The latest challenge to Cambridge South 2s’ post-Christmas surge in the league was St Neots 2s, who are fighting to stay out of the relegation zone. Although the first match between these two resulted in a comfortable 4-1 win to South, St Neots is always a tough but to crack at home, so the visitors paid due attention to their preparation. For one player (who shall not be named), that included so dangerous toilet-action that he needed his shin pads on, “just in case anything goes wrong”. Lemon-awarding complete, the team turned their attention on the game.

As always, South started brightly in the game, taking the ball into St Neots’ D from every possible angle, but couldn’t find the backboard. In fact, it was St Neots that made the first real impact on the game, when a ball was lifted into an onstorming Tim Clapp, hitting him right in the “vulnerables”; every man, on and off the pitch, cringing in sympathy. Luckily, no real damage was done, as Tim could inform us soon (and with a surprising lack of falsetto). No such luck though with South’s second casualty, Bhav Virdi, who charged down a short corner with his ankle. Latest news on this front is that he’s fending off junior doctors at Addenbrookes, bent on amputation; limping off the pitch, he gained himself the epithet of “little fallen soldier” (although some might say this would be more applicable to Mr Clapp...)

Meanwhile, Tim’s replacement Manu Bhardwaj was commanding the midfield with strong tackles and calm distribution. It was the same Manu who got a cross (dubiously dangerously, one might add) across the D to attacking back Ian Glover, who dispatched it with poise into the net to give South the lead. Soon after, it was Manu himself that got onto the scoreboard: a short corner was deftly slipped left, where Manu took a touch, a look and flicked it right past the flabbergasted goalie. In the remainder of the half, St Neots started to put some pressure on South’s defence, but found themselves scrambling back when the visitors countered, mostly through Rich Claes’ fast and mazy running; neither team, however, found the opportunity to change the score.

In the second half, the home team seemed to have changed tactics, defending stolidly and always keeping plenty of men behind the ball. Undaunted, South took up the challenge and kept probing into St Neots’ half, although sometimes more rashly than they should. Nevertheless, the ball spent plenty of time in the home D and it couldn’t be long until this resulted in something tangible. Chilean superstar Mariano Rosenzvaig started his campaign for Player of the Season when he insinuated the ball past a few defenders into the D, survived a swiping challenge at his feet and with consummate style deposited the ball into the top corner.

St Neots kept going forward, making forays into the visitors’ D and gaining some short corners. But the defence held fast and when anyone got through, goalie Shahbaz Ali was always on hand smother any attempts. Unfortunately, one of those was struck well enough that - although Shahbaz got a hand to it - it disappeared into the top corner after all. At merely 3-1 up, captain Ron Oren exhorted his team to get another score on the board and equal the 1s’ result for Southerners League. Always obliging, Dom Nelson took it upon himself to slip the ball past the goalie and get South back to bonus points territory. It’s an impressive game when only at the 5th goal the ball actually gets to hit the backboard...

In the end, the team realised there were some moments where concentration seemed to waver, but overall the team played quite well. A deserved win keeps the streak - and South’s hope of promotion - alive for yet another week.