Cambridge South 2nd XI, proudly sponsored by PWC, hosted St. Neots 3rd XI at the Leys for a match that had the potential for a very important three points. The division between the upper and lower half of the league table has been stretching.

After the first whistle, the St. Neots squad left the blocks quicker than the home team. For the first fifteen minutes, St. Neots moved the ball intelligently with their midfield and created good pressure in South’s half. Some loose marking during this stage of play made for a few heart in the mouth moments that led to scrambles in the D to clear the ball.

South’s first real opportunity was after a short corner was awarded halfway through the first half. The ball was stopped effectively from push-out and Kev Rowland took a shot that bamboozled the goalkeeper, coming off his right leg and into the goal. The plan at this stage was to keep this lead until halftime or build on it. However, quick build-up play by St. Neots led to the ball being played into South’s D, where two forwards were waiting unmarked. This left ‘keeper Lino Di Lorenzo exposed and resulted in a relatively easy goal. South pushed hard before halftime to regain the advantage. However, the second half began at one all.

Having raised their game in the last twenty minutes of the first half, South consolidated their dominance in the second half. Finn Johnson looked comfortable in central midfield with Gareth Hebron, working together to create play across the park, using the wide players who were consistently finding space. Matt Kern, making a welcome return, drove the ball effectively up the right wing linking with the forwards well. Colin Singleton’s fitness and tenacity as always was impressive, with well considered and accurate passing, contributing to the greater South possession of the ball. Dave Stock showed his all round skills, involved with the build-ups and ensuring that he was there in a defensive role, pushing their wide player into stifled play.

South’s second short corner of the match was slipped right by Kev to Rob Barton with hunger for goals in his eyes, he looked up for a pass across the goal to waiting attackers, however he intelligently sized up the situation in a second, took the ball round a player and shot at the gap he noted a millisecond earlier. Great finish to put South up 2-1. Rob consolidated his form later in the half, finishing off a flowing end-to-end move that began when right at the back when Lino kicked clear to right-back Jan Brynjolffssen. Jan passed down the wing to Matt, who drove the ball forward before making an accurate pass to Rob, in space high on the left side of the circle. It could only mean one thing…a reverse stick sweep, which took flight catching the keeper by surprise, into top right of the goal. 3-1 South.

St Neots pushed hard with counter attacks but with the South defence, being organised well by Ron Oren the marking looked increasingly disciplined. The tackles by Jan, George Wych and Andy Passmore just in front off and in the D looked clean, composed and skilful greatly frustrating the visiting side. Any lesser skills would have led to many short corners being conceded. These were few and notably well defended by the back 5. Lino quickly hitting the deck during one to make great save with his stick at the right post, and Jan stopping a shot with his stick just in front of the corner injector, who was waiting to turned it into the goal.

South’s final goal started with an accurate clearance from Andy down the left wing into acres of unguarded space. Finn chased hard to retrieve the ball before it went dead, took the ball to the outside of the D put in a pacey cross to a waiting Kev who got the ball under control and quickly swept the ball inside the left post left exposed by the keeper.

4-1 South, who were the far better team on the day, especially the partnership of Kev and Rob up front, which worked well. Captain Kev Rowland was delighted with the team performance today “every member of the team looked good out there today, they played with composure and intelligence in their own roles and as team. Playing like that and finishing in the D really showed what the 2nd XI can do”