A number of weeks after the M1s started their 2018/19 campaign, we managed to find an opposition to play against and made it onto the pitch

Jan had predicted that this game could end up with any outcome - "These two teams played a number of games last season and will do so again this, as they share Division 5NW(S). The series in ’17-’18 was perfectly balanced, with both sides winning once and the third meeting being a draw, making it hard to call who will come out on top this time around." As ever, these proved to be wise words with the overall result ending in a draw.

The combination of a 4pm away game, the start of the season, the return to cheaper holiday prices and a lot of DofE practice made putting together a team a tricky task. It also meant that once on the pitch, people needed time to bed in, remember what a hockey stick was and learn who was around them, all causing a tough start to the game, two early Bury goals and a number of advances from the mostly-unchanged Bury team.

Slowly the South ladies started to pass with more fluency, trust each other and themselves more, and feel that they had their hockey legs back. This made the second half one where the intensity of play increased by the whole team, resulting in two beautiful goals and a number of attacking plays.

Calories burnt 1300.