After a week's enforced rest, South came back strongly from three successive defeats to record a pleasing victory over opponents who had ambushed them 3-0 before Christmas. The scoreline meant that St Ives, instead of pulling up to within two points of South as they would have hoped, are now eight points behind, with South additionally having a game in hand.

South made their intentions plain from the start, with Chris Graveling in overwhelmingly solid form at the back and Al Sinclair forging into the St Ives D with typical directness, and this positive appr­oach was rewarded when Keith Hewitt, following up from his own blocked short-corner strike, mercilessly roofed the ball to put South in the lead after 3 minutes. St Ives, as ever vocal between themselves, and some punctilious umpiring which saw Sinclair penalised 10 yards for raising a questioning eye­brow contributed to a feverish atmosphere and it all began to look a bit chaotic as the visitors won three penalty corners in quick succession. Fierce tackling from Matt Readman and Lukas Snetler, a hit wide and the disallowance of a goal from a horrible bobbler all kept the slate clean, however, and after Steve Parker had saved to leave Graveling a clearance, South could at last breathe a little more easily. St Ives' practice of keeping a couple of loud and energetic forwards high meant the defence could never entirely relax, though, and the presence of Maj-Gen Thorpe, with his powerful arti­llery and parade-ground staunchness, was perpetually reassuring whenever a calm interception or pragmatic clearance was required.

Russell Johnson and Mark Pears worked a nice one-two in the top right-hand corner to create an opening but the visitors' keeper got down well at the edge of the D and then recovered to deny the follow-up. Play see-sawed at this stage, with Graveling and Readman having to stay low and mean in the tackle, and South had a let-off as a long angled slip from a short narrowly beat a man running in hard on the post, who was well saved by Parker's left pad. South were swiftly away up­field, though, with Hewitt and debutant Chris Heron feeding Snetler to give Pears an opportunity. St Ives then immediately counter-attacked, leaving all but Hewitt in their wake, and the skipper earned full marks for doubling back to cut off the thrust single-handed just inside the home 25. After Pears had not quite managed to get 100% on a Johnson pass, South increaed their lead when, from their sec­ond short corner, Sinclair received a neat slip and flicked it consummately past the keeper as the defence were stranded.

Sinclair and Snetler, who showed terrific commitment to the tackle and chase, then worked some effective moves with James Cobbe, while Pears manoeuvred confidently at the top of the D, back­siding a defender before fudging a reverse. As the half drew to a close, South were spreading the ball round more coherently, with Leo Tomita threading his trademark passes through the defensive ring and Re­adman and Rich Morgan building solid progress on the right, and the lead could easily have been increased when Snetler, making use of a turnover in midfield, struck a fast riser to the keeper's right and saw it just shave the post. Cobbe and Snetler then contrived to draw a save from the keeper and South ended the first 35 minutes on top, although it was noticeable that St Ives con­tinued to hang high for the breakaway even when under pressure at the back.

A long central ball from the visitors had Snetler - recovering his breath after his marked exertions earlier - and Readman fighting hard to stem the tide early in the second half but, after Johnson had nearly intercepted a flat ball in the St Ives defence, Hewitt found himself in space and surged into the D before being halted. Heron showed his paces with a 30-yard run up the left and Johnson and Snetler interpassed rapidly, yet St Ives bided their time and, on 42 minutes, won a short corner. Parker made an excel­lent block from a crisp strike but the ball squirrelled out of reach and one of the St Ives forwards snuck through to the bye-line despite attention, finally pulling the ball back for a short pass which was tapped in with ease. A whiff of smelling salts was needed and Readman provided the necess­ary ammonia by chicaning out from the back before Snetler again ragged his way to the edge of the D with the assistance of the committed Sinclair. An end-to-end spell in which Heron was also stopped in full flight was then terminated by a barrage of short corners when St Ives upped the pr­essure. Another weighty block from Parker denied the first whilst the others were dissipated after suboptimal stops, al­though St Ives continued to buzz menacingly round the D despite clearances from Tomita and Graveling. After Parker had convincingly kicked a cross out to the side, St Ives forced in again up the back-line and, in a virtual mirror image of their first goal, they broke through for a simple centring pass which put the entire defence out of the equation and was steered home for the equal­iser.

Suddenly, it became clear that South had barely crossed the halfway line for over five minutes and, when they were again penalised 10 yards for what appeared no more than a polite enquiry, backs were to the wall, especially when a ninth penalty corner was conceded. Fortunately, Parker once more came up with the goods, making a full-length dive to divert a blistering drive away to his right, and this had the necessary effect, galvanising South to hit back with a fast whole-pitch move involving Johnson, Hewitt and Pears, successfully completed when Pears put away a slightly mishit shot which never­theless exploited the positional advantage his pace and sniper's instinct had given him. With eight minutes to go, St Ives cranked up the decibels but South had already shifted the momentum and now edged towards domination. Hewitt emerged suddenly into a clearing at the edge of the D but hesitated momentarily before a plethora of choices, then Sinclair shot at the keeper after a move prompted by Heron. At the back, Sinclair again and Graveling tricked their way out of pressure before Heron found Pears waiting upfield to hold on to possession, a lead followed by first Cobbe and then Hewitt. Finally, with two minutes on the clock, a fluid move up the inside right channel culminated in an inch-per­fect diagonal pass from Hewitt to Pears, who seized the moment and the space available to reverse a super strike and notch his twelfth league goal of the season. There were no further alarms and South held firm to complete a gratifying victory.

Despite periods of pressure from St Ives, who are a competent side with several strengths, South maintained their composure, which was most important in the ten rather febrile minutes dir­ectly after the first goal, and, when they strung passes together, they looked a real threat going forward. A staunch performance from the rotating defence completed a good all-round effort after a weather- and availability-interrupted few weeks and, with City of Peterborough IV and Rutland losing at the weekend, South gained a little ground on the top five as well as putting clear water between them­selves and St Ives. Though promotion may no longer be an entirely realistic option, the team will want to finish well and at least equal their previous best position in 3NW, fourth in 2007-8.