South followed up last weeks's comfortable victory over City of Peterborough V with an assured performance against Market Deeping II to take three points and head Division 3NW after the first two rounds of matches.

A well-balanced South side immediately created chances and the Deeping keeper, who saw plenty of action throughout, was twice called upon in the first five minutes, beating down a shot following a giveaway to the predatory Mark Pears and then blocking Russell Johnson on the doorstep. HMS Jim Thorpe made light of the gale-force conditions, sailing ahead in full billow, while Rob Garrett repeatedly troubled the home defence, once cutting back from the right to test the keeper and give Johnson a rebound opportunity which went just wide. Close stick control and a slick through pass from the classy Chris Baker again forced Deeping's last man to be proactive on the edge of the D, but he was finally stranded when a short corner won after Baker's later mazy dribble was slipped to the left for Pears to flick high into the net.

The visitors doubled their lead after 20 minutes when Thorpe, who had earlier artfully allowed a direct pass through his legs to feed South's waiting left wing, drove the ball imperiously upfield, where Pears collected on the reverse, tipped round the marooned defender and waited for the psychological moment before sliding home a very neat goal as the keeper was forced to commit.

Chris Graveling, mixing the robustly physical and the delicately aesthetic, picked off the few Deeping attacks with aplomb, aided by the always solid Leo Tomita and Nick Young, whilst providing swift feed to the midfield and wings. As the half drew to a close, Deeping marked the South right more closely but there was plenty of firepower elsewhere and both Lukas Snetler and Eliot Read, who worked hard and unselfishly, had efforts that narrowly missed or were saved. Three minutes before the break, following South's fourth short corner, Johnson hit the post after the ball had ping-ponged mercilessly round the D and Baker was on hand, as so often, to ram the ball without ceremony into the middle of the goal.

Deeping started the second half vigorously, forcing Young into an excellent diving tackle and allowing Tomita to demonstrate how to floor an attacker without doing anything (terribly) illegal. Garrett wisely tracked back to help out, Thorpe extricated himself from a couple of hassles and the ubiquitous Graveling won some space with his magnetic-ball-on-a-stick circling trick. Gradually, the initiative was regained as South began to call, and deliver, the shots again. Chances fell to Pears, Johnson and the busy Snetler but these were all stopped, and when the keeper was eventually rounded by Pears, a Deeping duo were back on the line to shepherd the ball away.

The home side had their first real opportunity after 53 minutes, when a good run by their persistent right-winger set up a striker in the D, but the lifted shot flew wide. Immediately afterwards, South countered with their sixth short, a neat slip to the right which was crossed back for the tea-cosied Sanjay Agarwala to fire home via a slight defensive deflection. Agarwala was then the prime mover in a sequence which ended with a Snetler reverse being blocked, a moment of déjà vu coming a minute later after another penalty corner.

Deeping then broke dangerously free up front in their best move of the match but Steve Parker timed his tackle to perfection, advancing to the edge of the D and robbing the lone attacker with customary prestidigitatory skill. The hosts, thus encouraged, exerted more pressure but South coped well, with Young and Garrett making precise interceptions and Agarwala pumping hard out of defence. Tomita also brought off a big stop and, after Graveling had seen his flicked short blocked, Sir Thorpe calmly rescued a late giveaway and Snapper Read raced in like a ferret to make two late tackles and earn the shut-out.

This will by no means be the strongest team that South have to face - next week's opponents, Wisbech II, are traditionally awkward opponents and have had two decent wins so far as well - but in terms of developing team cohesion and a systematic approach, Saturday was a further valuable step on the road.