Another great effort from a new team of players unfamiliar with each other. This year the L1s can choose from a whole team of midfield players with just one committed striker and one defender starting the match this week. This didn't hold the team back in the first half, with sterling performances from Cath, Kat and Naomi in defence, a man of the match winning show of skill and tactical play from Anne sweeping in front of the defence, and some great possession play in midfield and attack. Together, that led to South dominating the game with persistent pressure within the 25 not being converted (sadly, and all too commonly for us) into actual goals. Alice's goal came from a well worked short corner routine with Lindsey feeding a great ball from right slip. In contrast, the single first half goal from Rutland trickled over the line after a lucky break. After such success, South should have dominated in the second half but the combined effect of Rutland's players moving up a gear, our team getting tired and scrappy and an impressive hattrick-scoring performance from the sole Rutland scorer meant we ended up with a score line that didn't really reflect the quality of South's play. Even so, a creditable performance against one of the best drilled teams in the league and we are confident that when our vice captain Lou returns to the back line (from Africa!) and we get a more settled team.