An in-form South side travelled the not insubstantial distance to Deeping Leisure Centre to face a Bourne team who were struggling in the division.

In light rain it was South who started the brighter, parting the clouds with a couple of quick strikes. Alex Stafford found the net on four minutes via a strong, classy finish after nice work from Rich Claes up the left flank. Alex turned provider six minutes later when he weighted a through pass to striker Rob Barton who was on target to slip the ball under the oncoming keeper. The score-line might have been further broadened in these initial exchanges courtesy of strong attacking play, in particular from wide men Bhav Virdi and Ron Oren, and a handful of wasted penalty corner opportunities.

At two-nil South, it seemed, took their collective feet of the gas and the game slowed to a gentle cruise. Despite this the umpires were to chalk up a trio of further efforts before the break. The first of which came from Bourne as a lurking forward was on hand to tap-in from close range after South failed to properly clear their decks during a rare foray by the hosts.

The threat of an equaliser firmly bashed South’s sleepy heads together and the wake-up call was answered by Ian Glover on twenty minutes. By this point a rejuvenated South had intensified their efforts although speed of play was far from that of the opening encounters where their dominance had reigned. Good incisive hockey from Tristen Knight led to Alex squaring the ball in the D for Rob to flick on and Ian to smash home to restore the greens’ two goal lead.

Like a dog in season, the home side were not to be shaken off and their opener was soon followed by their second. A through ball pierced the heart of South’s defence and trickled between three defenders before the lurking forward knocked home at the back post. Soberingly it was three-two. There was clearly still a game to be played!

With ten minutes to go in the half Tom Anns, who had kept their lively right winger in check, earned himself a yellow card for playing the ball above shoulder height. A contributing factor to the infamy which was to follow that day for Tom... Fortunately, South were able to stand firm during the minutes of reduced headcount and the umpire’s whistle sounded out soon enough to put an end to the first period.

Half time and three-two to South.

The second period continued in similar vein to that which ended the first. Below par too-ing and fro-ing from both sides begot an indulgent and relaxed feel. Precious time drifted by and South’s keeper, Shahbaz Ali, was gladly not seeing too much of the ball. The visitors’ midfield and defence were incinerating Bourne’s meteor showers in the upper atmosphere. Andy Passmore looked like he was Andy Impassable and sweeper Dave Monck was reading the attacks and distributing the ball well. The one or two fires which did break through were mostly stamped on at source. But Bourne didn’t read the script and unceremoniously scored again to unnerve their opponents. This time a well-taken penalty corner saw the ball planted in South’s net and the score unjustly standing at three a piece. Yikes!

Still there was plenty of time for South to earn all three points in a game in which they felt they always had the upper hand. On fifty-five minutes, having picked the ball up from just over the centre line, Rich Claes coolly dribbled through half a dozen players before calmly passing the ball into the bottom corner. Yes! This piece of individual skill went some of the way towards his Man of the Match award. It looked to be the winning goal and Bourne’s heads dipped in resignation.

Ten minutes to go and South now had their belief back. Ian and Ron were pushing aggressively forward, squeezing the game into one half and enabling those in front to turn up the heat on the Bourne goal. Still the game wasn’t comfortable until South saw daylight once more. Rob wrapped up scoring five minutes from time reacting quickly after efforts from Tim Clapp and Alex were parried by the home ‘keeper. A poacher’s finish.

There was just time for a Bourne player to be shown a yellow card for repeated dangerous tackling before the final whistle drew the curtain on an entertaining game.

Full time and five-three. South just about escaped with all three points.

Man of the Match went to Rich for another solid and energetic performance. His stunning finish glistening as the cherry on top. Votes for Lemon of the Match were neck and neck between Tom and Bhav before eventually going to Tom. It wasn’t for the yellow card incident, nor was it for the obvious vote fixing attempt (all those in the early departing car voting for Bhav!), but it was actually the pre-match pitch-side tinkle that swung it. Afterwards, one of the umpires was quoted as saying: "Peeing in the corner does it", and who are we to argue with the umpires?! Bhav take note! Incidentally both umpires controlled the game well.

An enjoyable game for all involved, played in fantastic spirit despite the appearance of two yellow cards. South demonstrated in patches that they are capable of neat, fast flowing attacking hockey and committed tackling. However, they must be under no illusion that next week’s visit of top-of-the-table Peterborough will provide a far stiffer challenge.

After the game, captain Ron Oren was heard saying: “We hebben echt gegraven onszelf uit van een gaatje vandaag. Laten we hopen dat het niet het gat in de hoek waar Tom geplast!”.