With only two points from the first 3 games of 2024, South M2s were facing St Neots 1s for another game against a tough opposition. Our fixtures this year have been heavily weighted towards top-table teams near the start, so an almost-draw (a loss...) against 1st place Wisbech and draw to Bourne Deeping are better results than they might seem from the points collected. M2s were also without John for the first time in almost 3 seasons - this will be an interesting chance to see if he's worth keeping around in future or not...

As has been usual for the 2s recently, we started a bit too slow, turning the ball over the St Neots within the first 10s and they proceeded to hold the ball for a few mins to settle into a rhythm. An early aerial from Pete provided the threat of skipping their press entirely and keep them on their toes. We were winning the ball across the pitch and had early attacks up both wings; after the slow start were now looking like the team in control. After a slightly fumbled attacking short, South set up for a free hit on the edge of the D: Matteo to Alex, into the D, pass to the baseline then across the goal for a slightly scrappy finish as a mass of St Neots defenders couldn't stop Eric making it 1-0. A second followed a few minutes after, with an attack up the right leaving Matteo unmarked, who then ran the ball to the shoulder of the D for a strike that found the corner. A slightly slower passage of play followed, with St Neots' first short corner and chances at goal. South waited it out before attacking again along the baseline for another goal and made it 3-0 for the half.

St Neots started threateningly in the second half and results came early. Will the ball at top D, they darted right and struck from the shoulder in a copy of Matteo's strike from the first half to make it 3-1. This was swiftly follwed by a couple of short corners, the second of which they scored to make it 3-2 within minutes of the start. Things didn't get much better from there for South, with an attacking overload through the centre of the pitch resulting in another goal to level the score. Things didn't slow up from there and South responded with their own short corner and goal from Ed a few minutes later. The back-and-forth play continued, but South kept the advantage, Pete scoring the final goal from a short to end at 5-3. It's a great outcome for the team and makes it a 2-0 record against St Neots this season. Let's hope the results continue against the upcoming opposition closer to us in the table in the weeks to come