Setting the Scene

An early morning match and some slightly hungover messages from the captain the night before, trying to get the team to show up at a dubious time, kept the team on its toes, ready for another repeat of last week’s pushback times (some say a tactical decision or pre warm-up). Spirits are riding high, even after the close defeat to Louth last week. The team’s looking fit (and ready) to eat that post-match lunch. Or indeed the BBQ that someone had had the night before in one of the circles…

A solid warm-up led by Jan alongside some much-needed short corner practice set us up in good stead for the beginning of the match. A good 3-4-3 formation with the rolling subs extended to a five-to-seven minute duration should allow the team to keep up the tempo. Tom South almost striking Mike in a vital area with a hit from the top of the D during warm up almost ended the match before it had begun, but thankfully everyone was ready to roll.

1st Half

Straight off the bat, South were on the attack. Our quick push-back (despite also choosing the side) pressured St Neot’s 3s straight back into their half. Good work in the midfield, passing in triangles around them, created opportunity after opportunity with forwards hanging high and wide and the defense switching sides with an ease most sides could only dream of. High intensity all round threw St Neo’s formation into disarray, allowing South to push further into their half. During a quick substitution, Oli Scott could be quoted along the lines of, “Not much is happening right now,” right as Oli W slotted a neat goal past the goalkeeper giving us a one-nil lead.

Keeping up the tempo seemed to take its toll, as in the second quarter St Neots equalised relatively close to the end of the half from some experienced play with their forwards and a very fast right-winger. Despite the equaliser South kept their heads up and with some inspiring words (and a lot of people having valid points) were more than prepared for the start of the second half.

2nd Half

Repeating the high-intensity start of the first half, South looked like they were hungry and ready for goals. Opportunities arrived again and again, with good running from both the forward and midfield lines especially on the right with John, but South seemed unable to get the ball in the back of the net. Some good shorts with JJ and Dave showing us how it’s done resulted only in good saves from the keeper. That is until a quick hit from the side from Tom South (not smelling of peach yet) to Paul South (showing that family synergy) resulted in a pass through to the soon to be man-of-the-match-and-double-scorer, Oli W, who reverse stick tapped just past the keeper’s outstretched pads to give us a two-one lead.

This is where our troubles began. After looking hungry and motivated, the final quarter showed St Neots to be the hungrier and more motivated team. Attack after attack our solid back three withstood (four – I remember your name, Mike) as they began chipping away at the foundations of our structure. This meant we could only occasionally break out for attacks and proved to be our undoing. The clock was ticking down and, having only two minutes to go, we broke out for a speedy attack with both midfielders and forwards. Despite being a good opportunity, this ended up with St Neots in possession. With the majority of our frontline in their half and the majority of their frontline in our half, St Neots seized the opportunity, showing their experience. Despite currently being bottom of the league their numbers and hunger proved too much for our defense and St Neots equalised with only a minute to go from a solid hit in the D.

Conclusion

A disappointing outcome overall from some good play throughout the match. Hopefully next week we can get some more movement off the ball and possibly not give the now-peachy smelling, shinpadless midfielder LOM?!