In a match which never entirely shook off a slight end-of-season feel, South were easily the domin­ant side but were forced to wait until the last two minutes to break down a resolute March defence backstopped by some solid and at times inspired goalkeeping. On a rough count, South manufact­ured at least a score of reasonable and sometimes gilt-edged scoring opportunities but a combinati­on of their own profligacy and the visitors' dogged resistance drove the game to the wire.

The first 15 minutes mainly belonged to South although March, showing no obvious signs of their 9-0 thrashing at the hands of Spalding last weekend, made occasional enthusiastic forays upfield which Jim Thorpe, with a succession of well-timed interventions, neutralised with aplomb. Matt Readman and Leo Tomita also got stuck in with some typically uncompromising tackles as South gradually gained the upper hand and tested the March keeper, who saved from Lukas Snetler and Mark Pears and then slid out hard to dispossess Snetler at the edge of the circle. However, from an unthreatening position on the right, March suddenly broke free and sliced into the D, slotting away neatly after a series of defenders had been nutmegged, wrong-footed or bypassed. South kept making good progress forward but somehow never quite managed to set up a target man in the right place; skipper Keith Hewitt and Mark Pears both failed to lay a stick on passes into the danger area and Chris Baker, who otherwise got through a good volume of subtle and unflashy work, was blocked in the D and then just missed connecting with a Pears cross. A swift March break caught South's forwards labouring up front and the home side were once more indebted to Thorpe, who cut out a two-on-one as the action thickened around him. The half finished with further chances going begging as Pears was twice denied by the March keeper and Al Sinclair flicked across the face of the goal. Baker and Pears both teed up shots nicely as well but one used a putter and the other scuffed his drive so, all in all, it was a below-par first-half performance by the attack.

After the break, the same pattern persisted, with South, despite too many giveaways, continuing to create good opportunities and then being thwarted by the well-organised March defence. Pears, admittedly suffering from super-man-flu, stubbed wide when Hewitt and Baker had combined to lay the goal wide open and then Readman, jumping into the play, flicked over the bar with glory in his sights. Frustration led to some ill-advised crossfield passes that were intercepted (and immediately regret­ted with robust epithets) and March's well-built playmaker, who shielded the ball effectively, took advantage to surge forward on a number of occasions. A mazy dribble from Sinclair attracted a fair degree of lumber, leading to a trio of short corners, but these brought no relief either. Pears was blocked, Sinclair's flick was stopped by a defender and the keeper made an excellent double save to deaden Hewitt's powerful strike and palm away the rebound from Sinclair. A slip to the left post just eluded Pears, who was then beaten out on the opposite post, and Readman tried an ele­gant reverse strike which caught the keeper off his line but narrowly failed to beat him as he recov­ered well to tip it over the bar. At this stage, Thorpe's whiskers were twitching as he edged forward into the opposition half but March were having none of it and, in fact, they came more into the game themselves as Steve Parker was suddenly called upon to save a booming shot from the edge of the circle, kick decisively to the wing and sweep away with his stick to clear in timely fashion from a lone winger. March also made a mess of a clear opportunity from a jiggled short corner and South were fortunate when an unmarked forward took a wild and fruitless swipe from close range with only Parker covering. As time ticked down, South pumped away, the keeper saving two shots from the left and a defender bravely blocking a Snetler thunderer from a penalty corner but, just when it seemed as though all South's ef­forts would come to naught, a short corner routine finally paid divi­dends and a neat slip from Hew­itt via Baker released Readman who, exploiting the space perfectly, calmly picked his spot and rammed it home into the bottom corner for the long-awaited equaliser. Little further action ensued and, on South's part, there was by this time perhaps more relief at a point saved than disappointment at two lost.

Despite the consistent territorial advantage enjoyed by South, March never resorted to pure de­fence and South's rearguard of Readman and Thorpe, complemented by sensible contributions from Tomita, Ron Oren and Ian Glover, had to work hard to make sure that the visitors' lead was never incr­eased to irrecoverable proportions. Nevertheless, South should have won easily despite the as­sorted scuffs, fluffs and muffs and it is partly this lack of goal-scoring bite (10 goals in the last 7 games compared to 36 in the first 13), allied to midfield and defensive unavailabilities, that has seen them slip down the table.

Following Sunday's defeat against the University, South have two games left in which to improve their placing. They are three points behind Peterborough IV, having played a game more, and must face champions Spalding, who narrowly edged them out before Christmas, and Peterborough IV, who lost by a large margin to the University on Saturday but are a very capable side, in their final two games. Peterborough have Nomads and Rutland to play (apart from South) so South will have a tricky task to climb to fifth. It would be good to end the season with the right kind of bang.