put in a consummate reverse tackle for Readman to clear. Moments later, Sanjay Agarwala, returning fresh after a bout of cramp in the first half, made a curving approach up the left and Fleck hit a carefully-weighted ball into the D which the goalie jumped over before turning in horror as Garrett raced through on the blindside and missed the conversion by a whisker. When Spalding threatened, Lewis weighed in on defence to retrieve the situation but he was soon back in position up front to latch onto a pass from Fleck when the latter again split open the home rearguard with a devastating solo burst. Taylor, Fleck and Garrett, profiting from Erlebach's distributive skills, continued to dominate the right flank and Agarwala was persistence personified in left midfield, regularly holding off his abrasive markers with deft stick control and always looking to get into open space. Brynjolffssen and John Benedikz both remained assured in defence and each came away calmly with the ball when facing critical head-to-heads.

By the fifty minute mark, Spalding had started to lose their composure, especially when Agarwala really got into his stride, but this merely served to fire up their goalie, who blocked an Erlebach shot and then made excellent tackles on Fleck and Garrett when they were clean away with the defence receding into the distance. Fresh legs were provided on fifty-five minutes by the versatile Will Benedikz, who had subbed for Agarwala on the left in the first half and who now gave brother John a well-deserved rest at right back, reminding all of his prowess from a previous incarnation with a completely authentic surge followed by a nonchalant reverse-stick stop. South's sixth short, on fifty-seven minutes, was blocked after Erlebach elected to flick and Taylor seized on the rebound and, shortly after, Graveling bamboozled five men in a dazzling run down the left. But despite apparently being on the ropes, the home side refused to throw the towel in and, with five minutes to go, they fashioned a dangerous move from centre midfield which saw the South defence turned for once. The obvious pass was whipped across to two men free halfway into the D and the situation looked ugly but Parker, advancing decisively, put in a beautifully-timed tackle to beat the ball clear.

South regained control through Agarwala and the torpedoes up the right but, even then, Spalding were not done. With a minute to go, they won a fifth short and, though this was convincingly suffocated by Parker, he could do nothing about its successor, which found its way into the left-hand corner courtesy of a sophisticated deflection. A Spalding equaliser at this stage would have been something of a travesty but, thankfully, there was time for little more than the obligatory push-back before the umpire blew to confirm one of South's most important victories of the season.

As a reward, half the South team were locked in the changing-room by the far from eponymous "caretaker" but, with typical resolve and ingenuity, a Great Escape was made by fenestral means well in time to join the post-match festivities. With Spalding defeated and facing a tough run-in, it now looks highly likely that the battle for second spot in the division will be between South and the persistent Deeping.

Skipper Steve Parker was delighted with his side's performance, to which all members of the travelling squad made a valued and valuable contribution. He was especially grateful to those members of the squad who ensured that his iconic kit would not be left to fester in a dank Spalding changing room.