With closest rivals Market Deeping held to a 2-2 draw by Nomads in their final fixture of the season, victory over a tenacious Wisbech Town was enough to clinch promotion for South and return them to Div 3NW at the first time of asking after a neck-and-neck post-Xmas run-in which tested the side's nerve and commitment to the full. Reports of the celebrations following the news of Deeping's result are understandably hazy at present but Jim Thorpe distinctly remembers something about ordering an open-top bus…

As for Saturday's match, South once again proved their sheer versatility by overcoming the handicap of a third consecutive away game in which the changing facilities were bedevilled by a mysterious, if not necessarily deliberate, absence of loo roll. Overcoming Wisbech proved more of an obstacle, however, although there was little indication of the problems in store in the opening passages of play, when Rick Erlebach laid on a beautifully-weighted ball for Rob Garrett to show off his startling turn of speed in the right corner. Garrett and Rob Hay then swapped textbook passes after Chris Graveling had carved out space for himself on the left and the pressure quickly told when Wisbech failed to disentangle themselves from a goalmouth melee which saw Garrett just beat off Rob Sprawson's challenge to knock the ball past a disorientated keeper. By the eight minute mark, South had doubled their lead thanks to Matt Murray, who swept in an unstoppable first-timer from Rob Barton's cross to make all that arduous visualisation practice worth it (although fifteen years is maybe a long time for the payback to arrive!).

Wisbech swiftly pulled themselves together, adopting closer man-marking tactics and squeezing Erlebach in the midfield - so to speak - to pressurise South's distribution hub. The policy paid instant dividends as they gained possession, pelted upfield and found an unmarked forward on the overlap who unleashed a quick shot in the D. Keeper Steve Parker, advancing decisively, blocked the drive with stick and gloves to save the day but, within a minute, South's lead was cut when a crisply-struck short from an angle evaded Parker's normally magnetic stick. Worse was to follow moments later when a defensive breakdown allowed Wisbech to pinball it around the D and then in at the far post for a twelfth minute equaliser.

The tight marking continued and, despite Matt Readman playing the Artful Dodger at the back, it was only Murray and Garrett who were really able to shake off their pursuers. Wisbech kept their foot on the throttle and South were lucky to escape further disaster when a lone forward pinged the ball against an upright. Yet, in a trice, Sprawson had sent Garrett away down the right and the latter, as so often leaving the defence hacking at thin air, Road-Runnered round the back to put in a perfect cross which Barton gleefully turned in with another excellent first-timer.

3-2 up after twenty minutes still represented a lot of hockey to go, though, and South soon had cause to be grateful for Vijay Agarwala's solid clearance and a good left-foot stop from Parker as Wisbech threatened to break through. Agarwala was in the thick of it again moments later, making an athletic dive to divert the ball away from a keen-jawed Wisbech attacker and then South turned the tables after Graveling had been flattened by what only a euphemist would have called a robust challenge. Two shorts in quick succession built the pressure and, though Barton could only find the feet of the (admittedly very large) goalkeeper with the first and nothing came of the second, South retained possession so that, when Sprawson powered a free hit into the D, Garrett was able to collect it a few feet from the near post and, unchecked, slide it under the keeper with a breathtaking piece of tic-tac wizardry.

With ten minutes still to go to the interval, Murray made sure Wisbech stayed under the thumb with some quickfire mental disintegration patter from the subs' bench and - as ever vicious but fair - added some telling advice for his own defence. The score stayed at 4-2 in South's favour, however, as Garrett posed further questions up front and Readman held off the aggressive Wisbech forwards with a fine recovery and tackle.

The second half started with Wisbech in the ascendancy, winning a short corner which, again cleanly struck after a well-rehearsed slip, was confidently blocked by Parker and cleared by Readman. A shot at the far end went wide and a period of grimly-contested midfield battles then ensued, with Thorpe and Agarwala working hard, Erlebach and Graveling getting stuck in with some ferociously determined tackling and Readman being called over by the umpire for a "businesslike" approach to a fifty-fifty ball. The official, underwhelmed by the player's opening gambit of "What, me?", was finally mollified when Matt turned on his innocent choir-boy's grin and promised not to argue, thus earning only a green and the chance to be even more businesslike later on.

With fifty minutes gone, South seemed just to be getting on top as John Taylor ran persistently hard on the left and Murray forced a save from the Wisbech keeper but defensive frailties re-emerged, with little support for Agarwala as he manfully tried to make headway out of the twenty-five. Soon, the ball had been funnelled along the South goal-line and sheer weight of numbers and persistence bundled the ball past a wall of bodies to bring the score back to 4-3 and open up the possibility of a distinctly tricky last twenty minutes. But, after Graveling had pulled off an absolutely crucial tackle at the edge of the South D, an attack built up and Taylor found himself suddenly free on the right. Advancing into the circle, he enticed the keeper to come out fractionally too early, picked his spot and slotted the ball home in controlled fashion to restore the two-goal margin. The force was with South at this point, and Murray lifted a flick just over the bar before reversing a pass from the left which Taylor, his appetite whetted, put away neatly to make it 6-3. If South had managed to convert either of the two subsequent shorts, the i's would have been dotted and the t's crossed, but Murray was just wide with a belligerent first-timer from an Erlebach switch and then Wisbech somehow managed to keep out a double-slip move which ended up with most of the defence facing the wrong way.

Refusing to lie down, the home side sprinted forward to win a short corner, the resulting direct hit - again from an unusual angle - well controlled by Parker's right pad. The next short, moments later, was slipped and Parker again made a technically excellent save with stick and gloves before finally ending Wisbech's chances on sixty-two minutes with a superb double block and long barrier which the home side simply could not break down.

Thereafter, though the Fenlanders never stopped trying, they were unable to get past the calm and cultured Agarwala, the obdurate Hay or, indeed, Sergeant-Major Thorpe in typical square-bashing mode ("This is getting scrappy, Cambridge South!"). As the clock ticked down, Graveling retained maximum possession with some intricate moves in midfield, Sprawson was spotted haring after the ball on the left wing, Garrett had time for a final charge…and South had done the business once more as their nearest challengers faltered at the final hurdle.

Now all that remains is to finish off the season in style at Peterborough Town, fix up the ticker-tape welcome at The Hat & Feathers and then it's over to you, Jim!