On a gloomy day in Newmarket, South 2nd XI lifted their spirits to maintain their unbeaten record in a hard-fought match.

Cambridge South travelled to Newmarket knowing that it would be a tough match. The opposition had won all four of their league matches this season and were further incentivised by the presence in the South line-up of Mark Pears, who until this season played for Newmarket. However, South also had an unbeaten record to protect and went into the match with nothing to fear.

Due to morning commitments in Cambridge, not all the team could make it to the warm-up and therefore missed the spectacle of captain Kev Rowland's pre-match rendition, including actions, of "I'm a little teapot" (something to do with losing a poker game).

After such entertainment there were fears that the game might prove a disappointment but these doubts were dispelled within thirty seconds of pushback. Newmarket got the ball in their defence and launched a superb aerial ball right into the South twenty-five yard area. Caught completely by surprise, the South midfield and defence were nowhere to be seen as the excellent Newmarket centre-forward drew Shahbaz out and neatly slotted the ball home. One-nil and not even a minute on the clock! The home support (and they had a good crowd out) were ecstatic and South had a match on their hands.

Understandably shocked by such a whirlwind start, South took some time to compose themselves and Newmarket pressed forward with speed and skill. The South defence was facing its hardest test of the season so far and had to dig deep into its resources to keep the deficit to only one goal. However, slowly but surely, order was restored as John Benedikz got the left flank under control and Nick Bristowe kept his very skilful opponent quiet on the other wing. Newmarket did force a number of short corners but these were charged down by a typically determined George Wych.

Midway through the first half South started to create some attacks themselves. There was ample space for both Matt Kern and Tim Clapp on the wings and the central midfield of Kev Rowland and Matt Readman made use of this with some excellent distribution to spread the play. The Newmarket defence held firm but were being stretched to the point where a good run by Tim Clapp was stopped by a blatant foul which led to a yellow card for the opposition's left back. Eleven men against ten but, despite this disadvantage, still Newmarket had most of the play and only some good work from Shahbaz rushing to the edge of his area prevented further scores.

Newmarket's yellow-carded player was back on the pitch when South finally got a clear shooting chance. Wych picked up the ball from a tackle just inside the South half and passed it straight up the pitch to Rob Barton who held up play magnificently before slipping the ball to Pears who made no mistake in front of the massed Newmarket support. One-all at half time.

Going into the second half the game remained evenly balanced. Newmarket were still pacy and skilled but the South defence was equal to the challenge and our midfield were showing the hockey awareness that marks out a good team. Pass and move was the tactic and it paid off, leaving the opposition chasing shadows as South made progress up the field. In particular, Dave Aston and Kern made some stirring runs up the left flank, whilst Matt Readman at the back of the diamond was controlling the distribution excellently. From this pressure a short corner was won and the routine worked perfectly. Pears pushed out strongly to Rowland, who pushed the ball through Dave Monck's dummy shot to Readman. Showing great skill and composure, Readman controlled the ball and flicked it onto the top of the backboard. 2-1 to South and the cheer from the South team could have been heard all the way back in Cambridge!

However, Newmarket were not beaten yet and they fought back strongly. Short after short was won, only to be either charged down by the South runners or magnificently saved by Shahbaz. Something had to give and finally the opposition made one count – a route one short corner strike smashing into the backboard to level the scores.

Dismay for South and Newmarket were further pumped up by a loud rallying call of "Come on Newmarket. We’re still in this!". Confusion reigned for a few seconds on both sides as we realised that the call came from ROWLAND, THE SOUTH CAPTAIN! Truly, something no-one expected from the Cardinal.

Despite this treasonous dolchstoß from their leader, South dug even deeper to contain the opposition and, as is typical of the team, became even stronger in the last quarter. Dave Monck was in dominant form (at one point virtually doing the splits to steal the ball) and his sixteen yard hits were always strong, both relieving a beleaguered defence and creating attacking chances.

Into the last five minutes and Kev would have thought that the unanimous LoM vote was in the bag but Clapp had other ideas – picking up the ball from just over the halfway line he showed typical strength and skill to dribble through most of the Newmarket team, round the keeper……and then scuff a shot away from an open goal! Despair turned to rapture however as the ball was picked up by Barton who had kept up with the play. He got the ball no more than twelve inches from the by-line but (with an unmarked Aston shouting for the ball on the p-spot) somehow miraculously managed to get his body around the ball and reverse sweep it into the goal. The angle was impossible, the control and accuracy were unbelievable – vintage Barton!

So 0-1 after thirty seconds was turned into 3-2 at full time. Newmarket put up a great challenge and any result would have been a fair one. After the game, captain Kev Rowland said "Tremendous performance, the team totally responded to the quality of the game. It was always going to be a challenge against a good Newmarket side but the guys didn’t want to settle for a draw and believed that we didn't have to. Epitomises the team spirit for me. A great three points."