Men's 1sts beat Wisbech Town 3

Given the teams’ respective league positions this was a fixture South should expect to win comfortably however, Wisbech teams are always a threat, especially on their own patch and South were duly cautious in the opening exchanges. After taking a few minutes to settle in, South began to grow in confidence and used their usual outlets to threaten the Wisbech back line. Speedy wingers Russell Johnson and Rich Claes looked dangerous and when midfielders Virdi, Williams and Chalk were able to get the ball out to them South looked like a useful team. Not surprisingly it was one such fast breakaway that opened the scoring. Coming off his wing, Johnson outpaced the back four with ease to latch on to a perfect through ball down the middle and he touched the ball neatly past the keeper. Shortly afterwards South doubled their lead after some good work down the right by Finn Johnson. The ball was delivered into the ‘D’ at speed and after only being on the pitch for a few moments, debutant Chris Pearson opened his South account with a nicely taken finish. A two goal cushion was enough to really settle the team down and the standard of play was improved accordingly. With Chris Graveling and the returning Nick Bristowe providing some additional composure and experience at the back, South rarely looked likely to concede. However, a few ‘man marking issues’ caused the occasional nervous moment as Wisbech snuck past South’s midfield all too easily on the break.

Before halftime South bagged a third, Chalk made a strong run through midfield and showed good composure to get his head up and pick out South’s centre forward’s run across the goal. Jon Hawkes’ touch was delicate but just enough to nudge the ball into the bottom corner.

A three goal lead was a decent return at the interval but South’s players were honest enough to admit that their performance as a group hadn’t reached the level that the team expects of itself. With this in mind South restarted the game seeking to use the ball better and improve the accuracy and speed of their passing. When the team were able to link up well they looked very dangerous and after one particularly good move down the left, Jack Chalk found his way into the ‘D’ with the ball and, despite having teammates in good positions, Chalk chose to shoot and his firm flick found the backboard with ease. During the rest of the half South were largely kept at bay by Wisbech who, to their credit, didn’t bat an eyelid at being 4-0 down and kept trying to play positive hockey throughout the game. South failed to excel for much of the second half, with the only significant highlight being Russell Johnson’s excellent second goal. After saving an initial shot the keeper found himself on the deck with Johnson looming over him with the ball on his stick. Rather than simply lifting the ball over him, Johnson casually moved the ball away from goal and spanked it as hard as he could into the roof of the net; confident, stylish and the game’s best moment!

South failed to add to their lead and at the death Wisbech scored from a short corner; frustrating for South but probably a fair reward for the home team’s efforts.

All in all it was a good professional result for South who kept their league campaign well on track without setting the world alight. Tougher tests will surely come later in the season and when they do South will need to move the ball better to get the same success.

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73
Russell Johnson
Player of the Match

Two excellent finishes and generally a wheely good game

Bhav Virdi
Lemon of the Match

There was an incident at the far post that we are all trying to forget!