Cambridge South 2nds, sponsored by PwC, made the 200 mile round trip to Skegness to play Alford 2nds. Two back-to-back wins, and a decent team willing to undertake the trek, meant hopes of victory were high.

South arrived at the pitch nice and early, giving time to shake the journey up from our legs, and for an in-depth tactical discussion from skipper Kev Rowland. The whiteboard was brought all the way along, only for the team to ban it on superstitious grounds, i.e. it hadn’t appeared before the wins against Nomads or Boston so it wasn’t wanted now… This left Kev reading from his notes and sketching shapes on the wall. After a warm-up including an early candidate for Lemon of the day from Finn Johnson, who helpfully sought to return a ball the previous Ladies match had lost over the astro fencing by lobbing back, into the middle of the pitch, as the game was progressing, it was time to start.

From push-back, a lovely move saw South straight into the Alford circle. Kev in central mid rolled the ball to Jan Brynjolffssen at right-back, on to Gareth Hebbron in central mid and out to Samin Ishtiaq on the right-wing. Samin burst down the line and crossed, the home defence scrambling the ball away. Alford responded instantly as an intercepted sideline pass saw the South defence out of position, Alford's dangerous no.15 unmarked and on the ball in the circle, from where he shot against Lino Di Lorenzo’s far post, the defence clearing the rebound. A frantic opening which set the pattern for a dramatic game.

Alford were the first team to register, when no.15 set off on a dribble from outside the 25 that took him into the circle. He wound up on the reverse and hit a rising shot that Lino did well to parry down. Unfortunately the ball dropped behind the South stopper, spinning wildly and being drawn slowly into the goal. Lino’s desperate attempt to sweep away from his goalline was unsuccessful.

South’s response was instant, and well worked. James Pope picked up a ball in midfield and passed early to find Samin in acres of space on the right flank. Samin advanced to byline and pulled the ball back to the penalty spot, where centre-forward Rob Barton was lurking. Rob’s touch on the cross turned it into the far corner, and things were all-square again. The rest of the half was characterised by midfield battling, with Ron Oren at centre-back prominent in keeping the ball a safe distance away from the South goal. Alford did cut through dangerously once when a ball across the face of the goal seemed certain to be turned home, only for a brilliant last ditch effort from Colin Singleton, racing in from the left wing, denying a player on the penalty spot, with left-back Andy Passmore sweeping the scraps away to safety.

The second half was an action packed affair. The first incident of note was when Alford were unlucky to have a goal chalked off, as prior to the ball going in the Umpire had whistled to award them a penalty corner. Later in the half, exactly the same frustration would occur for South, as Finn’s scrambled goalmouth attempt would be denied, with a short awarded instead. Throughout the game, Alford were forcing numerous short corners, the final count was reckoned to be 20+. The South backline was doing a good job of restricting the number of shots these shorts produced, but the few that did get through foundered on post-men Jan and Andy, who both made goalline clearances of otherwise certain scores, Andy doing so on more than one occasion.

One of Jan’s ‘clearances’ involved a solid contact with the stick, but not enough to prevent the forward motion of the ball. It then struck his toe, and looped wildly up into the air, somehow going over the bar and ending on the roof of the net. Everyone stopped expecting a flick or at least a short to be awarded, only for the Umpire to give a long corner. An odd decision, made even more so when the Umpire explained after the incident that he had seen the ball hit both stick AND boot. All Hail the Glory of the Hypnotoad!

Even Jan’s mysterious power over Umpires couldn’t help with another Alford short soon afterwards, as once again a shot flashed in that struck his foot. This time it was further away from the line, more dubious whether the ball was on target, and also he might not have been the last men, but on balance the right decision was to award the flick. Alford’s danger man stepped up to take it, Lino gave him the eye, and he promptly scuffed the shot straight down the middle for an easy save .

Compared to Alford’s inefficient short routine, South’s looked sharp. The first they were awarded in the second period saw a neat move return to the ball back to injector James. James’ shot was half-saved, the ball running free across the goalline. Samin, on the far post, seemed certain to score, only for a last ditch tackle preventing him forcing it over the line. Chastened by this warning, Alford came on again, forced another short, and finally found reward. A clean inject and a powerful connection were too much this time for Lino and Andy, the ball squeezing its way past them both.

Time was running out for South, and the prospect of a two-and-a-quarter hour car journey after a narrow defeat was looming. This unpleasant thought spurred the visitors into ever greater efforts, with vice captain Gareth going on a mazy dribble into the circle that drew a foul and a second short of the half. This time the routine was sweetness itself, James injected, Ron stopped, Kev faked to shoot and slipped right to Rob, who drew the 'keeper and passed square for Finn, waiting on the penalty spot, to slap home.

With little more than five minutes remaining the game became even more frantic. Alford forced at least three more shorts, but couldn’t find a shot on target, whilst for South Gareth went on another coruscating run through the hosts tiring defence, getting into the circle and lifting a reverse stick flick towards the top corner that the Alford 'keeper padded away well.

Kev was pleased with his team’s efforts in the game, saying “It was a long trip to Skegness and the teams desire not to come away empty handed was shown by their hard work and commitment on the day. Particularly notable was the formidable and organised performance from the defence, proving to be serious challenge to any level of opposition, the whole team is working together well and the future is looking good”