Off the back of a disappointing three-three draw at the beach in St Ives, South were eager to bounce back in this warm and windy contest at Long Road. An insightful team talk from Stu and Harry Chalk, the latter telling the team that, ‘The oppo like to come into the D and shoot,’ and we were ready for the match.

The game was a close affair during the first fifteen minutes. Both teams enjoyed possession but no clear-cut chances. Chances were limited mainly thanks to the South defence, especially the ‘long arms’ of Tom Rosselli. Joel’s choice of birthday breakfast must have given him some form of boost even if it was a questionable selection. It was the Dragons that struck first; a short corner routine which ricocheted of Stu’s leg on its way into the goal. This was the first time this season where South had fallen behind in a league match – a comeback was essential. South struck back before the first half finished; a well worked move from Harry Lewis and Ollie found Owen, who tapped in a reverse to level up the score. The competition stayed hot up until the half time whistle.

A revved-up South side were ready to take their game up a few gears. First a short corner routine of our own, Benares Kemsley firing a dragflick past the static defence. Next, another well worked routine ending in the same outcome as the first goal: Ollie providing the assist for Owen to deflect into the far corner to make it three-one. With some breathing space, it allowed South to control the game without losing a two goal lead. The fourth goal came quite unexpectedly to the scorer, as well as the rest of the players present. A mazy run from Kemsley gave him enough room to fire a looped reverse strike over the goalie and into the far top corner. Quite the spectacle even if it wasn’t his first intention.

As if four goals wasn’t enough, South added another to complete the five star performance. Another flowing routine from South followed by a ball to the back post, which found an unmarked Ollie who couldn’t miss. There were some late amateur dramatics from our very own Pearson and James but no further goals were to come from this game. A promising performance from South sets them up for a highly-contested derby against the Nomads next week – bring it on!