It was a crisp, autumn morning, on which glorious sunshine blazed across the Long Road astro as 14 Cambridge South harvesters took to the pitch in search of September fruit. A loud shout of “Sandy” hailed across the pitch – this one was for our Captain, stuck in bed with some seasonal virus.

 

And so, the action began. Like the air the South passing was crisp, but at times wayward and so, despite a few forays into the opposition fields, it was the Newmarket farmers who dominated early on leading to a series of short corners. But a masterclass of defence from James, Harry S, Stu and Andy led by man of the match Miles in goal made sure no nuts were buried on our turf…..that is until one slipped into the bottom right corner. 1-0 Newmarket.

 

The half continued somewhat haphazardly for the home side. Like swallows, swifts and house martins the defence seemed at times to have migrated to warmer climes. Newmarket upped their game and came close to causing serious damage but, like a warm autumn wind the half-time whistle blew, and South had the chance to regroup.

 

With rousing instructions from Captain Barton – first, “do not migrate from defence” and second “do not hibernate”, the second half saw a notably increase in darting, dashing and scurrying into all four corners of the field of play.  Now a colourful array of play like the autumn leaves was to be seen – crunching tackles from Nuwan and Stu, swift movements from Gareth and Harry B, abundant passes from James P and James H saw several goal-mouth scrambles for food. Sadly, these didn’t materialise despite Rob Barton’s best and multiple efforts with his harvester’s scythe. And there were falling leaves too, particular Jordan’s spectacular plunge adding red to the colours on display. Thankfully, the injury was mild and he played on, so making strong the defence.

 

With deepening to the shades of colour, came a pass to the right wing where Lachie like a bushy tailed squirrel scampered into the D. Then passing the ball neatly he found Dexter, who made no mistake in burying the nut deep into goal. At last South had something stored away for the winter: 1-1.

 

After this, opportunities for further reaping came for both sides. But neither was able to get anything into their barn, and then, towards the end it appeared winter had arrived, at least to one Newmarket player who in taking out Harry S appeared to think he was playing ice hockey. Lucky not to add to the colours of the autumn with green, yellow or red the play continued to its conclusion. One nut buried by both teams – a fair result, followed by the enjoyment of warm food and a well earned drink in the pub.