In a game which thankfully stopped just short of a Valentine's day massacre, South were nevertheless outgunned by a strong and ruthless Ely side who had arrived with plenty of ammunition and a licence to shoot.

A late switch from an ice-bound Leys gave the teams the opportunity to sample the Perse's excellent new pitch and the opening exchanges were worthy of the setting, with Chris Massey skilfully holding off several persistent challenges to emerge in credit and Chris Graveling secure as always in the tackle, forcing an Ely forward to slice wide and then clearing from the circle after coolly controlling a bobbler.

Rob Garrett burnt the Ely defence to win a short for South on three minutes but, after skipper Chris Baker had tested the keeper with a firm strike, South were adjudged to have piled in with the ball trapped and a sixteen was given. Garrett was unlucky not to win another short when released by Matt Readman but South kept squeezing the visiting defence as Massey and Eliot Read played high. A fine tackle from Leo Tomita triggered a Baker-Massey-Read link-up, culminating in a pass from Garrett which Massey just failed to get past the keeper.

So far, so good, but South then managed to get themselves stuck in the bottom corner and eventually conceded a short, at which the notional striker jinked his way past two defenders to create a yawning gap duly exploited by an unmarked forward who gratefully hammered home from three yards. A further Ely raid left keeper Steve Parker blocking a barrage of shots on his left post and, when the umpires provided relief by awarding a second short, Parker was again in the right position, this time to glove away a hard, slipped flick.

Ely had the ball in the net twice more in the next ten minutes, once from outside the D courtesy of a South stick and once via a fancy bit of footwork from a visiting attacker, and gradually began to create some pattern to their game, with long passes down the channels, close support work and a number of useful aerial balls, which were always liable to pose a danger to the defence given the unfamiliar bounciness of the surface.

South nevertheless stuck to their guns as Readman had a reversed shot deflected for a long corner following subtle approach play by Garrett and Baker, while Tomita, Massey, Readman and Graveling all interpassed suavely to make solid progress upfield. Garrett twice hounded the ball into the circle only for the final pass to miss its target and Al Sinclair, constantly looking to take the defence on with his confident ball control, burst through to win South's second short after twenty minutes. The Baker-Garrett combo nearly did the trick, Baker firing just wide after the return pass, and South headed north again moments later as Jim Thorpe, revealing the type of classic overdrive last seen fitted to the Triumph Dolomite Sprint circa 1976, surged forward into perfect position for a pass that would surely have reached him but for a late deflection.

Ely upped the ante at this point, however, racing through on Parker, who made an outstanding point-blank glove save coming forward before regaining position to stack the pads for a goalbound follow-up, the rebound from which was funnelled away by the returning Graveling. Parker then aggressively batted Ely's third short corner into touch with his blocker before Thorpe creamed a sixteen away to set up a drive from Readman. Play quickly turned over as Graveling intercepted a visiting hit in and Richard Morgan successfully held up Ely's marauding top scorer, but South were then caught napping at a free hit and, despite a strong challenge from Tomita, Ely burst through relentlessly, firing in a big shot that Parker got firmly behind, but there was no-one to deal with the fall-out and the ball was thrust in notwithstanding Parker’s fine effort to resist.

A minute later, Ely again forced their way into the D and once more found an unmarked man who unhesitatingly whacked it in from close range with a reverse bat. Things went from bad to worse not sixty seconds on as the South defence, caught ball-watching after a distracting sequence of events at the edge of the D, failed to get a handle on another surge and, moments before half-time, the visitors had the chance to make it five as a giveaway suddenly exposed Parker, who rushed the striker and forced him to shoot wide.

Ely came out after the break still fired up and, within a minute, they had scored again, powering up the right channel, drawing the defence and squaring the ball for a final, simple pass to which there was no answer. After this devastating burst, South did well to regain some degree of composure; Massey beat three men with something approaching nonchalance, Graveling and Tomita got the ball neatly through to Read, and Garrett and Read worked a slick move up to Readman, who just ran out of space. After another tantalising lifted pass that split the South defence, Parker made an excellent diving tackle with stick and right arm to deny an onrushing lone striker and Graveling was again on hand to relieve the danger. Read and Garrett fed Russell Johnson, who had little room to work in, but South then strung together their best move of the game so far, threading it quickly from left to right with good ball-speed. This positive passage of play eventually culminated in South's third short, but the Graveling Variant failed to click and Ely roared back, barging their way round the back line despite a manful tackling effort by South and forcing Parker into a last-gasp block which held them up at the death.

Morgan and Massey combined to nullify the Ely hitman again and then Graveling dived swannily to feather away an angled short corner destined for a free man on Parker's left post. Tomita bravely got his ankle in the way of a whipped reverse shot, retiring for several bursts of the freeze spray administered by Dr Creed, who had just arrived as if by appointment, and was replaced by Al Sinclair, himself struggling with a muscle injury but nobly returning to the fray in extremis. Sinclair indeed added some pep to the attack, aided by a still lively Read, and gained a fourth short for South when attracting a two-man sandwich on entering the away D. The Ely keeper just got a foot on an unseen deflection after Garrett and Massey had worked the ball around and, a couple of minutes later, he was almost deceived by a surprise reverse scoop from Graveling which narrowly evaded the top left-hand angle.

Urged, if not actually screamed, on by their stentorian coach, who will surely be visiting his GP with laryngitis this week, Ely picked their game up, shot down the right flank and once more caused difficulties in the home defence as a squared pass uncomfortably failed to settle on the turf. The resulting free hit just outside the D was quickly taken and a last-ditch clearance unfortunately went straight to the top of the circle, whence it was returned with interest through a batch of sticks and legs to give Ely their sixth with ten minutes to go.

Thorpe and Sinclair finally got the ball upfield, where Baker and Read were both still trying hard to break the shackles, but South were soon on the back foot again and Thorpe himself, Morgan and Garrett all had to defend doughtily to keep Ely at bay. However, another pass from the right took a horrible bobble at the last nanosecond and, with the cruellest of misfortune, went straight to a waiting Ely stick, which despatched the offering without sentiment.

Determined to gain some consolation, South pressed forward through Baker and the hard-running Johnson, who slotted a neat pass through to Read for the latter to unleash a cannon of a shot which the keeper could only parry high into the air. The short awarded from this rendered Graveling’s eagerly whacked-in "goal" invalid but South gained their just deserts when Sinclair got a touch on the resulting strike to open the home account after sixty-seven minutes. Two minutes later, South were celebrating again when Read bustled into the circle and Sinclair was on hand to stuff a second goal into the bottom corner. Their pride stung, Ely put the pedal to the metal in the final sixty seconds but Parker denied them the last word by first kicking away to his right and then showing control and balance to counter a first-time shot from close in.

Though a little gloss was taken off Ely's victory in the closing stages, it is fair to say that, after the first twenty-five minutes, South found it an uphill struggle against a team with superior organisation and a lethal finishing touch. The visitors ran hard and purposefully throughout, always had men in good positions in the D and rarely dwelt on the ball when a pass was on. There is a suspicion that, as with most teams enjoying a consistent run of success, they could be vulnerable if conceding an early goal or two but South, despite best efforts, could not put enough pressure on the Ely D and found it difficult to make the incisive final pass. In consolation, Ely are arguably the best side in the division and the vast majority of South's games thus far have been closely-fought and rewarding encounters. There appears to be little to separate the seven teams directly below the top two and South could yet secure a high finish if they put together a decent run. After a Baker's dozen against Bourne and Saturday's reverse to Ely, a numerically less extreme game against City of Peterborough, with South emerging on top, would be good.