So, lets not focus on the score too much…lots of other stuff happened too!

It all started at 11.15am. I was just getting into my car when Amalia rang to tell me her bike tyre was flat and, conscientious co-captain that I am, I raced (abiding all speed restrictions and traffic laws; don't worry, Colin) to her house to pick her up and make it to Long Road only five minutes late. I needn't have worried about my tardiness: we arrived at Long Road to see Andy doing a great job of lining balls up in a neat row to practice his strike and a small scattering of South players loitering about by the fence. Anglia Ruskin's team was in a similar state of affairs, with their goalie arriving with five minutes to start. This is really early compared to Mel's arrival, who turned up as the team was taking to the pitch, still in her jeans and apologising profusely.

Straight from the whistle we knew we were in for a tough match. The Uni were slick and skillful and we quickly learned that we were going to have to defend hard and take our chances when we could. The defence did an awesome job or making if difficult for ARU. Lou pulled out some awesome saves and even tried some dirty tactics when she played hide and seek with the ball inside her kicke. But despite her best efforts and hard work from Janette and Mel, Anglia Ruskin managed to score twice in the first half. The South attack were not without merit: a classic L1 short corner from Amalia and myself earned us our first goal.

Half time saw a change of umpires as Tim and Jan handed their whistles over to Jack and Joe (sharing's caring). By the way, don't even think of taking a centre pass before Joe has blown his whistle, he will put you in your place. The second half was pretty dramatic, full of diving, ducking and a couple of ice packs. Anglia Ruskin had really warmed up by now and were out to score, which they did, a few times too many for South's liking. We weren't going down without a fight though. James tried his best to prevent a goal by diving on the line behind Lou and clearing the ball from the goal; unfortunately Jack's beady eyes saw that the ball had in fact crossed the line (damn you and your impartial umpiring).

Katie, Eimear and Amalia did a great job of moving the ball through midfield, which in one instance saw Amalia (accidently, I'm assured) hitting the ARU captain in the eye with a loose ball. It wasn't long before Anglia Ruskin took an eye for a…foot: poor Emma-Rose received a hard ball right on her foot and spent the rest of the match with an ice pack numbing the pain. Our injury tally didn't stop there. James took another tumble while driving to the D and received a nasty cut on his head for his efforts. We pushed on regardless and were rewarded with a second goal thanks to hard work from Wilco and a nice reverse shot from Jason.

The match finished with one team getting more goals than the other but credit to ARU, who deserved their win and were really patient with the late pizzas. Oh, and special thanks to Graham and Harriet for standing in the cold wind to support us!