After a two weekends without matches, the Ladies Firsts were raring to go for the late pushback against Spalding 2s. Well, almost - with a certain ageing forward complaining about a hangover (from one glass of

wine) at 3.30 in the afternoon. The game started brightly, with South holding onto most of the possession for the first twenty minutes, and with several strong attacks leading to two coming off the post in five minutes with our forward trio of Hug, Hurford and Baker looking dangerous and constantly causing problems for the Spalding defence.

They were supported by an industrious midfield combination of Dee, Dent, Penfold and Beasley, who kept the pressure on and the action in the opposition half. Spalding made a couple of breaks but the defence of Raffan, Benedikz and Cantwell held fast - Lou ‘the flying lemon’

Tonkin making two dramatic saves to keep the score-line favourable.

The goal was coming, and the patience paid off. The move starting with a classic mazy run from Beasley confounding the defence, a lay off to Hug allowed her to unleash one of the blistering shots we have come to expect from the whippersnapper up front and we went into half time one nil up.

When the whistle blew for half-time, South looked inexplicably despondent - a mood which soon lifted when we realised we were ahead and frustrated at the number of near misses rather than anything actually being wrong. We didn’t come to rue the chances missed in the first half, however, and a well-worked penalty corner was put away with pinpoint accuracy for Hug’s second. Berends’ searching through balls gave the irrepressible Bex ‘Duracell Bunny’ (the Umpire’s

description) Baker opportunities to drive deep behind the opposition defence and along the backline. The third goal came as the ball was driven up the pitch by Penfold, and a sharp one-two between with Hurford gave Hug her hat-trick goal. As the game came to a close, Raffan made some storming attacking runs from deep to join the waves of attack which drew a further penalty corner. Four ricochets around the D sent the ball to Beasley on the post who tapped it past the keeper to seal the result. A great performance from the South team, bolstered by fantastic support (of all-ages) from the sidelines. Only disappointment was that Hug never got her hat-trick round in at the pub.