Sometimes a three month schedule is used for availability by the very organised captains. At a minimum, notice that you can't play a game is usually given several days in advance. Most of our players for the Perse Staff game adhered to this, and the early-evening start found South already short on players for various reasons (some more reasonable than others). So it was that at 5.45pm, when a message from Owen circulated the group: "Guys, I think I'm going to struggle to make the game," we found ourselves without any subs. Somehow, he'd managed to end up in Ipswich with just fifteen minutes to go before the game.

Arriving at the Perse Upper School, we quickly realised that an open day was taking place, with the car park completely full. This also meant that the staff part of the Perse Staff team were mostly otherwise engaged. Whilst we were relieved not to have to play against the ex-England international, Glenn Kirkham, Ali was quick to note that the team looked a lot like their U18 squad who'd knocked him out for injury in the first place. They were also down to just a single umpire for the game.

Our captain, Nev, was one of those with prior engagements, so we organised ourselves roughly into a formation, with plans to rotate if things weren't quite working. We started well, with the back pairing of Ali and Alex mopping up most of their attacks. As time went on, their more experienced staff players controlled the pitch from their half and sent penetrating balls to their younger, quicker players up front. When these weren't cut out, we suddenly found ourselves under pressure and a couple of these breaks soon led to goals for the Perse team. In one particularly surprising moment, a fast passage of play sent the ball to a Perse player near the middle, who sent it goal-bound from just outside the D (or so it appeared to closer eyes). However, with only one umpire in the far end, it was given as a goal and South set themselves back up. A little bit of cohesion and some better attacking play saw the ball switched round the back, down the boards to Jim, who made a driving run to the corner and pulled the ball back to Ollie on the P-spot, who slotted it home. Sadly, a small lift on Jim's final pass saw the goal disallowed before we could start celebrating.

Half time came with us four goals down, but not dispirited. The lack of subs meant we were all blowing hard (and Alex mused whether Ali had spent his time out overdoing the sun in Benidorm instead of injured). However, the team talk focused on communication and tighter work on the press, with the middle player cutting out the long balls. We restarted with a greater focus and much better control of the game. Alex and Ali were both vocal at the back, with James and Ollie probing their defense, and Jim dominating the midfield. Some good switching of the ball and our press only allowing them the back corners meant the sides were more even. They scored two more good goals from open play and a short corner, but even with our tiring legs, we didn't let them go unanswered. A similar movement to the first half once again meant the ball ended up on Jim's stick, pulled into the D and deflected home by Ollie. The second half ended up two-one, and felt like a fairer reflection on the team. We left the pitch tired, but gelling better and looking forward to the Finals tournament next week.