A spate of organisational challenges saw Cambridge South 2s scrabbling for players in their away match against Spalding 2s. New recruit Phil Crowhurst was promptly pressed into service, despite a troublesome back; to back him up, 4s were gratefully relieved of their semi-injured Simon Jelley. To add more complexity, the team had to assemble from three different locations, with Andy Passmore even coming down from a weekend in Sheffield to add his might to the fray.

Having overcome all these difficulties, the team started the game brightly. The speed and energy of Richard Claes and Tom Watson put the Spalding midfield under pressure, while Rob Barton and Jelley expertly frustrated any attempts of the home team to build from the back. Pretty soon, this pressure paid off: a mazy run of Phil brought him through into the D, where he found Rob lurking to bury the ball. 1-0 to South.

Spalding, however, did not take this lying down and found their feet in the game. For a while, the game hung in the balance, with South incapable of extending their lead, while Spalding could not find an equaliser (although both sides had their opportunities). Spalding were the first to break the deadlock, when a cross was - rather nicely - deflected into the top corner. All square.

South responded instantly, with Rich driving the ball at lightning speed up the left side and into the D. With teammates scrambling to get into finishing positions around the P spot, Rich decided to keep the honours to himself and coolly despatched the ball at the tiniest of angles. Half-time, and South was again in the ascendancy.

In the second half, fatigue was clearly taking its toll, with both teams struggling to keep up with the see-sawing ball. In between much ping-pong hockey, though, there were moments of composed and beautiful play. In one of those, South’s right wing duo of Ian Glover and Sanjay Agarwala gave a master class in using triangles, surging up the pitch and into the D. In a clear bid to upset the fantasy league tables, Ian insisted on finishing the goal himself, giving South a 2-goal lead.

To Spalding’s credit, their heads did not drop as they went in search of the goal to put them back in the game. It was all South’s back 4 could do, to stop them battering down Shahbaz Ali’s goal, and even then the latter’s catlike reflexes were needed at many occasions. Eventually, Spalding did find a way through, when a short corner was charged down and blocked by captain Ron Oren, only to fall to another attacker who unceremoniously dumped it in the net. With a resurging Spalding and a last-minute short corner, it was a nail biting finish, but one were South got the best of the home team: 3-2 final score and the 2s overtake at least three teams in the league.

An even and quite well-spirited game, this must be one of the most enjoyable and attractive ones that the team has played so far, and a win they can be proud of!