It was a day of frustration all round for South, whose ranks were depleted by the absence of Messrs. Hewitt, Snetler, Thorpe et al. (Sinclair, that is) and who were further discomposed by the late arrival of James Cobbe and Russell Johnson thanks to untimely congestion on that matchless paragon of East-West quantum teleportation known as the A14.

Skipper Rob Garrett won a ten-minute concession on starting time and Ian Glover nobly stepped into the breach despite not being 100% fit, so South were able to begin with a complement that was full if not the one originally selected. Initial signs were reasonably promising, with Garrett himself and Baker feeding well off each other and attacking the Rutland D, and South soon won a short corner which was slipped, neatly returned by Chris Graveling but then deflected for a long. However, Rutland, taking a more direct route than the University last week, had already got round the back to fire across the goal once and soon found the penalty spot again, where Nick Young and Leo Tomita were on hand to stop and clear. The visitors did not have long to wait for their reward, though, as their first penalty corner, a direct strike from an opposite-side injection, was unluckily tipped in off a South stick after nine minutes.

South tried hard to build moves sensibly from the back but were repeatedly frustrated by a mobile Rutland midfield that squeezed the wings and allowed little more space in the middle. Richard Morgan and Eliot Read made the best of a cloying, sandy patch up the right and Read had a shot at goal deflected after Garrett's effort had seen the keeper miskick. Graveling, Garrett and Readman all made important reverse tackles as Rutland moved quickly forward but the visitors had the knack of getting a man clear of the defence while South's approaches through enemy lines tended to fizzle out when confronted at the edge of the D. Eventually, though, a slightly more promising shape emerged, leading to a good run round the back by Garrett, after Graveling had set Read up for the pass, and a forceful drive through by Baker, who saw the ball just run away from him. A five-minute spell of pressure from Rutland, in which Tomita made a crucial late save on two free men and Graveling tackled decisively as Young shadowed, was followed by the visitors' second short, smartly cleared by Graveling to Cobbe. Cobbe neatly fed Pears running forward but the latter lacked support and further probes by Baker, Pears and Cobbe in the Rutland 25 all foundered before threatening the danger zone.

Garrett's chin then had the misfortune of crossing paths with a Rutland stick, ruling him out of the rest of the match, so Glover was once more called into the fray as South tried to stabilise in the five minutes before half-time. Rutland stepped up a gear, winning a third short, but a firm strike met a textbook stop from keeper Steve Parker followed by a cool clearance from Graveling on the pads. Parker then made an important save on his right post, reacting quickly to get a reflex stick on an attempted lifted tip-in from a swift through ball.

The break gave South a chance to regroup, with coach David Grammer emphasising the need for width, short passes and quick movement and, indeed, confident work round the back from Tomita, Matt Readman and Cobbe suggested sensible commitment to possession. But Rutland continued to keep men high and the defence came under increasing pressure despite individual forays from Pears and Glover. Parker made another excellent save on his right post after a slick incursion into the D and then blocked a well-struck short corner but he and Graveling, attempting to clear, were overwhelmed by numbers as the ball was despatched to double South's deficit after 46 minutes.

Rutland had let slip an identical lead against Spalding last week but were clearly in no mood to re­peat the feat, ramming the foot to the floorboards and breaking free at the edge of the D, where they were again stonewalled by a great tackle from Parker, who then recovered, retreated and saved once more with his stick. Graveling was almost immediately adjudged to have fouled outside the D, giving Rutland another short corner opportunity, but the defence were now beginning to read the injector's deceptive timing and Parker dived agilely to his right to block a first-time shot.

Despite best efforts, South continued to have difficulty in clearing their 25 and Pears, lurking high to get on the end of a route-one breakout, had his work cut out to see much of the ball. Two fine reverse interceptions and tackles in extremis from Readman and an equally solid series of blocks from Tomita kept the immediate threat at bay but Rutland exploited their art of winning penalty corners to suffocate any concerted drive forward. Parker was in action with his blocker for the seventh, Tomita clearing, before the eighth was turned into a counter-attack with several good cross-field moves. Morgan, who had remained steady under constant scrutiny, then set up Johnson to hare round the back of the visiting defence and South finally won a trio of set-pieces for themselves. A flick from Baker after a slip to the right looked promising but hit a Rutland body and South's fourth and final short was sticked away by the keeper from a Pears effort.

From then on, it was more Rutland shorts punctuated by brief intervals of open play, the notable interventions being made by Parker, twice saving big hits, along with Graveling and Young, who unfussily tidied up awkward stuff coming into the D.

This was a game that South never particularly looked like winning, hamstrung as they were by the loss of their chief playmaker with less than half the game gone and perhaps a little short of power in the engine-room, but they should take credit for a stout defensive display, both in general and at the set-piece. The visitors fluffed only two of their twelve penalty corner attempts but their conversion rate was low, reflecting good goalkeeping and disciplined clearance strategies. There was a pleasing absence of panic, despite the fact that Rutland made it very difficult to get any regular ball beyond the halfway line, and South worked hard enough to ensure they kept themselves in the game until very nearly the end.

Stiff challenges lie ahead, however, and South know that they need to field their best side on a regular basis to make serious headway in what is again shaping up to be a closely-contested division.