Firstly, it was nice to see Boris not only enjoyed playing in goal, but wanted a photo of himself in full kit at the end of the game to show his mum in Oz!

The match started in dusky conditions with the sun just going off the horizon (the author of this report clearly has ambitions of writing a book at some point when he retires from hockey) and South started confidently, but soon enough Ely won a short corner and went 1:0 up. South then had a few chances of their own, but not being able to put them away. David Doupe's shots always seemed to be just wide of the post and Rob Barton was too well marked to be able to get his shots away.

South went 2:0 down after a quickly taken free hit just outside the D caught everyone off-guard. The flood lights then started playing up, but the teams decided to continue 'til half time and re-assess. A miss-hit by an Ely player was deflected past Boris for a 3rd. In darkness, South finished the last 5 minutes the better side.

The half time team talk was all about defending further up and not allowing certain players to induce more short corners and this was effective with Shahbaz doing a disciplined job on the right winger. The tighter midfield was winning more of the ball. First goal came from a David Doupe shot deflected in by Ian Evans, 3:1. The second goal came from a David Doupe shot deflected in by Shahzad Ali 3:2 and the third goal was a David Doupe shot that went into the goal directly 3:3. It does seem that future team tactics should include 2 wide players, one each side angling their sticks at goal when David D takes a strike.

It was a good second half team performance despite some distractions.