In what is hopefully not going to be a habit for the season, the 5s started their game at less than full energy and tempo, and Newmarket got two early goals in, followed by a third one all in the first quarter. As the game went on, we stepped up the pace and energy and played some really good hockey. Martha made an excellent debut for South and won a unanimous MoM vote for her strong and confident game in defence. Despite another strong performance with great driving runs and firing several shots at Newmarket’s goal, Amy took the lemon for turning up and announcing that she needed to borrow socks as hers had been eaten by the dog.

We were definitely better in the second half to the point that Lydia was actually getting cold in goal.