It is M3s’ custom that whoever wins Lemon of the Match writes the match report. However, this week’s LoM (Gando, courtesy of lateness, lack of socks and more lateness) missed the majority of the match. So I offered to write it on the basis that I ought to do my fair share of match reports and I rarely do anything lemon-worthy. Hopefully this won’t come back to bite me in subsequent weeks!

Saturday provided an opportunity to put right a disappointing result from the start of the season where we’d narrowly lost to a good Spalding team by playing poorly. Off the back of four victories, each with a clean sheet, we were confident that by playing our usual brand of safe keep-ball attacking and organised and committed defending we’d get a win.

South started the stronger of the two teams with some great close passing and hard work off the ball. About 10 minutes in we grabbed our goal, Alex playing a long diagonal ball to Joe, who approaching the top of the D patiently dribbled round the keeper and slotted the ball in the far corner. Another 5 minutes of composed hockey and things were looking good. However with Spalding’s well-executed tackling in midfield and pace upfront they started to pose a challenge to South’s defence, forcing a fine double save from keeper Dave. A series of penalty corners followed which ended with one of Spalding’s particularly skilful players scoring from a well-struck reverse hit off a broken-down short corner.

Spalding continued to be the stronger team for the remainder of the first half, but things turned around in the second half with South consistently entering the Spalding D only to shoot wide or lose possession. A golden opportunity came midway through the half when Spalding prevented a certain goal with a foot on the line, however the resulting penalty flick didn’t have the power to beat the Spalding keeper who made a simple save diving low to his right. There were moments of humour including AP, making a fine debut, bizarrely passing the ball over the backline from a sideline hit leading to a brief stunned silence.

More attacking opportunities and penalty corners came for South but to no avail. In a moment no-one could have foreseen I even got a chance to score the winner when with 5 minutes to play I intercepted a ball far higher up the pitch than I’d normally be, drove into the D and took a shot only for the keeper to dive and touch the ball round the corner. My teammates later regaled me with accounts of what they’d have done had I scored. Annsy’s involved nudity. Needless to say I’ll be avoiding all goal-scoring opportunities from now on!

The game finished 1-1 and South were disappointed to draw what was a highly competitive game but one which we felt we could have and should have won. The quest for second place in the league continues, but we’re now relying on other teams to take points off St Neots and Wisbech.

Votes for MoM and LoM were cast at teas. LoM was a fairly simple affair, particularly as Gando wasn’t there to explain himself. Mind you he didn’t have a leg to stand on, which ironically would have saved him a second trip to find some socks! MoM was split between Jack and me, which prompted Menzies to suggest that we decide it with a maths-off. However Menzies is not a numbers man and clearly thinks that we mathematicians can do complex mental arithmetic involving multiple operations and large numbers in only ten seconds. Without a calculator! Jack won by being sensible. I just blurted out any old number and was embarrassingly miles out.

Bottom of the league next week which should give us an opportunity to pick our heads up and regain some momentum for a big game against St Neots the following week.