In any battle against promotion or relegation, there are definable moments that sway a teams destiny! The game against St Neots was such a game.

The luck of the fixture list meant that the 3pm game at Long Road was no longer on. This allowed the eager M5’s to turn up early and practice, polish and improve! Short corner was the second priority after George Toynton displayed with everyone else an inability to hit the goal from the top of the circle. It was worth the wait as it gave South a massive platform into the game.

Captain Rob Barton is never one to shy away from an important pre match speech! His words were keenly taken on by his troops, along with some slight over-hyping of one single player that began to help chalking up lemony tones for the skipper.

The first ten minutes set the tone for the half, as South were relentless in moving the ball around the pitch. The back line of Jan B, JJ and Sev W did much to help dictate these crucial early stages. After a decent sighter from his first SC attempt, Sev W dragged a low bullet past the outstretched Goalie and onto the foot of a Saints defender on the line. Peter F stepped up and forcefully found the corner with his effort, one-nil to the good guys! A large part of the season so far has seen south dominate massive periods without gaining any significant rewards. They doubled their advantage as the forward winning all fouls in and outside the opponents circle skilfully rounded the heavy tackles before dispatching a fierce flick past the Saints Keeper’s right shoulder! Two nil and daylight surely?

A number of the Saints players were of the ilk of ex-first team that had forged careers higher up the echelons of competitive hockey. They played quick, hard passing in a more direct fashion. Off a 16, a speculative hard hit down the middle found the centre forward who released the right winger. Their cross was deftly caressed past the well positioned George T in goal to set up a ding dong finish to the half.

The second half brought more out of the Saints. A number of times the attack broke down because of a cool intervention, save or a short-corner that was dealt with. It was around halfway through the half where Stu Creed was given an impromptu green-card break by going shoulder to shoulder with number 62, despite continued protests to innocence. Tough love indeed! [Ed - much as I hate to correct our player-coach *ahem*, the green was for knocking the ball away after the shoulder barge which the Umpire interpreted as deliberately delaying things. And my, did Stu mither on about it something chronic]

The game was very much in the balance until the last eight minutes. Sev Warren finally gaining his first competitive goal for the club. It may be the first time a father/son combination of goal scorers have happened in a South game? The celebration was loud and felt over by the touch line and everyone in purple was noticeably energised. The Saints, clearly winded, fell further behind where a poor clearance was pounced on by the ever-improving Henry MacDonald and slipped to the hard working Jordan Walker. Jordan took a touch and produced a clever lifted finish over an outstretched diving keeper. Just to be certain to rubber stamp the lemon, captain Rob made sure from three inches out and rounded off an impressive victory for the M5’s!