The indoor team went into the final round of the round-robin stage of the Cambridge Men's Indoor Tournament, knowing that a victory by five goals would propel them into the top three and a shot at the big prize. The likelihood of this was low, as in the previous four games we had scored five…in total!

SOUTH welcomed two debutants into the fray against arguably the third best team in the competition; Raj Bhopal and Colin T. Raj sought advice and asked clear questions of other players about what to do. Colin introduced himself to the warm up by wearing a Saffron Walden HC shirt and upright hitting the ball as hard as he could. A long evening ahead for those from Long Road!

After Richard Hollidge had given Colin a basics of do’s and don’ts, SOUTH took to the field and set out to attack. This was where Colin made his impact on the game:

1. Booted the ball in our defensive circle – short corner; goal, Perse Staff!

2. Chopped attacker down in the circle – short corner; goal, Perse Staff!

3. Passed directly to their centre forward in our circle - goal, Perse Staff!

Colin’s main argument was that he didn’t know the rules but as can be summised from the above, you could maybe have guessed that these were bad things to attempt when playing indoor, outdoor or ice hockey!

After the handicap start, SOUTH pushed hard and pulled a goal back when Wizard swept home after a great run from Chris Pearson. Then, the unthinkable! Nev Warren took a quick free hit and thundered around the defence to lay it on a plate for a masterful finish from Colin T from two yards! The staff were clearly ruffled by the fact we were not lying down and clumsily gave away a short corner on the whistle. Alex Baekelandt switched the ball back to the injector, Nev Warren, and the captain slotted a cool finish in off the far post.

Half-time came with the score at five-three and we were still in the game.

A mention of our other debutant…Raj acquitted himself very well in his first outing. He was very strong in the tackle and his passing stayed low and on the floor, as requested. He even had a mazy run cruelly tackled as he approached the circle. Sterling effort, sir!

Matt Kenzie and Richard Hollidge put South within a goal after the first five minutes of the second period, with some quality team work and finishing that even brought a smile out of the young Archiebald! In search of the equaliser, SOUTH were sucker-punched by a quick counter and another short corner restored the two goal cushion. The captain reduced the arrears again and afterwards hit the outside of the post before two late scores were added by the hosts.

All in all, the best performance so far and we finish the season in the basement position. Play-off games to come against Saffron Walden and Nomads to see who is the Plate champion next Thursday!

Final Table