Reports 15th November 2003

Men's 1st XI lose 2-0 to Long Sutton III

Men's 3rd XI draw 1-1 with Peterborough Town V

Men's Veteran XI take an 8-2 beating from Cambridge City Veterans

Ladies' 1st XI draw 1-1 away to St Ives 3

Long Sutton Men's III 2 - 0 Cambridge South Men's I

H/T: 1 - 0

Scorers:

A below-strength Cambridge South finally gave up their seven game unbeaten record with a ragged performance under the floodlights at Long Sutton.

Missing the influential Matt Readman, Chris Massey and Peter Carey as well as Andy Rose and John Taylor (the latter banished to Siberia after failing to score last week), South conceded an early lead when the defence was wrong-footed by a deflection from a home long corner.

Despite two short corner opportunities and creative runs from Jonny Tostevin and Sanjay Agarwala on the wings, South failed to tax the Long Sutton defence sufficiently over the first quarter, and both Chris Graveling and Jim Thorpe had to bring off inch-perfect tackles to prevent the home team making further inroads. Long Sutton's slick short routine was twice bravely thwarted by Keith Simpson and South escaped further punishment when Rick Erlebach's last-gasp intervention forced a home attacker to slice just wide after running unchallenged from halfway.

The pendulum swung slightly in the final ten minutes of the half as Tostevin drew two good saves from the keeper and Erlebach and Rob Barton at last found some room for manoeuvre. Hopes of a second-period comeback were quickly dashed, however, when, from a thirty-eighth minute short corner, Long Sutton went two ahead with a well-placed drag flick of a pace and weight rarely seen at this level.

South swiftly countered with three shorts of their own but, despite gaining a rebound and laying on a deft switch, stopper Graveling saw his efforts go unrewarded. Long Sutton then gradually forced the South defence deeper by playing a man high and the action soon reverted to the visitors' D, with Steve Parker first blocking a player coming in from wide and then making a sliding tackle at the edge of the circle to break up another threatening move.

Frustration began to set in at this point and South's hitting from defence became less assured as they struggled to find consistency. There was little of the midfield cohesion that was so much of a hallmark of the Spalding game and South largely had to rely for their chances on the strong and inventive running of Agarwala, who evaded a tenacious marker to sprint round the back of the defence and go clear in the D, only to be foiled by a good save.

South pressed forward with increasing urgency, Barton giving his all in a clash of titans with the keeper, but Long Sutton, who were unafraid to bang the ball down the wings, repelled further danger despite Agarwala again going close on the far post in the final minutes. The key strengths of South's game in previous weeks - decisive clearances, coherent support play through the middle and control in the opposition 25 - were not so evident against the determined and well-disciplined Lincolnshire side and, though luck in the D notably deserted them, South could have no complaints about the final result.

Cambridge South Men's II 5 - 1 March Town Men's III

H/T: 2 - 1

Scorers: Jim Lockhart, Dan Adlington (2), Stuart Creed, Nick Wong
MoM: Tim Poole

South started slowly, seemingly in awe of March's quick passing game. A well-taken goal by March after four minutes shook the home team from its slumber.

Jim Lockhart ignited South's play with a coolly taken goal; netting after his first shot was parried back to him.

South soon gained control over the game with Dan Adlington's mopped up effort after twenty minutes. With no sign of our two errant subs, the home team started to gel as an eleven after the early disarray.

March always threatened but were consistently disheartened by some fabulous goalkeeping by the Welsh wizard, Tim Poole. Making some outrageously fine saves, Tim's brilliance provided a source of frustration with pivotal interceptions throughout the game.

The other inspirational figure was Matt Readman spoiling attacks and instigating South's best play.

After a Beasley team talk at the break, alerting various possible dangers, South instantly added to their score, forcing a short corner and converting a neat Korstanje lay off to skipper Creed who gathered and shot deftly.

March were now being played out of the game. "Sleepy-head" Adlington dispatched his second deliciously, after excellent supporting work from Readman and Wong. The latter chased a lost ball for a cut back past a dejected left back.

The final strike on sixty-nine minutes was pure class: Lewis slipped the ball to Adlington on the edge of the D who then blasted a cracking right wing cross for Wong to finish confidently as he ghosted in to the centre of the D.

Matt Murray had an excellent game as emergency sweeper in light of our limited options brought about by being two subs light. In the end it mattered not.

During the post-match beer and nosh, poorly attended by the home team (…shocking!!) the opposition were full of praise for our man of the match Tim Poole.

Peterborough Town Men's V 1 - 1 Cambridge South Men's III

H/T: 0 - 0

Scorers: Rory Johnson
MoM: Rory Johnson - for a fighting game and much needed goal. Honourable mentions go to newcomer Andy Kennedy and Daniel Raffle, who had a very solid game in defence on his return to the team. Finally John Benedikz, who played his usual offensive sweeper role in support of the midfield and was the steadying influence for the defence

Cambridge South 3rds' period of unimpressive results continued with a generally lacklustre performance against Peterborough Town 5ths resulting in a 1-1 draw. To be fair, Peterborough, the division's bottom side, played to a level that belied their league position.

The tone for the match was set early on when a normally harmless through ball was ignored completely by South and nearly resulted in a Peterborough forward being clean through on goal. Only a timely intervention by the keeper prevented the worst possible start to the game.

After this initial distraction however South dominated possession for the remainder of the half, without really taking controlling the game as expected. Even without dominating the game the defence of Daniel Raffle, John Benedikz and Andrew Pounce, supported by defensive links Ali Blake and David Bridge, never really looked troubled and certainly didn't look as if they would concede a goal. At the other end of the pitch the forward line of Finn Johnson, new recruit Andy Kennedy and Wilco Dijkstra, with midfield attacks from James Bridge and Rory Johnson won a series of short corners, which though well struck by Messrs Bridge and Dijkstra failed to find the final touch into the net.

During one of South's sustained periods of attack Rory Johnson was caught across the knee which gave rise to injury worries and held up the game. Despite having to leave the field for a short while Rory made a good return to play.

South's frustrations were summed up when an attack down the right was squared perfectly across the front of the goal past Peterborough's keeper, only for South's frontline to slice the ball wide of an open goal. The half-time whistle provided a perfect opportunity for South to re-group and revise their strategy.

The second half opened with Peterborough playing more aggressively. They pushed forward much more and made use of substitutes by replaced their young forward line with a pair of very competent adults. Ironically this aggressive stance gave South the advantage as it was from the breakdown of one of the Peterborough attacks that South finally managed to score from one of the best counterattacks of the season. Making use of the pace down the right side of the pitch South entered the circle and Rory Johnson was able to smash home a powerful shot.

With their noses in front South looked a more settled but Peterborough were far from beaten. South attacked well down both wings but Peterborough were using experienced players across the defence and forward line whilst making little use of their midfield. Each time a South movement broke down Peterborough took a quick ball and were on the offensive immediately. The South defence stood firm and were well supported from midfield although it was obvious that the lack of substitutes meant fatigue had set in early.

With under ten minutes to play, South finally broke. Peterborough, sensing they were far from being pushed over, increased the intensity of their attacks and scrambled an equaliser. Their centre forward shook off several tackles and shot, however a poor clearance by keeper Will Benedikz went out to another attacker. The second shot was also saved. However the Peterborough forward collected the ball and forced the ball over the line. This was achieved despite the best efforts of Daniel Raffle on the goal line who stopped the ball crossing the line twice before being beaten.

On the final whistle the draw felt like a defeat.

Cambridge City Men's Veterans 8 - 2 Cambridge South Men's Veterans

Scorers: Unknown

No report

St Ives Ladies' III 1 - 1 Cambridge South Ladies' I