The Cambridgeshire ladies season got off to an early start this year with the first cup games this week. The ladies 1s visited Newmarket to play their first team who came down from the East league at the end of last season. Newmarket stamped their dominance on the game early on with a goal within 5 minutes and more to follow. The South team included many new faces with just 4 players returning from last season, and the lack of match play over the summer and of any history of playing together really told. Despite this, the South players worked incredibly hard, put in some good passing moves and maintained commendable cool under pressure.

Our goal came from a great multi-player passing move which to put pressure on the opposition circle, leading to a short corner. Some quick thinking and sharp reflexes got the ball moving around the D with South African newbie Lauren slotting the ball in from the near post. Great performances came from Lindsey in defence, and Alice and Lyn who maintained pressure up front despite being tightly marked throughout. But our man of the match award goes jointly to new-to-the-club players Ali Graham in goal (she kept a lot more out than went in!), Lauren (what a shame she’s not here all season) and Laura (Duracell-like endurance led to a commendable tenaciousness in midfield). There’s lots of work to do and a couple of weeks before we get some old faces back, but South can be confident of improvement this year!