What a day. Blue skies, sunlight, light breeze. It almost felt spring-like! And what a start by the M5s.  Contrary to our normal approach, South’s M5s did not stay in the sheds for the first 10 minutes today. Possession was almost all in our favour, and we looked fluid going forward. It could even be said we were moving the ball quickly, which given the “astroturf” we were playing on, was impressive.

On that note, I’m told by players of a certain generation that hockey used to be played on something called “grass”. Whilst I’m sure they can’t be right about this, it did feel like it at points today. 

Anyway, back to the game. South made this early pressure pay by converting one of our attacks into a short corner, which Sev Warren put away in true Sev Warren style. 

And did South sit back after this? Did we heck! The pressure was maintained, and Ely looked ragged. The press was high, and possession was almost exclusively with the men in purple. There is, however, a problem to this story. In sports like hockey, the team who scores the most goals wins [citation needed]. And this was South’s problem as, despite consistent pressure, we were unable to put another into Ely’s net.

And then, the inevitable. Ely on the counter were able to put two past us. Both goals seemed to come from nowhere, but Ely did what top sport pundits like Michael Owen remind us is important – score goals. 

Half-time: 2-1. A**e… 

The second half was much the same: South came out of the blocks faster, controlled all possession, but were still unable to get that last touch into the goal. And Ely did much the same as well: somehow soak up our pressure, and put two more past us on the counter. 

No one can deny the M5’s work rate with every ball being chased down. Indeed, body’s were put on the line. Owen took a blow to the hand making a vital stop, Roland’s hamstring was pushed to breaking point running down the wing in a MoM winning performance, and super-coach Alan’s knee injury was made worse by him jumping down from the tiered seating at the side of the pitch. 

And everything was tried on the pitch as well. Dave Monck’s thundering balls into the D, beautiful crosses from the corners from our midfield and wingbacks, and flicks and tricks from the forwards skimming the outside of the posts. And of course, Stu’s 3-D dribbling. In fairness, it did look impressive. However, Ely’s audacity of having a defender in the way each time it was tried earnt him the Lemon vote. (We were told we weren’t allowed to vote for the pitch) 

But hey, we go again next week. Whilst some would say the M5s are flirting with relegation, I would say we are making the end of the season exciting. And with the final fixture being against Long Sutton, the next few games could be very important. Allez Barton’s Barmy Army!