A late collapse by the Southerners ultimately gave this scoreline a lopsided feel to it and, though it probably accurately represents the margin between the two sides, for a good while this match was much closer than seven-one.

The opening passages saw St Ives exerting pressure, with South struggling to get the ball clear. However, South's defence of Caroline Bucknall, Jodee Davis, Rich Morgan & Jan Brynjolffssen held firm, letting only a few shots on Cassie Ragnauth in goal, to which she was well equal.

South then began to get a foothold and, though Ives maintained their territory and possession advantages, they were beginning to look slightly vulnerable on the counterattack. One such saw South come close to taking the lead when good work down the left wing by Gemma Thomas, Emma Clarke and George Bucknall drew some frantic scrambling by the St Ives keeper, costing a short corner; a good deal for him considering the probable goal that looked on. From the resulting short, Gemma flashed a shot just wide.

Unfortunately, a few minutes before half-time, South shot themselves in the foot when a breakdown of communication on our sideline hit saw St Ives played clean through two-on-one. A good driven shot and a deflection from the spare player gave Cassie no chance.

The second half opened with South hopes high, but St Ives began to work the ball around neatly and a few minutes into the half they added a second, breaking from midfield, working the overexposed defence around before sweeping home. Two more goals came in similar fashion, as South attacks were broken up, leaving the Ives midfield breaking away behind South’s. Neat passing twice worked the South rearguard out of position to give free shots to Ives forwards, and Cassie not a prayer.

The only enlivening part of this period for South was the play of Hugh Bucknall, on the left wing. Only problem was, by this point Hugh was guesting for Ives, so was giving the South defence the run around! Also worth a note was the umpiring of second half volunteer, Stu Creed. The decision-making was spot-on (the important bit, let's be fair) but the signals were all over the shop. Goals indicated by short corner signals, and such like. Confusion abounded…

With fifteen minutes remaining, South registered on the scoreboard themselves. Rupert Webb produced a driving run down the right wing and pulled a good ball back for Raph Mis. When Raph’s shot was blocked, Liz Tattersall reacted smartly to prevent the loose ball running dead, returned it back to the centre where the late arriving Rupert’s shot was half blocked. Rupert reacted to the loose ball in spectacular fashion, diving full length to force the ball home, thus nabbing the goal from arch-poacher, Wilco Dijkstra, who was lurking with intent nearby.

A couple of minutes later, South nearly pulled another back when a slipped pass by Jan gave Rupert the space to run through into the D. His shot was well struck but wide. St Ives punished the miss by scoring in their next move to make it 5-1, the finish coming from a sharp reverse stick shot from a late arriving midfielder, the best finish of the match.

At this point, South’s heads went down, and two further goals were conceded, partly due to weight of the St Ives numbers, aided by some slapstick defending.

The final whistle, when it came (instantly following the seventh Ives goal), was a relief to the South team. As with so many other teams in the club, the mixed side need to work on extending a good opening fifty-five minutes to the full seventy.