A hat-trick from MoM, Oli Anderson, was enough to deliver a victory in an incident-filled encounter.

A solid first half yielded his first as Matt Kern, recovering from injury, slotted a through ball to Oli for him to shoot, pouncing on the ball as it returned from a defender and pirouetting gracefully to score and break the deadlock. Cambridge South were already dominant, scrapping enthusiastically, using the wings well, with John Greaves, Paul South and Jason James in particular slotting passes with good purpose, in addition to the usual Monckosaurus thunderbolts upfield. The ball often reached the danger area but without further reward. St Ives were unable to take advantage as the reshaped CSHC M4 defensive wall in front of Mr Monck - Pete Dreuitt, Ellis Lui, Andi Caddy and Alex Larkinson - earnt their corn confidently and well.

A cunning piece of captaincy tactics at half time saw skipper Greaves deciding that his normal "pace" was unlikely to appear when trying to run on one leg (calf strain, he claimed) and move Pip "Panther" Ho up to the forward line. This encouraged Oli to greater heights, with a mesmeric second solo goal.

St Ives thought they were back in the match with a classy response to make it two-one (George T claimed this as an own goal: baffling), but this only inspired the rampant Cambridge South boys. Much of the play came through the speedsters, Alex Larkinson, Pip Ho and Oli A, with Mr South also showing a surprising turn of pace - perhaps the over-harsh preparation regime of cutting his own finger off (see below) helped - but the midfield played more than a supporting role. JJ was unstoppable, and controlled the centre, with Messrs Kern and Dijkstra closing down St Ives players, winning the ball and turning defence into attack whenever possible. The final goal was a great example. JJ pass to Pip; to Oli; goal. Nice.

Back to Mr Monck. In one game he managed to:

• Be accused of "not playing hockey" (i.e. hitting the ball too hard!)

• Execute a Cruyff turn fifteen yards from his own goal in front of a skillful, but bemused, St Ives forward.

• Brilliantly save a certain goal on the line with a spectacular aerial cricket shot somewhere over extra cover.

• Make numerous, highly effective, "man and ball" sliding/diving tackles, ending up horizontal on the ground.

• Strike a St Ives player in a naturally padded region with one of those powerful clearances.

Legend.

Mind you, Dave M's diving was nothing compared to a Ronaldo-esque piece of ballet when goalkeeper, George Toynton, had the temerity to tackle a forward, only to see the man take flight. I thought that happened only in football. George was a busy boy throughout the game, dominating his D with slides, noise, stick, body, whatever. It works for us, George. Carry on.

Paul South attempted to join Greaves on the sidelines late on when he was wandering away from a free hit as the St Ives man passed to him from two yds. Green it was. This earned him LoM. Harsh - or that could have been for his extensive use of WhatsApp to share details and progress of a mythically broken finger.

There could have been a good few more Cambridge South goals but for excellent St Ives goalkeeping and some unlucky aerial flicks towards goal missing by inches. Except for JJ's effort, which is still rising into the sky as I write.

St Ives never gave up and kept pressing. They provided the usual excellent teas in their clubhouse afterwards, too.

Seven points ahead with four games to go. Keep focused.