A South side without Jim Thorpe, Eliot Read and Al Sinclair from last week's complement and also missing Leo Tomita and Nick Young from the defensive corps struggled to keep a determined St. Ives second team at bay in appalling weather conditions. The first half was played largely in torr­ential rain and the second in a howling gale which froze rather than dried and there were plenty of numb hands and legs throughout.

The game was really won and lost with only 20 minutes on the clock although the first half of this period gave no particular hint of the setbacks in store. Lukas Snetler forced a good left-foot save from the home keeper after a cross from an in-form Russell Johnson and, while Steve Parker also had to glance a shot clear, South won two early shorts and both Chris Graveling and Keith Hewitt, the latter in an unaccustomed right-back position, made assured tackles.

The match turned decisively after just 10 minutes, however, when what looked to be a mishit from a St. Ives player just inside the South D freakishly wrong-footed or unsighted four players and rolled leeringly into the back of the goal. Then two minutes later, a strike from the opposite side of the circle, which appeared to be covered all the way, unluckily deflected from a South stick and shot into the roof of the net to double the hosts' lead.

Both Johnson and Mark Pears made convincing runs round the left and right corners respectively and Hewitt again tackled well in a crisis but St. Ives, with a mixture of keen youngsters and some experienced older heads, competed fiercely for every ball. Bulldozing their way round the by-line, they won a penalty corner, from which they hit the post and gained a rebound that fell kindly with the South defence stranded and the goal conveniently exposed.

South won another brace of short corners before the half was over, with Hewitt's slip to the far post cannily intercepted and Snetler's crisp strike deflected away from danger, and both Hewitt and Johnson had good shots saved. In addition, the St. Ives keeper was rescued by his left-back when rounded by a Pears-Johnson combination, but the home side remained generally in con­trol for the remainder of the half and showed plenty of fluent pass­ing movements despite the wet going under­foot.

Appreciating the need to attack, Rob Garrett had already returned Hewitt to his normal marauding position up front, with James Cobbe filling in very capably at right back in his stead. Ron Oren dis­played his usual solidity under fire on the left and, with Graveling and Matt Readman also working hard and Parker out and across smartly to thwart St. Ives' one real breakaway, South steadied the ship in the second stanza. They also created chances for, in the first few minutes, both Graveling and Hewitt had tested the keeper, while Snetler later created space for a well-hit reverse but again could only find the pads.

Johnson's pace was always a threat up the right wing yet the home defence was unshakeable and, though South explored all avenues, led by Garrett's endless endeavour, there was no way through to goal. A couple of notable surges from Readman and some well-orchestrated triangles involving Chris Baker, Snetler and a hard-running but luckless Pears showed promise but St. Ives, who used the self-pass rule to good effect to continually harass the South midfield and defence, pressed hard to the end, urged on by a vociferous crowd. The award of their fourth short corner with five min­utes to go was celebrated with a roar of triumph, from both players and onlookers, that betokened a certain ambition. Although newly promoted and not currently in the top six, even after this victory, St. Ives look to be a well organised side and will prove difficult to overcome if they continue in this vein.

South afterwards had no complaints about the result, although there was some justified speculation as to whether things might have turned out differently had that first peculiar goal not been conced­ed.

In a group of teams jockeying for position behind Spalding at the head of the table, South have now dropped to fourth and need to regain their momentum if they are to continue their challenge for a promotion spot. Next Saturday sees a home fixture against the eponymous Nomads in the tropical verdure formerly known as Coldham's Common and it will be interesting to see how the two teams try to hack their way through the undergrowth in search of the magical points.