The Southerners began their 06/07 season at the site of their win from the end of the previous year. That match had been a close affair, with South coming out triumphant three-two.

First issue of the day was to chase the local ASBO-fodder from off the pitch, where they were playing football. As always, this proved quite troublesome. What finally settled it was being informed that we had booked the pitch and would go ahead and call someone if they didn’t leave. This was a bluff as it turns out, as due to a communication breakdown the pitch had been booked from 13:00-14:30 but both teams had turned up for a 14:30 start. It would be nice to think the footballers discovered this and were annoyed, but I guess it’s unlikely.

Once the game started, it settled into a pretty stretched, end-to-end pattern. South were possible creating the majority of the chances but couldn’t force the ball home. Harlow nicked a breakaway goal halfway through the first half, a familiar player from last season's games proving too nippy on the counter for the scrambling defence to catch. New recruits to the club Russell, Vicky and Sally were showing up well, especially Russ in the opening half with his driving runs from midfield.

The second half was similar to the first, with South creating many good positions, but not scoring. Gemma, Kev, Jan, Rupert were amongst the guilty parties of trying to go directly at goal in the circle, when a pull back to an unmarked player would have better suited. More patience is needed than was shown here if we want to fashion goals.

With early season lack of fitness evident from both sides, more and more players were struggling to get back and attacks in which forwards outnumbered defenders were becoming commonplace. One of these in the final five minutes sealed the game for the hosts.

This was a game that we really should have won and didn’t, which was a pity. But in general it was a good run-around with a decent turnout for one of the longer distance mixed games we play, a positive sign for the season to come.