A symbolically representative start to Saturday’s game was in the warm up where Simon Jelley accidentally flicked his ball over the 4m fence from only 3 metres away. That certainly wasn’t the biggest ‘balls up’ of the day though (boom boom). At the time only 5 other people where at the venue, and one of them was frantically trying to solve a conundrum caused by Michael Gillingham breaking down en route, taking both him and his keeper kit out of the equation for the afternoon. Not that we had enough people to kit someone up... or actually enough even had Michael come. It is never a good sign when ever-tardy Dave Monck is seventh to arrive. After some pleas to the opposition captain, our ranks swelled to ten men and no keeper, composed of 30% Cambridge City. We did have promise of 4 players on their way over from the morning game at Newmarket, but they wouldn’t arrive until well into the first half. To make more of a game of it, City’s keeper also agreed to sit out the first 15 minutes, while we waited Jo’s arrival. It was kind generosity that we are grateful for*. After a minute’s silence to mark the passing of the Duke of Edinburgh, pushback began as a friendly start passed to City’s defence. The ball was quickly and cleanly moved through the sparse and disorganised South formation and was in our goal with barely 60s on the clock.

Within a couple of minutes another opportunity came and a flick was all but awarded, though City graciously pointed out that ball hitting hand on stick was allowed, so South were spared. Sniffing a goal-fest, at 5 minutes in City were playing almost entirely in our half, which gave an opportunity to South when the ball turned over, and Simon managed to supply the pacy City player Max *who duly made use of the vacant net City had left for us. Buoyed by this, South held a one-all score line for a fair few minutes, as City tried to avoid leaving themselves exposed at the back, but after a string of loose balls repeatedly turning possession over to City, the 3rd goal was inevitably theirs. Soon after, South finally had reinforcements, including Jo kitted for keeping, and with the 3 guest City players choosing to stay in purple, we even had subs. However the lack of structure across our multiclub squad, paired with some pretty rusty passing meant the flow of goals from City was unstoppable. Half way through the first half they already had 4 and it seemed like they were headed for double digits. However another break after a quick turn over left Simon Ta and James Yu running into a weakly defended D, with James getting the goal. Once again, City pulled back a little, at least for a while. Thomas Grove soon reminded them why when, once again, they moved overly far forward with goal-greed. Half time was 6-3, with City still on track for double figures. South got a good telling off from a rightly frustrated City player, whose sound advice basically boiled down to ‘stop passing to people wearing red’. However, City must have discussed their need to defend at half time, as they played much safer in the second half; this meant their flow of goals slowed, but also made it challenging for South to penetrate. Eventually we won a flick, which Mr Ta was swift to convert. In the end the scoreline was 9-4, so we narrowly kept them in single figures, but it was by no means a proud day for South.

Recommendations for next time:

1. Have enough players
2. Have a keeper
3. Have a structure
4. Pass to people in purple
5. Make this pass before running into trouble.

MoM Thomas Grove: for excellent play in challenging circumstances.

LoM: Michael Gillingham for poor car maintenance.