For the onlooker, like myself, the match was a little blurry, literally. This was due to a 4pm push-back, the fact that a third of the flood spots were not working and the infamous fen fog. Combine this with darkish green (Long Sutton) and greyish black (Cambridge South) shirts, indistinguishable in the ambiance lighting, and the match became decidedly ‘foggy’ to watch, even for the players!

However, despite what the final score-line of 3–0 may suggest, it was a good match. My task was to organise the roll-on/roll-off of the substitute. We travelled with twelve players who were all 3rd team players, unlike our opposition who fielded one 1st team player and two 2nd team players. This was noticeable as those three players seem to control strategic areas on the pitch.

The game was certainly not one-sided. We played a good passing game, Sean would have been proud of us, and certainly created some good chances which unfortunately we were unable to convert into points, also because Long Sutton have a very able goalkeeper.

Lino, our goalie, very much did his bit to keep the score-line down. Some terrific safes were made by him. Our defence team of stalwart Ky Ho, Phil Le Gouais, Andy Passmore and Steve Morrell ably assisted him. Ky was very strong in defence, making tackle after tackle and pushing up once or twice.

Tim Gass, David Bridge and Sam Lansdell were working hard in midfield, disrupting the Long Sutton attack with determined tackling and hassling. Sam, in the centre, was particularly good in connecting with the forwards of David Scott, George Bucknall and initially Wilco Dijkstra who tested the Long Sutton defence. We kept the forwards fresh by substituting every eight or nine minutes so Tom James came on for Wilco etc.

Long Sutton kept pushing however and the experience and skill of their 1st and 2nd team players started to count and they managed to score two goals in the first half from some smooth and skilful running with the ball and good passing. We made some minor changes in the second half which resulted in even better passing and more forward play, really pushing hard for a goal. We let in one more goal from a breakaway move by Long Sutton but came away feeling quite pleased with ourselves for our effort, determination and generally improved play.