Kettering 3 were the best opposition team we had played against this season, not counting our own M4s of course. Lots of young legs coupled with an experienced backbone meant that the table-toppers were always going to be a difficult game.

The week started with twenty players. Together with call-ups and gracious step-downs, we were down to play as sixteen. Unfortunately, the last day saw three more cancellations, including the M5s goalkeeper Ben Thompson, who had bravely turned up to the game fully intending to play while suffering from illness and looking like death incarnate. Our good man, Howard Steed, persuaded the young one to step down and get some well needed rest instead.

Thankfully, Alan "The Rock" Radford and Jimmy Wood were itching for a fight. The Rock, especially, was keen on rewenge as we had conceded a previous battle against Kettering 3 by a score of one-six with Alan leading the defence.

Captain Sebastian Dias made some insightful last-minute changes to the positions and substitutions to compensate for the last-minute changes in the team, putting Jimmy up front and having Adrian Granger Brown defend, which made a significant difference during play.

Kettering 3 came on fast and strong. We held our fort well, until the captain of the opposition found a clearing to goal and whacked the ball from the top of the D, which deflected from goalkeeper Shahzad Ali's foot into the goal. First blood, but South were unfazed.

The second goal came as the opposition's youngsters broke through the South defence and took aim at the corner of the goal. Shahzad dived to save the first strike but the opposition player lifted the blocked ball over the goalkeeper, who was now down for the count. Two-nil, spirits still high.

South won a solitary short corner from the game. Howard Steed injected to Stuart Creed at the top of the D. Unfortunately, the young opposition player running "one" got in Stuart's way, forcing him to skillfully manoeuvre the ball to the right and whack it mightily, lifting the ball off the ground and lightning-striking it into the top corner of the opposition backboard with a thunderous bang!

South conceded one more goal before half time when the opposition's youngsters found space inside the South D to take a good shot at goal.

Half time finished with a score of one-three.

It was great to see all South players in good spirits. Experienced players, Stuart Creed and Alan Radford, gave select advice as Ky schooled our new players on how to become effective defenders. Sebastian and Simon Kitchen also suggested that we required more movement as a team to quell the opposition's whippersnappers.

All great advice, the help of which saw only two more goals conceded in the second half from good shots on goal.

South had a number of shorts awarded against, but they were dispatched with ease thanks to The Rock / Ky Ho / Howard Steed / Andy Thomas defensive line.

South also had a good number of shots on the opposition goal. Peter Creed, Alex West and Jimmy Wood constantly hassled the ball from the opposition and received some great balls from our midfield - Oliver Weston, Sebastian Dias, Wilco Dijkstra, Hesham Mashhour, and especially the midfield backbone Stuart Creed, who won Man of the Match for his courageous performance, as well as our only goal.

We gave Kettering 3 a good fight, and our Stuart Creed even managed to give a bloody nose from his strike from a short corner. Putting things in perspective, South were a stronger, more confident team than the one at the previous encounter at Farpoint Kettering. Everyone played amazingly well and gave their all against a youthfully-faster opposition, never giving up regardless of the score. Although the game was lost, everyone seemed to enjoy the competitive game tremendously, which resulted in a great post-game atmosphere and teas, where heroes of both the MoM and Lemonous variety were celebrated with uproarious applause and cheering.

And so finishes the first half of the season, ending with the newly formed M5s team triumphantly sitting around the middle of the league table, with ears perked listening for the faint whispers of a possible new M6 team, and gleefully looking towards the future, whatever it might bring…