It was an afternoon start in St Neots for the so far unbeaten Ladies seconds. After a pre-match nap in the sun, and an arrival just in time from Sam, Carla and Vicky B (!), we headed onto the pitch ready to continue our run.

The game started messily, with neither side playing their best hockey. During the first scrappy twenty minutes or so, neither side were particularly dominating the game. A collision in the South half where sweeper Tracey ended up on the ground with a St Neots lady on top of her brought a temporary halt to the game. Tracey hobbled off and after a quick huddle and a mental restart, South finished the first half much more strongly, playing better hockey and creating more chances. The game remained goalless at half-time but we were now playing confident hockey and were sensing a win.

A good half time talk by captain Vicky set us up for the second half. We were aiming to create more space by using the right hand side, and had the confidence to play around their back line who seemed to be sticking fairly firmly to the D. Perhaps they were playing the offside rule? We exploited the new self-pass rule from the off when Charlie went straight from the 'push-back' up the pitch, passing with Carla who sent the ball out wide to Ley on the right, who delivered a cross in which Bex neatly deposited in the back of the goal - result!! Great start to the second half.

Our defensive team soaked up any pressure from St Neots, who didn't manage to advance too far into South's half. They delivered some good balls out to our midfield who pushed up the pitch and released the forwards. Some more neat build up play resulted in a strike from Charlie from near the top of the D into the bottom left hand corner - 2-0! A combination of a new stick and Loopy's voice saying - go for the corners ..!

South kept pushing despite some somewhat rough treatment from St Neots who seemed somewhat put out that they were two goals down. On the stroke of the final whistle, St Neots managed to win a short corner. With all the opposition bar the keeper surrounding our D, the defence was under a lot of pressure. The first short was almost cleared out, but they managed to win another. A sharp strike from the top of the D hit Sarah A directly on her toe which meant her hobbling off (later confirmed as broken - get well soon Sarah!). The final short brought some cracking saves from Loopy, but eventually St Neots managed to scramble the ball over the line to claim a late consolation goal.

A good win for South in a tough game and a tough match environment. We are calling on as much support as possible for the home fixture later in the season. Everyone played well under the pressure, and we kept our heads and played a fair game which we should be very proud of under the circumstances. Hope all our injured players are OK, and looking forward to continuing our winning streak next weekend.