Phew! This was a tough one. Cambridge South 3rds headed off to the Ivo Outdoor Centre looking to make amends for a frustrating 1-0 defeat in the home fixture back in October. St Ives being the only team this season to achieve a shut-out against South's goalscorers, we were expecting a tough match and we weren't disappointed.

On a bright, cold winter's day the smooth surface of the Ivo astroturf promised a fast, skillful game. Unfortunately, when the whistle blew South seemed mentally to still be in the changing room and were straightaway put on to the back foot by a hard-starting St Ives. The South defence was getting an early work-out and we were finding it difficult to establish a foothold in the opposition half.

As South gradually started to shake off the early sluggishness, a promising break led to the first serious pressure on the St Ives goal. The move was finished in style with James Cobbe dispatching a crisply hit shot past the St Ives keeper to give South the lead, somewhat against the early run of play. From then on, the match developed into a series of close contests all across the pitch. Dave Borthwick was organising the defence excellently from the centre, with Ian Glover on the left making a series of decisive and vital tackles.

At half time South still led by the solitary goal but all doubted that would be enough to settle the contest. Sure enough, St Ives were far from ready to give up and grabbed the equaliser when a shot heading past the right hand post was deflected in by a lunging St Ives stick. South rallied and as the contest wore on we finally seemed to hit our stride for the first time in the match. The final quarter was mostly played out in St Ives's final quarter, but their combination of experienced senior players and good youngsters kept their goal intact while still posing a dangerous threat on the break.

With another frustrating result looming South pushed forward again and with just two minutes left Colin Singleton, an exemplar of energy all match, gathered the ball by the right hand back-line and drove towards the goal. With defenders blocking his path, Colin timed his pass perfectly and slipped the ball through a gap in the sticks across the face of goal for Simon Ta to sweep home.

One of our closest, but most satisfying, wins of the season.