After a stodgy start to the season Cambridge South Men’s 1^st team have found their rhythm and put in another convincing display against a decent opposition, including periods of possession hockey as good as the team have produced in years. One such period came right at the start of the game as South kept the ball with great patience for minutes at a time, probing one side then the other. Despite not leading to a goal, keeping the ball so well from the start had the knock-on benefit of allowing each player to find their feet early and play with confidence throughout the game; this was the foundation for a very convincing win.

Throughout the first half, chances came and went but unfortunately South couldn’t pinch a goal; the post was hit a couple of times, short corners were won and there were a good few situations where a slightly longer stick would have broken the deadlock. As is sometimes the case when you don’t take your chances, South went behind to a very good drag flick with five minutes left in the half. South were annoyed and set about getting level before the half time whistle was blown. Oli Lamming chased down a lost cause and forced an error that led to a short corner. Joel pulled the strings at the top of the D and his fine ball was deflected in by Harry - so simple, so effective, I’m not sure why we didn’t try the same move again later in the game?

Anyway, one-one was how the half ended. During the chat Harry remembered all three of his key points, Stu dribbled on his own shoe, everyone in the team decided to win the game and Jim announced he was going to score a hat-trick - he was spot on!

Pearson set the tone right from the whistle, harrying defenders, running with the ball and generally causing havoc. The poor fella didn’t score but he won plenty of free hits that kept the pressure on and from one such set piece the ball found its way to Paresh who tonked it into the D, Jim got a sneaky touch and South were on their way. Two minutes later his prophesy looked like it could be on as he grabbed his second, this time from either a Pearson or Joel pass…possibly someone else, I don’t know, but it was a good ball and a tidy finish. Then with ten minutes left and with Berko pushing on, Jim found himself on the halfway line with nothing but green astro between him and the goal. Off he went at full speed with two defenders in hot pursuit. Jim won the race and as the keeper closed down the angle, he deliberately struck the ball wide of the goal into the feet of one of the retreating defenders who obligingly volleyed it into the goal like Paolo Di Canio. South closed out the game in rock solid fashion and never looked likely to concede again.

Special mention to the defenders, who were up against a decent front line and stood up to the challenge with distinction. There was a great moment towards the end that summed up the way the boys played when three Berko players tried to knock Mariano off the ball - he bulldozed all three out of the way and set up another counter attack - too big, too strong, too good!

Three points, three wins in a row, up to third in the league (for a few hours!)

Sidenote: Berko actually scored their second to take the lead again straight after half time but mentioning it would have spoilt the flow, also it was exactly the same as their first…[yawn]!

Berkhamsted's take on the game can be found here. It's almost like they are reporting on exactly the same seventy minutes…