M2 had all sorts of problems before the match. Shahbaz “The Goalie” got an ankle injury on Thursday’s training and was unfit for the game, Ron “The Captain” didn’t have internet to organise the team, Sanjay “The VC” went to play for M1 and Ian went to play for the M3s. The issues didn’t finish because when the team reached the Cambridge University pitch, they found out that the match would start 25-30 minutes late because the previous match was running late. It was getting dark and cold when South stepped on the pitch.

We all know that these things do not matter when the “men in green” stepped on the turf.

Harry was our new keeper for the match and Kev Rowland was playing his first match for M2s after a long absence. Kev wanted to make a big impact and Ron obliged when Kev was sent up front to play as a striker with Rob Barton.

The first 2-3 minutes of the match was all St Neots as they got 2 penalty corners, one of the penalty corner strikes just went past the goal post. South was lucky to survive this onslaught and built their game from there.

The midfield was working well with Rich Claes, Manu, Tom & Bav Virdi pressing forward and making good opportunities for Kevin & Rob upfront.

In one such move Rich ran with the ball for 30 meters and passed it to Rob who put the ball in Kev’s shooting range and Kev sounded the board with ease. 10 minutes gone and South was 1-0 up.

Manu & Tom were very good in the midfield and were passing wide to Rich (left mid) and Bav (right mid). One of the moves from central midfield gave the ball to Bav (right mid field) and he combined with Andy Passmore (right back). Andy hit the ball into the D to Rob, who again did not strike but “actually passed” to his fellow forward and Kev scored his second goal in 15 minutes after 4 months rest. What a comeback!

15 minutes gone and South was 2-0 up.

St Neots looked like they found some magic potion and pressed really hard at the South defence. They were entering the D but the South defence of Ron-Dave-Mariano-Andy held tight. South was not able to penetrate the St Neots D in the last 15 minutes of the first half.

In the 32nd minute of the first half, Bav had a tussle with the St Neots player and with umpire Steve standing just 5 meters away Bav thought of swinging his stick at the opponent. Steve obliged Bav by giving him a yellow card and sending him to the sin bin. Typical Bav!

Ron gathered his troops together in the break and wanted his team to press harder and gave a good earfull to Bav which he deserved.

The second half started with South playing 10 men for first 10 minutes.

St Neots got one back when it was 3 on 1 and although Harry in the goals tried his best, he was a silent spectator. 2-1.

With South having 11 men finally after 10 long minutes, they pressed forward again. South got a penalty corner and the hard work put in on Thursday finally showed when a pin point perfect insertion from Tristen and a perfect rocket hit from Mariano resulted in a goal. South was 3-1 up.

South were not finished yet and the combination of Manu & Tristen were working wonders in the central mid field. Manu in particular was having a great game and looked like he could run away with the Man of the Match. But he had different plans. South got a free hit outside the 25 meter line and Manu took a self pass and with all his power slapped the ball into the D. The ball never reached the D because it hit Rich on the way and hit him “where-it-hurts-a-man-the-most”. Manu later got the Lemon of the Match for that and Rich didn’t play any part in the match after that incident.

Mariano in defence was having a very good game and started a move which resulted in the fourth goal. He gave a long ball from the 23 yard line to Rob in the attacking half, who passed it to Tom in the D. It was 1 on 1 with the keeper and “The Tom Watson” never misses those. South was 4-1 up, with 6 minutes to go. It was a different experience today for Rob, as he had 3 assists for South’s goals but ended up not scoring any. Rest of the game was played in the mid field.

Final whistle!

Kev Rowland had a great comeback game. Mariano at the end of the match was correct to say that “We could have won by 5 or 6 goals.” A good victory for South and 3 points in the bag. Ron “The Captain” was a happy man with the result.

Tom Watson was voted the “Man of the Match” for his good all round display in the mid field and an excellent goal.