It was a bright and punctual start for the Cambridge South Ladies Masters, who arrived in good time and in good spirits—despite Georgie preparing for the match by taking a slurp of electrolyte powder, having mistaken it for the mixed drink. The tone was set: commitment, chaos, and chemistry in the making. First Half Stevenage came out strong, moving the ball crisply around the pitch and dominating early possession. Their centre midfielder in particular pulled the strings, keeping South on their toes as the Golden Oldies worked to settle into a rhythm and get used to playing together. Stevenage earned a flurry of short corners, but Julie, Hayley, Anna, Kim and Lydia held firm at the back. Despite the pressure, South refused to concede, with some gritty tackling from Hayley resulting in knees that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Halloween horror house. Lydia’s tidy keeping ensured the scoreboard stayed blank. By half-time, it remained 0–0. Second Half South emerged as a more cohesive and dangerous outfit after the break. Some great runs up the wings and passing in triangles by Jess, Liles, Fi & Elly. South’s breakthrough came from a short corner routine: Caroline coolly flicked the ball over the diving keeper, giving Cambridge South a well-earned 1–0 lead. Stevenage, however, were quick to respond. A clean, straight strike from the top of the D levelled the match at 1–1, prompting their coach to shout: “Shuffles are back on, ladies!” Rather than deflate South, this seemed to galvanise them (probably because no one wanted to do shuffles). Emily produced her trademark solo effort—charging up and along the back line, slipping past the keeper, and burying the ball to restore the lead at 2–1. The momentum stayed with South. Kim had a little hiatus up front and had a few storming charges towards the goal. Lou kept causing trouble on the right. Nicky was disrupting the defence up front and at one point got fed up with using her own stick so took Lou’s instead. Georgie took out Fi full force whilst dribbling the ball thereby cementing her lemon of the match award. From another short corner, Georgie unleashed a straight strike that caused chaos on the goal line. In the ensuing scramble, Kim muscled her way through the tangle of sticks and defenders to nudge the ball decisively into the goal, sealing a 3–1 victory. Final Score: Cambridge South 3 – 1 Stevenage After a challenging start, the match ended with composure, teamwork, and a trio of well-taken South goals. In a show of empathy after the match, Lou tried to give away our short corner masks as a consolation prize to Stevenage. The Golden Oldies march on (in the Plate, Vase, Saucer?) with style, grit, a touch of chaos and very stiff joints!