And so we get to that time of the season. The run in. The home straight. The point that the team realises that I’ve managed to get this far without getting lemon, so feel the need to redress the balance.

Two weekends against the top two teams in the league started with a game against league leaders Uni 2s, a team with youth and speed on their side. As expected they started strong, running some pretty chaotic “patterns” that dragged the defence back and forth across the pitch. Bloody kids. But they hadn’t reckoned on the brick wall of the South defence, holding them to just a couple of entries into the D, and (I think) just the one shot on goal in the first half. We also had some chances of our own, and Izzy MP would like me to point out that despite one ball forward to Maddie being a bit of a fortunate fluff, all the others were laser-precise and completely on point.

0-0 at the break. Could we keep it up? Uni came out of the blocks pretty quickly again with a flurry of attacks and short corners, resulting in a save that left me having a bit of a sit down on the pitch, not so much on the ball as in front of it with absolutely no idea where it was. Which to be fair, is probably still pretty lemon-worthy. Almost as lemon-worthy as leaving your stick in Ipswich last Saturday and having to drive there and back during Friday night rush hour to pick it up (see Maddie for full details).

We weathered that storm and took the fight to the other end, winning a couple of short corners that could have nicked it for us, but in the end, a draw that felt like a victory for the ages, and made Coach Tim proud. MoM votes were spread across the team, with Tildy winning out with her combination of winning tackles and passes that sliced through the midfield. Good stuff? Good stuff.

We celebrated with pizzas pitchside, and stayed to witness club favourite Chris Pearson’s last game for South. The man, the legend, the bare shins. Let’s Go Sports Fans!