Vice-captain Harry had a good feeling on match day, predicting wins for the M1s, England and Scotland. Captain Stu started strongly by winning the toss. South played well and held on to territory, moving up the field smoothly with attacking runs and dynamic passing from the halves to the forwards. Crostyx’s defence held firm and prevented South from penetrating the goal. Eventually though, South won a penalty corner and a direct strike from our defender, P, ended up in the back of the goal. One-nil South.

However, Crostyx managed to score from one of their corners, leaving the game evenly poised with both teams attacking each other, which was a great spectacle for the supporters. Mariano’s younger brother even made it out to support his older brother’s team. The game did get physical and the refs had to talk to Crostyx on several occasions to tell them to settle down. However, it was a South defender who ended up being awarded a yellow card, although P was happy to take a card for Mothers’ Day the following day.

Cambridge South ultra marathon runner, Mark, suffered a calf injury and subbed himself off. At least he could sort out the pizzas at the club house at the end of the game. This saw Crostyx put pressure on Cambridge South and they managed to score another goal, South not winning the fifty-fifty calls even though they had home town advantage, to go into half-time with a two-one lead.

Team management decided during the half-time break to field twelve players to help even-up the balance on the pitch. The refs slowly found out about this tactic and promptly reminded the management that hockey was an eleven-a-side game, which included the keeper. South went down four-one at one stage of the game but managed to claw it back again by putting pressure on Crostyx and forcing them to make errors. This created another short corner opportunity; again P smashed the ball into the goal from a straight strike. Joel quickly followed suit, flicking a shot into the net to get on the score sheet for the first time for the club. South held onto possession and territory but just ran out of time to score the equaliser. Colin grabbed a late card for no apparent reason, other than being Colin.

Cambridge South played well at stages and a lot can be taken away from the game. Crostyx are in the running for promotion and South should feel proud to show that they are in amongst the front runners of the division. Three more games remain in the season, making nine points available for the taking (Jim, is this correct?)

MoM: P for scoring twice and being in the running for defender Goal King (perhaps even overall Goal King?) Mike gets a special mention for his high work rate.

LoM: Harry for his good feeling leading an atrocious forecast, especially with France beating the English. Special mention to Colin for smashing his beer in the clubhouse (he wasn’t even drunk).