Everyone loves playing against Bury; the games are always tough, competitive and very close! In recent years we’ve had title deciders, relegation avoiders and mid table bragging righters - every game has been a 6 pointer and even though the season is yet young, this was likely to be no different.

What was different though was the 1 hour delay to the start of the game whist the Peterborough 'keeper from the L1’s game awaited medical attention for a nasty head injury - we hope she was ok and wish her a speedy recovery.

The unintended team bonding time was great: we played hockey-tennis, hockey-cricket, hockey-table tennis and even chatted to each other (apparently there is an amazing hockey shop in Cheltenham with a mugger out the back!). There was even time for Sam to put his shorts on round the right way (label goes at the back mate!).

Most of us were expecting the game to be cancelled, especially Dean who had to leave to see a man about a dog, so when it was given the go ahead there was an interesting dynamic – would we be ready, would we still be up for it, would the warm up we did 1.5 hours ago be enough? The answers were yes, yes and I guess so! South started the game very well, the intensity was good, the movement off the ball was slick and the defence looked solid. Before long the deadlock was broken, a nice move down the left got us into the D and a couple of passes later Pearson smashed in a shot from close range – get in boys, well deserved!

South were definitely on top but as always Bury were a threat, especially on the break and frustratingly they equalised soon after South scored. It was a scruffy goal to concede but it didn’t change the pattern of the game. South pushed forward, won a couple of short corners and retook the lead. New recruit Jack Humby picked up a great position and hit a fine shot towards goal where, unfortunately for him, notorious goal-bandit Williams was lurking to steal the plaudits – judging by the look on Jack’s face… it was definitely going in!

2-1 up at half time and playing well, South were raring to get stuck into the second period and once again they started well. Chalky and Sam were all over the midfield, winning tackles, intercepting passes and starting attacks, whilst up front Pearson, Jack, Owen and Harry didn’t stop running. Something has definitely improved in the way the team are playing this season, more passing, more running off the ball and less dribbling, as a result South looked dangerous and likely to score at any time. Scott Catley summed up the new fast and decisive approach perfectly – countless times he picked the ball up, beat a player with skill and good movement and then played the ball forward to the attackers. Scott deservedly won Mom for his efforts!

Bury also improved in the second half and had a good chunk of pressure themselves resulting in a succession of short corners. The South defence dealt with them superbly, stopping all attempts on goal with feet, knees and, eventually, sticks. Ed’s range of passing and Bailey’s excellent aerials cleared our lines and got the team up the pitch with pace. As a result, there were lots of good moments in the attacking third, Owen produced some sort of sorcery in the corner of the D to wriggle past 3 defenders and fire a brilliant pass across the face of goal, sadly no one could get on the end of it.

Moments later a fine passing move through the middle ended with Harry Lewis baring down on goal, he chose to beat one last defender and smashed a shot against the post from a tight angle. Just to even things out Bailey then hit the other post with a fierce shot that will probably get the club fined by Long Road for denting the goal! Had they gone in either of these chances would have been remembered as a great goal, but as it happened the third was a scruffy affair, a shot corner move resulted in a goal-line scramble, Bailey was there, the ball bounced around, the keeper got a touch, some other stuff probably happened and Williams hit it in.

At 3-1 South were looking good for a deserved win but things are never easy, Bury pushed forward again and scored from a short corner meaning the last 7-8 minutes were a bit of a scrap. There were more green cards than chances and South managed to ride the storm to see the game out. Had anyone noticed that Bury had subbed off their keeper and gone to 11 outfield players for the last few minutes South probably could have found a way to score a fourth? Well Harry Lewis had, but didn’t think to mention it to anyone until after the game!

Beating Bury is a great feeling, even more so when we’ve played well and thoroughly deserved it – well done chaps! With a bit of fine tuning there would have been more goals, one week soon the M1s are going to hit someone for five or six!

Final mentions to:

The umpires - many thanks for giving up an extra hour of your weekend to allow the game to go ahead after the delay.

The injured Peterborough GK - hope she’s ok.

And especially Joel, who was spending the rest of the weekend in Hull - poor lad.