Cambridge South M4s did their bit to ensure a clean sweep for all men’s teams on Bonfire Night weekend, against a good St Ives side.

It was St Ives who opened the scoring, with new keeper, Rob Chaplin, making his mark on an unfortunate young St Ives forward, sending him sprawling. Rob’s main defence was, “I got the ball first,” but P flick it was, which proved unstoppable…as did the equaliser, a textbook Dave Monck tonk straight from a short corner. Cambridge South were having most of the play, but St Ives always looked dangerous on the break and star defenders, Ho, Monck, Radford, Williamson and South, had to be alert at all times.

Rob Barton, not keen to miss out on the textbook script, did his usual bit of jiggery-pokery around the ball, which was provided on a plate by ever-effective winger Simon Jelley, seemingly only to get it on to his preferred reverse side for the inevitable goal. This was only one of many good chances, with others going begging off a Greaves leg, a Lemon-winning gentle Barton lob over the top of a gaping net and some solid St Ives goalkeeping.

That man Monck helped to make it three-one, seeing his route one thunderbolt from his own half deflected neatly by midfield general, Jason James, into the goal. Time for a half time break from the excitement, but not before St Ives had got one back from a neat pass by a nameless defender to make things a bit more tense.

The second half proved to be more of the same, although South definitely raised their game with more control in midfield - thanks to Ollie K, Oli A, Ian M and JJ instigating flowing, passing moves and finding space well. It was Nev Warren who capitalised, playing a lovely one-two with the St Ives keeper, ending in a scrambled fourth goal. By this stage South were dominant, enabling the forward gang of Barton, Greaves, Jelley and Warren to make space, get in crosses and threaten many more goals.

However, the best goal of the game came at the other end, as St Ives swept through most of the watching home team via a beautifully slick move, ending in an unstoppable shot to make it four-three. Luckily, this was a one-off, and Mr Monck finished the scoring with another of those short corner blasts.

All in all, a satisfying victory played in a good spirit.