The crew arrived early on a chilly Saturday morning, no doubt to get in some practice for what was going to be a tough match - Cambridge Nomads 3 were sitting comfortably at the top of the table, second only to our M4s, compared to Cambridge South M5s who were bang in the middle of the table.

Howard Steed donned the goalkeeping gear and immediately went about showing experienced keeper, Shahzad Ali, how to do the job properly. For practice, the attacking line stood around the D, hitting balls high and low; the vast majority being easily deflected by the goalkeeper…and yet he swears that it was his first time. The jury is still out on whether we believe him or not, though one thing is for sure – he certainly looked the part. What do you think? (courtesy of Howard's Facebook feed).

Captain James Piper organised a round of names, confirmed positions and substitutions, while Shahzad Ali introduced not one but three stopwatches to the subs, who all accommodated him kindly.

Go!

Immediately Andrew Thomas and Shahbaz Ali launched into the opposition, piercing deep into their half, supported closely by the South midfield line-up of Wilco Dijkstra, Nick Georgiadis, Sebastian Dias and Oliver Weston. When the ball did come into our half, Ky Ho, Andi Caddy and Daniel Watkins, playing wide defenders, skilfully dispatched it up the field to Simon Kitchen and Pete Dreuitt, who were ready and waiting. Indeed, the ball spent the majority of the time on the opposition’s side during both halves of the game.

Three highlights spring to mind:

• A short corner was awarded to South. Pip injected the ball with fast precision to Adrian Granger Brown at top D, who struck it with all his might. Unfortunately the ball passed a few centimetres wide of the right goalpost. A great play, and a great effort.

• Clash of the titans: Giant Shawn of the Nomads and Shahbaz had their humongous heads collide near the opposition D. Shawn was down, curled up in agony, while play was stopped to allow him to substitute off. Shahbaz, on the other hand, stood next to the poor chap unfazed, wondering what the commotion was about. All those years as goalkeeper headbutting the hockey ball must have paid off.

• Shahbaz received a sharp cross from across the D. No-one but the opposition goalkeeper in his way. The keeper dives and is down for the count, as Shahbaz dribbles the ball around the keeper to set up a clean shot on goal…and misses. A good effort, however the unfortunate incident combined with a small prodding from his loving brother was enough to earn him Lemon.

Congratulations were given from a number of Cambridge South players supporting from the side lines on the draw and a game well played.

Could it have been MoM Adrian Granger’s dashing up and down the field, constantly hassling the ball from the opposition and manoeuvring around their defence to win numerous chances on goal?

Could it have been captain James Piper’s and Pip Ho’s partnership in central defence ensuring any opposition attack would come up to a great wall of ice?

Could it have been the inexhaustible engines that were Pete Dreuitt and Andrew Thomas, who never seemed to run out of steam?

Could it have been Howard Steed’s awesome, “It’s my first time, honest!” goalkeeping?

There are even rumours that it might even have been something to do with the three stop watches, which only Shahbaz still has difficulty understanding.

Whatever it was, the result was a shutout by Cambridge South - the undisputed underdogs in the match. During pizzas, the opposition captain exclaimed how surprised they were at South’s performance, after having easily defeated the team last year by a comfortable margin. Indeed, although the match ended in a draw, it felt like a win.