Cambridge South 2nds, sponsored by PwC, made the short trip up the A14 to fight out a scrappy, fiercely contested draw with St. Ives 4ths.

South came into the match eager to get their league campaign proper going, after last weeks opposition failed to fulfil the fixture. This desire was soon evident from vice-captain Gareth Hebbron, who took it a bit far in conversing with the Umpire, which earned him a stern talking to and a green card. A somewhat fractious tone was set for the first half, as inside the opening ten minutes a St. Ives defender had also been greened for chirping away at the Umpires, who made it clear they were not going to entertain such nonsense. In the midst of all the ‘debate’ some hockey was played, with South fashioning a good chance when Colin Singleton made a great run to be unmarked in the circle, Rob Barton found him with a good cross from the left flank, but the St. Ives ‘keeper was equal to Colin’s shot.

South were not playing to the level they would wish during the opening half, with the ball speed being poor compounded by players waiting on passes instead of coming to get them. Also there was slack marking in both defence and central midfield seeing players free. They faults were punished from a short corner awarded with only seconds left in the half. Before it could be taken, time expired, allowing the hosts to push up their entire team, and eventually the South defence were outmanoeuvred by sheer weight of numbers with a player flicking home easily from a yard.

South came out better in the second half. The defence and midfield were much more tigerish in their marking, and the passing was sharper. An equalised was fashion from a move down the right involving Samin Ishtiaq and Matt Kern. Tristen Knight’s initial shot was saved by the ‘keeper, but the ball ran free and was eventually forced home by former Saint Rob Barton, who seemed happy to have scored against his old teammates.

It was South who came closest to winning the match, with two very near things. First a sweeping counter-attack after a Saints short corner had broken down finished with Tristen rounding the ‘keeper, only to have the ball whipped off his stick before he could roll it into the open net, by a defender who had sprinted the length of the field to make the tackle. Even closer was a Rob shot from close range than hit the post and rolled away from the South players following up.

Skipper Kevin Rowland was pleased with the will to win of his side, commenting "We were slow out the blocks in the first half and played with much more confidence in the second. After we equalised there wasn't a man in the squad who was prepared to settle for draw, everybody wanted a win and worked flat out for it. A fabulous mental attitude was shown by the whole team."