On a chilly December morning 11 enthusiastic South players made the trek to Long Sutton, down long twisty potholes interspersed with sections of road. And after warmup and a few minutes of play were joined by Nev as the 12th just in time to sub on, for which he eventually earned Lemon.

South started energetically, dominating in ball possession and keeping control through quick short passes all around the field...almost like all that training is good for something! But despite plenty of back and forth around the opposing team's D, South were the first to concede a goal in the face of Long Sutton's smooth short corner routine. Fortunately all our pressure paid off soon after as Ash scored off the back of some messy play in their D, then Shahbaz put us ahead shortly afterwards with a drag-flick-based surprise for their keeper. Spirits were high going into half time, but it wasn't in the bag yet...

Continued aggressive play in the opposing half kept the pressure on, with Shahbaz picking up a second short corner goal, but unfortunately the LS keeper worked hard to keep out all our other opportunities. LS weren't sitting back either, doing their best to aggressively send the ball down the field to take advantage of our overextended position and tiring players with just one sub. Unfortunately this paid off and the score ticked back to 3-2, then 3-3 with just minutes to go. Things came to a head in a final short corner where time was blown right after a short corner shot was deflected by a shinpad (my shinpad...). Opinions vary on whether it was on target in the first place or on track to hit the post, curiously one team thought one way and the other had the opposite view, but the only opinions that matter held that it would indeed be a final penalty stroke to conclude the match. Alas it was well taken and went in despite goalkeeper Joe's valiant effort, ending things 4-3 to Long Sutton.

Overall a disappointing result but a great game - highlights include Nev and Shahbaz casually sliding the ball around an opposing maze of sticks again and again, great positioning giving us regular outlets on the wings, a willingness to pelt the ball into the D and make something of it, and great active positioning and calm passing meaning we pretty much never gave the ball away pointlessly.

Shahbaz took MoM for both the excellent goals and the general great play under pressure, with other mentions for Ash controlling the midfield play, Dan taking up great positions and strong ball injections from the wing, and Joe for great keeping that frustrated a number of strong LS breakaways.