South headed to saffron Walden on a late, hot Wednesday evening, full of anticipation for a big game against Prem opposition.

The game started a high pace, with players emerging from the gloom under ‘floodlights’ which lit up just over half the pitch.

Early south pressure saw a turn over by Harry C who played in his namesake Lewis who fired across goal to a midfielder in a rare high-field position to slot home. The away crowd (of about 4) politely applauded, showing their confidence in the visiting team.

Both sides generated good chances through the rest of the first quarter, with Walden striking back through their brand new signing (who joined for an undisclosed fee in a recent transfer window) with a decent reverse strike.

South upped the tempo in the second quarter and got a deserved 2nd through some good interlinking play resulting in Ed emerging from the shadows to reverse/backstick hit to the corner.

The Pace of play slowed in the second half as both teams tired in the heat, Walden getting a soft breakaway goal to draw level after a steal up top.

South got the winner from a newly created short corner routine where all players involved thought they knew the drill but in reality they didn’t.

After a good trap from chalky (what else do we expect?) a straight strike was well defended with the ball spilling out of the d. Stu R played back in at pace for James Browne’s nifty deflection to the far top corner.

Overall a well deserved result against a tenacious oppo, giving south plenty of positives to take into their last friendly on the weekend.