South arrived at Long Road, having had a hard fought 2-5 defeat the last week to a very strong

top of the league March side. I wasn’t in attendance, but I was told we played some of our best

hockey yet. Onwards an upwards, a Cambridge Derby, Nomads were up.

"We are first on. Lets get there early for a good warm up.” Adam bleats to his herd over

WhatsApp. Most of us were, but for some reason our pre-match stretch turned into a bit of

“freestyle session” - with players scattered over the pitch like sheep across the moors. Anns,

ambling onto the pitch a little late, complained to me that his middle aged muscles might

complain if he didn’t do something!

With all that considered, the first half kind of just….. trickled past, with what could be considered

in my opinion as a very mediocre effort from the team. There were some promising moments, but

it felt like we were passing the ball around like we were still playing on March’s slow sand based

pitch. Towards the end of the half we started to find more rhythm, looking like a side that could

perhaps win.

Various comments flew around the half time huddle, but what I took from it was: “Ball Pace”,

“Intensity” and “We can win this”. Oh and “Adam, you are now a midfielder”.

The second half started with a bit of a surprise for me, as one of the opposition comes over and

pays me a few choice compliments for my first half defensive play. I thanked them profusely as I

watched the ball push back. Wow, we really stepped up a notch, working harder, increased ball

pace and creating good space. I couldn’t help however, be slightly distracted by the opposition

continuing to give me kudos for my aforementioned game play. At some point these compliments

just became too much and, for a reason I’m still contemplating, I bleated a complaint over to the

umpire. This earned me Lemon. Brilliant.

Back to the hockey. South were now raining down on Nomads, with some great link up play and

several opportunities. Menzies acted as a great pivot in the middle (earning him MOM), with

Walshy, Jonny and Adam buzzing around him. One such opportunity, the ball pinged out of the D

inside the Nomad's 25, I picked it up, shot it in to Joe, who snuck it in on the far post. 1-0.

The game concluded a bit scrappy, with Jonny (and I think Adam) throwing themselves to their

knees in a last attempt to get the ball out of the danger. Andy then decided, with over 5 minutes

left, to run down the clock by holding up the ball in the corner. All I can think is that he must of

heard Yoda Anderson’s voice in his head “1-0 up, Remember your training”.

All in all, great win on the score card. Lets keep this rhythm.