Cambridge South 2nds, sponsored by PwC, put up a decent performance but were ultimately outclassed by a strong Ely side in this friendly match.

South began in sprightly fashion, moving the ball around nicely and exerting some pressure on the Ely backline. However, it was the visitors who were the first to make a mark on the scoresheet, from their opening short corner of the match. A straight strike took a deflection of Ron Oren’s stick as he chased out to block, which wrong-footed Dave Monck by the left post, the ball sneaking into a tiny gap.

South responded well to this set-back, continued to play their hockey and were level not long afterwards from their own opening short of the game. Dave M’s clean first-time strike was well saved by the Ely ‘keeper, only for Colin Singleton to react faster than the defence to loose ball, allowing him to sweep home. A few minutes later Colin came mightily close to giving South the lead. Gareth Hebbron went on a meandering run that began on the right wing and ended in the circle in the left channel. A shot didn’t seem to be coming until Col picked the ball off Gareth’s stick with a fizzing undercut that was heading for the top corner of the net until the Ely ‘keeper matched the quality of the shot with an equally good pad save to turn it over the bar.

South seemed to run out of steam in the last ten minutes of the first half. The passing suddenly lacked snap and was getting intercepted easily, and also the defence's marking was beginning to get sloppy. Ely took the lead when they exploited a large hole down South's right flank for a quick counter-attack. The initial shot was well saved by South ‘keeper Lino Di Lorenzo, but with the defence scrambling, Ely regained possession and put another attempt on the net. This looked like being cleared by Dave M on the goalline, only for Ron and Lino to also make desperate attempts to stop it, with the three South players all putting each other off and the ball apologetically finding the backboard.

Within a minute it was 3-1, as Ely’s pacy right winger went all the way around the outside of the South defence. Once again, Lino and the defenders managed to stop the original penetration but without getting the ball clear of the circle, and another secondary shot found the backboard with the help of a deflection. As if all this wasn’t bad enough, the dodgy period continued after the interval, with Ely’s fourth goal possibly the softest of the lot. A simple ball into the circle found a midfielder who had been allowed to make a twenty yard run forwards completely unmarked, and he had a simple task of scoring past an exposed Lino.

When in possession, South kept pressing managed to keep Ely honest, producing a few scares for the visitors throughout the second period. The closest to adding to the scoresheet was when skipper Kevin Rowland reacted quickest to a loose ball rolling across the circle, but his shot on the stretch was blocked by the ‘keepers pads.

Ely added two further goals from competant short corner routines during the second-half to give the scoreline it’s final complexion. The margin was a little harsh on South who had competed effectively throughout with an Ely side that play their league games one division higher. However the margin also demonstrated the value of sharp finishing, and of upgrading to shorts when you have a routine that you can rely on. An instructive experience, and a useful workout for the side. Overall a much better performance than last saturday, despite the respective final scores. Bring on the league games!

Skipper Kev's post mathc commet was, "We matched the level of hockey played by Ely, a league above us, in the first half and the last half of the second, but they took the advantage when we came off the boil. The score line wasn't important at the end of the day, that everyone worked really hard and played well to get back to league hockey pace was. I'm looking forward to the trip to Bourne knowing that the team are ready to restart the league with good hockey and confidence"