The new Cambridge South 2nds' approach of arriving early for the match with plenty of substitutes, allowing ample time to warm up and practice set piece routines, seemed to pay dividends from the start. Perhaps Alford should be excused some lethargy as some were recovering from a heavy evening and little sleep, but Cambridge were quickly into the game with good moves prompted often by the industrious Stuart Creed at right midfield, and wings Greaves and Lewis. We were rewarded after sixteen minutes as James Bridge used all his prodigious reach to thread the ball precisely to Lewis, close to the opposition D, for the latter to thump an unstoppable shot past a bemused Alford keeper.

Lewis was unlucky not to bag a brace as the umpire spotted an apparent foul shortly before another rasper hit the net after a Greaves run and cross. We seem to be good at disallowed goals - luckily we are developing the habit of scoring real ones too. Shortly after the goal the von Fleck masterplan was revealed in its glory as ALL the substitutes came on at once. It was just like an England football friendly - and we are quite good at kicking the ball too. Throughout the half we were buttressed by the solid defence led as ever by Dan Talmage at centre back, with notable support from the flamboyant Devereux. Indeed, Alford had no proper chances throughout the game, in spite of us conceding a worrying number of short corners.

The second half belonged to Cambridge South as we found ever increasing space, although we still avoided the simple early pass, preferring the glorious dribble ("To draw the opposition") often straight towards teammates. Nevertheless Creed, Greaves, Lewis, and Bridge (J) had plentiful possession and got into dangerous positions, only for the final pass or shot to elude us. Greaves narrowly missed from an angled Devereux cross and we had a number of short corners, from which Lewis particularly nearly scored a couple.

The spell was broken by super-sub Rob Barton, who made an immediate impact midway through the half with his dominating presence rampaging around the front line. This paid dividends when Creed split the defence with a neat pass to the joyous Barton, who tonked (a technical term) the ball in without ceremony for his first goal for the club. Soon after that Creed was able to contribute from his medical knowledge by advising a slightly injured Alford player, who happened to be among their best, that he should rest awhile on the sidelines to avoid exacerbating matters. Cunning.

The third and final goal was almost a repeat of the second as Barton, by now well into the groove, received the ball from Devereux and defeated the keeper from distance, although said keeper made a valiant attempt to stop the ball, and allow the loitering Greaves to pick up the pieces from close in. Sadly the ball was already over the line and Barton was able to claim a richly justified score. This was the final meaningful action of the game and Cambridge ran out worthy winners to maintain their promotion chasing position near the top of the table.

In conclusion, an excellent game played in the best spirit with Cambridge South getting nicely in to the winning habit.