Another glorious 4pm fixture in sunny Peterborough saw South take on title contenders CoP M3s. With a replenished but compact 12 man squad of veteran M2 players, we navigated the ground’s ANPR system and admired the newly laid/renovated Peterborough pitch and Ali’s sliders before stepping out in the low sun (and hair disrupting wind). Soon enough we were in the midst of a well fought end-to-end game. 

The first half was tightly contested with a congested midfield giving neither team the space to really control the game. Both had chances with Richer commanding the game from the back line and moving cleanly through Puddleduck in midfield. However, the only goal of the game came from a straight-strike by Peterborough from outside our D, with a lucky deflection off a stick sending it passed our keeper Matt. 

The game opened up in the second half and tested the fitness of our 12 man squad against the additional 3 subs sitting in the oppo’s dugout. Whilst there was definitely more grey hair on ‘borough’s team, twice their aptly named midfielder ‘Flash’ out-paced our mids (Puds and Tuna) as they attacked. On neither occasion was the defensive fortress of Richer, Maz and Ali broken. However, as the game became more stretched Peterborough’s attack did force goalkeeper Matt to pull off a heroic set of 3 saves in close succession, keeping the scoreline respectable if not in South’s favour.

South had opportunities in the second half with penalty corners by both Richer and Jacko coming close but not connecting with the net. There were deflections (by Jacko from Pete) and goal mouth scrambles (by Ed and Jim alike) but somehow none crossed the white line. 

Although we lost, team moral was boosted by Jim tieing his hair back in solidarity with new teammate Will, keeping the ferociously windy conditions from influencing the game greatly and allowing the team’s performance to shine through in the low evening sun!