St Ives, the mighty Saints, some town near middle-England, so I hear. A 'friendly' game started off well as both sides fought for possession in the middle of the pitch with few chances generated. South went ahead first through some slick play down the left wing, resulting in a strong pass across goal for Oil to tap in at the back post. The Saints got one back just before the break from a decent drag flick on the third time of asking; Mariano showing some skills on the line to deflect the two previous penalty corners.

After that, I'm not quite sure what happened as I had to head off at the break.

From what I hear:

• Colin isn't as skillful as Mariano at stopping balls on the line…kneeing it off the pitch isn't the normal approach.

• Harry Chalk 'ran into' an opposition player (cue their protests) whilst standing still.

• Mike had a storming game and didn't shout at himself once (a well deserved MoM).

• Max's 1st team debut didn't go quite so well, having not turned up.

• The definition of 'friendly' was broadly re-interpreted by some feisty tackles.

• Bhav is just generally angry (LoM), and…

• Match teas were only ¾ as good as usual.

All in all, a good (half) game and the focus now moves to next week's crucial game versus West Herts.