Cambridge South 2nds, sponsored by PwC, made it four consecutive league wins against a St Neots side struggling at the wrong end of the table.

An away win hadn’t looked likely in the opening fifteen minutes as St Neots dominated territory and possession. With the ball spending far too much time in the South D, that a goal came was not surprising, though when it came it was very soft. A runner was allowed into the circle due to some ineffectual tackling, and from the top he hit a bobbling shot through a crowd that crept in under keeper Tim Poole's pads.

South can be thankful that it was only one goal they conceeded, especially as St Neots had forced half a dozen short corners. However, none of this produced a shot on goal, which paved the way for a sucker-punch equaliser for South. We won our first short of the match when an attack down the right produced some panic in the home defence, with one defender knocking the ball directly onto his teammates boot. The routine was very smooth, Suk Pannu with a fast inject, Andy Lewis receiving and firing into the far corner.

This goal seemed to wake South up and deflated St Neots, and the game was now far more even. St Neots still had a lot of the ball and won another few shorts, but it was South creating any clear cut scoring opportunities going. One move down the right wing saw a ball pulled back across the D for left-winger Finn Johnson, whose rising shot was beaten away by the home goalie.

Early in the second half, South scored what was to prove the decisive goal of the match. Samin Ishtiaq broke down his right flank and crossed for centre-forward Tom Gowing to sweep a ball home at the near post.

Being behind, St Neots were forced to push some of their stronger players higher up the pitch. This gave them a greater attacking threat but left gaps in their rearguard for South to exploit in swift counter-attacks. South used this space to extend their lead, when the home goalkeeper saved Tom's shot only for the ball to run free to Finn, who smacked the ball home via the far post.

St Neots were now getting increasingly desperate, with their main attacking threat being dribbles up the middle. South's central midfield pairing of Suk and Simon Harper were working back nicely, and the man-markers Sam Lansdell, Steve Lane and Ron Oren were doing a great job, severely limiting St Neots's passing options. As the dribbles were starting from centre-back and such places, even the forwards Tom and Andy were in on the defensive act. On a few of occasions a man did manage to carry the ball as far as the South 25, but there they were meet by sweeper Jan Brynjolffsen and no run was allowed to progress all the way into the D for a shot.

South were still creating chances at the other end, including an undercut from Finn which just whistled above the angle of post and bar, and the game was made safe inside the last ten minutes when a goalmouth scramble saw Tom slip a shot under the keeper, which also somehow evaded the defender covering on the goal-line.

Like London busses, you wait months (years) for a win outside Cambridge, and then two come along in succession. The performance was good after the first fifteen minutes wobble, and for all St Neots possession and post game talk of the final score being a steal, they only managed one shot on target in the entire match! This shows the value of defending as a team. And as the St Neots umpire said "Your finishing was better than theirs." A lot better. Well played everyone.