Cambridge South 2nds, sponsored by PwC, were thrown off their stride and finally (and deservedly) beaten by a Boston side that is scrapping for survival in Division 5NW.

South had started brightly, forcing a string of short corners in the opening few minutes. From one of these Rob Barton thought he had scored, but the whistle had below blown for a further short fractions of a second before the ball had broken free of the ‘keeper to allow his finish. After this positive start, it all began to fall apart for South. Boston’s strong central midfield pair were running through virtually unchecked, which, allied with the high line that the hosts front men were playing, saw South’s defence getting pulled around all over the place with a consequent loss of shape.

It was from central mid that the opening goal came. A runner went past three, possibly four South defenders with only seemingly half-hearted attempts at a tackle being put in. He eventually reached the byline by Jon Price’s near post, from where he pulled the ball sharply backwards to his (unmarked!) centre-forward, who tapped in easily.

South by now were being restricted to sporadic counter-attacks, but they were handed an undeserved lifeline in the dying minutes of the half after a mistake by the hosts goalkeeper. Dave Monck had fired in a free hit from the 25-yard line that was going to go into the goal without a touch, so therefore would have been a Boston 16-yard hit. However, the ‘keeper appeared unsighted on whether any forwards had played the ball, so elected to make the save All this did was stop it neatly less than a foot out as a gift goal for Colin Singleton, who was lurking with typically predatory extent. Most of Col’s goals are from this range.

The half-time teamtalk was along the lines that our passing had been sloppy, our marking terrible, no-one was running off the ball or calling for it, and we were extremely lucky not to be out of the game already. Improvements in the second half were demanded. However, it seems that as well as all the other flaws, our ability to listen had also gone, as the second half performance was even more below par than the first.

Boston retook the lead from a short corner routine early in the second stanza. A powerful initial drive was well saved by Jon Price, but unfortunately only fell to a Boston forward on the edge of the circle. With no-one close he had time to set himself before putting a hard flick into the near corner of Jon’s net. The cringing attempt to block this shot from the one defender attempting to reduce his space is better glossed over (mainly ‘cos it was me!). Boston could easily have been two goals ahead soon afterwards when a ball into the circle ricocheted around before being turned home by their centre-forward. As in the first half for South, the goal was chalked off as an Umpire had already blown for a short-corner. Even-steven on these decisions, then…

South drew themselves level soon after this, as they put together their one piece of proper hockey of the second half. Gareth Hebbron picked up a ball in central midfield and hared down the right channel. With a route into the circle available, Boston’s left-back had to step up, allowing Gareth to bypass him with a neat pass to Simon Ta, who had pulled wide. Simon got to the byline and crossed to the far post, where Kevin Rowland was on hand to deflect the ball goalwards, and into the top corner. A sweet goal that belonged with a better overall team performance.

This was but a temporary reprieve as Boston quickly retook the lead. Again it was from a short corner routine, this time the straight strike from the top of the circle going through two South defensive sticks, that only managed to make the ball bobble and did nothing to hinder it’s forward process. The bobble on the ball was enough to deceive Jon, and we were behind again.

South created little for the remainder of the match, but did have one final chance when they were awarded a short corner in the final play of the game. That this was South’s first short of the second period is indicative of how things had gone, as is the fact that this short, with South outnumbering Boston 10 to 5 in the circle, was cleared without a strike on target being attempted. So Boston took an important and completely merited 3 points in their relegation battle, with South left with the long slog home in a pretty low mood.

If South 2nds want to be challenging for promotion from 5NW next season we simply must play better than we did in this game. Too many individual errors and poor play were evident. Hopefully it can be put down to the 2nds being secure in mid-table with little to play for left this season, but even considering that it wasn’t the standard we can attain.