After watching the M3s put City 5^th s to the sword, the eager Long Road crowd built up the excitement and tension(*) for the showcase event of the day, M6x taking on the powerful Newmarket 4 visitors.  The squads didn't disappoint, with a strong fielding of juniors from both clubs plus the odd seasoned player or two, both sides fielding a good balance of youth mixed with past experience from a higher division.  How would that work out on the field?  We'll see...

Despite the M6x being brand shiny new, this is the third match against Newmarket 4, with the others having finished 3-3 and 11-0 (!).  So Captain Rob tweaked the formation to push our midfield forward and go on the attack from the off.  Despite this, it was Newmarket who dominated the first five minutes, with all the play in South's half.  South's shape and discipline held, though, and the tide turned, with South slicing through the Newmarket defence and scoring two first-half goals, one from Rob and one from Dan G.  We were also treated to the sight of Rob, standing alone and un-marked in the Newmarket half, everyone else in South's circle, and getting a 16 from which Ky found Rob with a long ball.  Will he shoot?  Will he score?  NO!  He's been tackled at the last minute by a last-ditch save from a desperately returning Newmarket defender.  This kind of wearing down of the Newmarket defence would tell in the second half - but more of that later!  Newmarket's midfield kingpin also suffered a proper hit to the face during this half, and was concerningly down for some time, but recovered (thankfully) only to be hit again in the second half by a launched ball from his own defender.  At the other end South keeper Ben kept good concentration and showed a number of high-speed reaction saves to somehow maintain a clean sheet.

Rob pulled us together for the second half, reshaped the team and sent us out to finish the job.  The team didn't disappoint.  Three second-half goals, including a superb individual effort from LW Dan G, sealed the points(**) and the plaudits.  South's contention for midfield told, as the Newmarket team tired and gave up the midfield in favour of a 5-0-5 formation which did their juniors no favours.  Etienne and Nuwan at left and right wing back were solid; I can't remember anyone getting past them in the whole match.  A big shout to Harry Sample, playing his first senior match for the club, not before time; he picked up ball after ball in midfield and fed them right back into the forward line.  James acted as a strong target man, holding up the ball and releasing the passes for the runners, with a particularly fine tiki taka with Rich Baz and a fast injection for Rob to deflect into the Newmarket goal.  During this period, Rob apparently won lemon for not scoring enough goals, a fate with which he'll be familiar despite the still ever increasing tally.

A fine 5-0 win for the M6x, and promising signs for next season.
 

(*) by heading off to Cantabs for pizza, Avi having eaten nothing all day!
(**) sadly no points