In a tenacious display that was not without its moments of controversy, South did well to restrict the normally free-scoring Spalding side to three fewer goals than their seas­onal game average but unfortunately could not put away quite enough of their chances to gain a share of the spoils.

South managed the best opportunities in the first 10 minutes as both Keith Hewitt and Chris Baker, looking sharp, had shots saved, while Matt Readman, relishing the chal­lenge at the back, tackled succinctly and Graham McCulloch showed a fine turn of speed to head off trouble in his own D. Debutant Manu Bhardwaj impressed with his calm clearances but Spalding drew first blood after 12 minutes when an obviously well-re­hearsed penalty corner routine drew the South defence en masse to the left as the ball was returned swiftly to the centre and slotted home without fuss.

South's first short, a straight drive from Hewitt, drew a looping rebound that had the other forwards piling in but weight of numbers from the defence kept it out and the action reverted to South's end as some indecision over marking left Steve Parker having to clear as Spalding bore down on him. A horrible slow-running long ball that struck a post nearly caught everyone out but, thankfully, Parker had guarded his near side and was able to spoil a golden opportunity for the visitors. A desperate clearance from the committed Hewitt, flailing his stick at the ball like a polo player on a runaway pony, rescued a nasty moment inside South's 25 before Rob Garrett made one of his many incisive central forays which ended up with Mark Pears hitting into the side board after drawing a surprised keeper further than he wanted to go and just rounding him.

Spalding then got a man clean away up the right but Parker timed the challenge per­fectly on the edge of the circle, the ball deflecting way off to his left to buy precious breathing space. A second Spalding short broke down and Eliot Read pounced on the free ball to make welcome ground upfield as South forced the visiting keeper to clear. A shot from Baker, put into position by Hewitt, and a flick from Pears which was batted down, could both have secured the equaliser but, despite further good work from Garrett and excellent interpassing from Read and the always tricky Al Sinclair, Spalding retained their narrow lead at half-time.

Matters continued evenly after the break, to the unsurprising accompaniment of yet more rain, as Hewitt had a surge, Spalding banged a right-wing cross through the D and Readman, Read and Chris Graveling combined to move the ball slickly forward at speed. A back pass that ran out of legs then put Graveling in a difficult situation and, in the rush for the loose ball, he and a Spalding player fell after becoming ent­an­gled, each believing himself to be the victim. Heated protests threatened to become unsavoury and it required all of umpire Matt Bailey's considerable powers of diplom­acy to prevent a degeneration. The two protagonists were both given five minutes to cool off but the game took on a rather more physical aspect after this that never quite abated.

South's dander was up, at any rate, and after a shot from the only short corner of the half was saved by the away keeper, Hewitt finally opened up the defence big time, slipping a neat pass through to Sinclair, who rattled it into the far corner with aplomb after 45 minutes . This only served to make Spalding redouble their efforts, however, and, though James Cobbe retained lengthy possession in left midfield with some pleasingly dainty touches, the visitors attacked from several angles and Parker was required to kick adroitly out from various parts of the D. Stretching wide, he then made an excellent save just inside his left post but Spalding had a man in close who forced it home while the defence was out of range.

Increasing use was being made of the airborne route by Spalding and they nearly got through again, Parker denying them on the byline before the play was blown up, but South resumed a measure of control through Cobbe and Garrett, while Read contin­ued to tackle hard. There was a distinct edge to the game at this point, with umpire Bailey having to re­mind both captains of their responsibilities and firmly encourage one of the more vo­ciferous Spal­ding players to take a vow of silence, and play proce­eded in robust fash­ion as each side struggled to gain an advantage. Readman, never one to shirk with the mud flying, played a blinder at the rear, tackling and clearing with grim determinati­on, while Hewitt put himself about appropriately in most areas of the field. Bhardwaj made an important challenge as last man to deny a Spalding attacker on the prowl be­fore Pears again shot into the side of the goal from a narrow angle and Garrett, always a source of hope with his threading runs, swallowed up the ground in midfield but waited just a mite too long to get the ball into the D. South tried desperately to get the ball into the danger area as the clock ticked down but Spalding successfully held them at bay to reinforce their position at the top of the table.

There was never much of a gap between the two sides on the day and either could easily have won. South can feel pleased to have largely negated the visitors' scoring threat, in particular by holding them to just three short corners, and will possibly feel they deserved at least a point as they did manufacture several scoring opportunities of their own. It was not South's strongest side - with the influential Lukas Snetler, Rus­sell Johnson and Jim Thorpe being among the absentees and Al Sinclair bravely rising from his sickbed - but the team on the day fought with considerable passion, comm­itment and no little skill. Particular praise is also due to umpires Steve Riches and Matt Bailey, who handled a difficult game with tact and skill and retained exemplary calm and objectivity after the match when Spalding rather laboured the point over a perceived earlier grievance.

At the halfway point of the schedule, South lie fourth in a tight knot of six or seven teams with very similar records. Any of these are capable of beating any other on a given day, with most of them having strong defences behind moderate firepower, so it is well nigh impossible to predict who will end up as the leading candidate to challen­ge for promotion behind favourites Spalding. South will look back on the first half and be particularly chuffed with victories over the Light Blues and Peterborough IV, dis­appointed with a draw against Nomads and still slightly bemused over defeat to an unwontedly strong St Ives second team. With commitment, availability and fitness, however, good results in the second half are not beyond them.

It would be nice, too, if someone saw fit to cart a few tons of sand off the Abbey pitch and give it a damn good haircut while they're at it. Oh, and a few thousand more lux on the floodlights wouldn't go amiss either.