Sixteen South players (split into two sides, Greens and Blacks) made the short trip to Saffron Walden to compete in their annual 7-a-side mixed tournament, the Bailey Cup.

First to play were the Greens, who faced a team labelled as ‘The Marauders’ but bearing a close resemblance to our friends from St Neots. Things started badly for the Greens, going two goals down early in the piece. However, they pulled one back with an excellent individual goal from Tash Cox. Chasing hard for a loose ball everyone thought she had no chance making was the basis. Once the ball had been retrieved, the Marauders defence, who were standing watching with the rest of us, were far too far away to prevent Tash dribbling along the by-line then drawing the Neots keeper and classly flicking the ball over her diving body.

Unfortunately, the sleep was still in the Greens' eyes and a further goal was conceded to see Neots three-one up. The Greens then created a number of chances to get back into the game but couldn’t capitalise. Worst offender being Tony Wiskich, who found himself with only a defender on the line to beat, ball on his stick, on the penalty spot. He took his time, lined-up his flick, and shanked it three yards wide. Ouch. [Sorry Tony, but it was miss of the day for the whole tournament, y’know…]

The Blacks made their debut in the tournament in the following game, against a youthful but skilful Saffron Walden I side. The Blacks found it hard to cope with the young legs of their opponents and were indebted to keeper Cassie Woodfin for a number of saves, keeping the score respectable. Three shots found their way past her but it could have been more. The Blacks got on the sheet themselves, when John Benedikz slammed home a short corner with the final hit of the match. So, two games, two 3-1 defeats. Not greatly auspicious.

At this point the games were coming thick and fast and after a break for one match, the Blacks were back out to face Harlow. This match proved more even, with the Blacks having now sorted out their team pattern, with Cesca Freeman linking neatly with Jan Brynjolffsen up front. Once again Cassie excelled between the sticks, keeping out some shots from the oppo's dangerous ‘Worm’ twins (that’s what it said on their shirts…), who had scored four between them in Harlow’s opening match, including a couple of spectacular ones. However, whilst Cassie could block the original shots she needed her defence to pick up the loose balls, and twice they failed to and therefore saw efforts scrambled home. The Blacks pulled one back in the dying minutes, when a break down the left by Cesca saw her put a neat move on her marker and pull the ball back inside to Jan arriving late into the D. His shot was deflected almost at source, which added a spin that saw the ball squeeze in at the near post past the wrong footed keeper. However, an equaliser couldn’t be fashioned and whilst the performance was far better, the result was the same.

Once again, it was straight on with the South action as the Greens strode out to play their second fixture, against the Cunning Linguists (Bishops Stortford? I never found that one out). From the outset, the Greens looked the dominant team, creating many chances. Their first goal came when a Tony pass found Tash in space in the middle of the D. She waited calmly for the keeper to dive before lifting the ball over him. Tony soon doubled the money, cracking the ball home from the top of the D. More and more chances were being created, with the Linguists looking tired and the Greens often through three-on-two or even, once, four-on-one. Finally, the forwards combined well enough to score one of these, when Rupert Webb took a Tash pass and flicked home with his reverse stick. One neatly taken Linguists goal at the other end failed to throw the Greens off their stride, Tash netting again at the far post from Rupert’s driven cross. The final action of the game saw the Linguists beat Peter Grant for a second time, as the Green defence had disappeared upfield in search of personal glory. Even so, 4-2 was a good win.

At this point in proceedings, both South teams found themselves with a break in their matches. Given the beautiful sunny weather, it was out with the beer and the sandwiches and time for the Blacks to commiserate properly with Tony for his miss in the first game. Also the Greens were watching intently to find out what they needed to do in their final match to make the semis. Well, some of them. Others were in the bar. They claimed they were watching football; I remain unconvinced.

So, to the final matches. First up were the Blacks, who faced a Long Sutton team who looked player-for-player the best in the tournament. This one was essentially a long rearguard action and the final score of five-nil to Long Sutton was hardly unfair. Then came the Greens for the big one. Other results meant that a win and nothing else in their final game, against Saffron Walden II, was required. Unfortunately, the same was also true of the host side. And just like at the start of the tournament, a lack of team work in the opening period of the match porved terminal, as the Greens found themselves two down in double-quick time. One was pulled back by Tim Gass, forcing home after the keeper had blocked Gemma Thomas’s original effort. In the final minute of the match, with South throwing the kitchen sink at Walden for an equaliser, they were caught on the break to leave the final score 3-1.

All in all a good day, even if there was the nagging feeling that the Greens were good enough to have gone further in the tournament. The weather certainly smiled on us and our hosts were very pleasant. Definitely a tournament to pencil in again for next season.