Cambridge South Men’s 4ths, sponsored by PwC, obtained three points in their first ever competitive fixture, against opposition who will probably be near the promotion places come April. Spalding 4ths had come into the game with the following record, champions of 7NW in 2005-06, only relegated on the final day from 6NW in 2006-07. So this was a really fine win…

Opening day had brought with it it’s usual problems with convincing players away from their summer Saturday activities. Only a day before the game, South were on ~9, with double-ups looking like they would be needed to be used to fulfil the game. Re-arrangements of domestic/child care issues had eventually provided 11, and then when the Men’s 2nds opposition cancelled their game, some quick re-jigging of Umpiring assignments provided two subs. Even with all these unearthed resources, 4th team skipper James Raikes was still needed by the 3rds to make sure they had 11 to start their game, and with vice-captain John Sharp unavailable, it was left to Jan Brynjolffssen to lead the team on the field. Before leaving to play 3rds, James was on the touchline for a good proportion of the match, from where he directed his men and gave encouragement in the style of a WWI General, i.e. a nice safe distance from the trenches!

South had opened the game looking the more cohesive of the two sides, and soon took the lead. Rupert Espley, making his debut for the club, had began the match at left-wing. However for the goal he popped up on the right, taking a pass from another debutant Shahzad Ali, driving to the byline and pulling a ball sharply back for Jan, arriving late in the right-channel from his central-midfield position (no, really, that is where James had put me!). Jan flicked off an instant shot on receiving the ball, and watched in delight (and some surprise) as it flashed inch perfectly into the far corner of the net. You could have got good odds on Jan as the first South male to score a competitive goal this campaign, what with a career strike rate of below a goal per season (OK, enough already, but I enjoyed it!)

The match then settled into an evenly contested affair. South were having more of the territory and possession, and making the better chances, but each of these measures was probably only marginally in their favour. South’s starting back four had contained two more club debutants, Rich Bowman and George Wych, alongside more seasoned campaigners Matt Kern and Ky Ho. They were combining well to frustrate the young opposition forwards, with some solid tackling.

After a period of scoreline equilibrium, the last ten minutes of the first half produced a flurry of goals. South doubled their advantage when Tim Clapp made a coruscating run down the right flank. He reached the circle, and put a dangerous ball across the face of goal, which Rupert turned home on the stretch. Spalding responded by showing they also knew how to exploit the right-flank, a neat run outflanking the defence, with the ball pulled back and then swept goalwards, going through a ruck of players to leave South ‘keeper Jon Price unsighted. Almost from the push-back, South restored their two goal cushion. George, at left-back, made a couple of impressive jab tackles to drive thirty yards up his touchline. He shifted the ball infield to Joe Williamson, who picked out that club chairman Kevin Pride (playing at centre-forward, James really is the master of tactical innovation!) had moved off his man and was clean through. Kev’s shot seemed to be heading just wide, until the Spalding ‘keeper caught the ball with his heel, dragging it inside the post. Kev then doubled his tally with a more trademark goal, from a short. His first shot had been blocked, with Kev winning the loose ball and knocking it square to Jan. Jan considered a shot, saw the defender was committed to blocking that, so rolled a return square pass to Kev that gave him the space for a first time strike into the net.

With that, the teams turned around. Spalding came out fighting, still believing they could win. South were having trouble keeping the ball in forward areas, and with the side seemingly inviting pressure, it was perhaps inevitable that a string of shorts would be given away. One of these had produced an almighty goalmouth scramble, with only the tigerish play from the defenders on the line stopping it being forced home. But it was only a matter of time, and finally after approximately five shorts against in two minutes, a loose ball found it’s way onto the stick of an unmarked striker, five yards out, who swept home.

With the lead down to only two, the next goal in the match was going to be the defining one, and Spalding must have thought they had fashioned it with fifteen minutes left, when they unpicked the South rearguard with some quick interpassing. The move finished with their centre-forward sweeping goalwards from the penalty spot, which produced an outstanding, match-winning, diving save from Jon, not only blocking the shot, but also turning the ball away from the danger area and out for a long corner. As time ticked down, Spalding were throwing men forward, which required the South midfield to chase back hard to cover, an attitude that David Bridge exemplified with three lung-busting fifty yard chases of a player half his age, all within five minutes.

South exploited the defensive gaps that had necessarily been left by their visitors with five minutes to go. A quick counter saw the ball worked into the circle, with Tom Rosselli sweeping home neatly for South’s fifth. The importance of this score was obvious within thirty seconds, as a ricochet in the South circle finally dropped for Spalding, and they had brought it back to 5-3. But with less than five minutes to play, South were able to see out time comfortably for the points.

Stand-in skipper Jan made no comment after the match, as he had to rush straight off to Umpiring duties. But as he sat in the traffic chaos that always greats the opening of a Uni term, he may have been thinking something along the lines of, “We were made to work hard for that, but I feel the score was a fair reflection of the play of the two teams. Our finishing was better than Spalding’s, as was our goalkeeping, and if we finished the match blowing a bit, we had work hard previously to earn ourselves a decent lead. Having something to defend really helped.”

This was a good start to the teams existance…