Men's 2nds beat Newmarket 1

Cambridge South 2nds, sponsored by PwC, needed two late goals from teenage forward Dave Stock to keep their recent winning run going on Saturday.

South had come into the game in strong form and started the match in that fashion, pinning Newmarket back. Skipper Kevin Rowland came close to giving his side the lead when he picked up the ball near the top of the circle and made space for a shot on the turn, only to see the ball just pass wide of the upright. South were causing a major fuss in the Newmarket circle whenever they got there, especially through the stick skills of Al Sinclair, but somehow the scrambles never dropped to a forward’s stick.

After the fast start, however, South appeared to relax from the fast tempo game that suits them best into the more considered pace that Newmarket wished to play the game at. With the tempo in their favour, the visitors began to boss the midfield, working the South defence around, though only a couple of direct shots from narrow angles were allowed on Jon Price’s net.

Another feature of the first half, and indeed the match, was some decision making from both umpires that surprised both teams. Not that there was any suggestion of bias from either umpiring party; they were fairness personified. In fact, as one of the Newmarket players pointed out, “They are both trying so hard to be fair that they are giving everything and anything against their own club!”. Unfortunately the behaviour of both sets of players when confronted by this somewhat let themselves down. Umpires are of course human, and can make errors. They give up their time to make sure our games can go ahead, so shouting at them when you feel they have got a decision wrong is a pretty foolish way to act (mea culpa on this one!). Even worse from a playing perspective was that players from both teams were failing to play the whistle, which led to some dangerous defensive situations for both teams as defenders stopped and attackers didn’t. South engaging in this prompted an expletive laden half-time rant from their normally laid back and super-positive sweeper Neil Sneade.

Also discussed at half-time was South bringing pace back into their game, which was generally felt to be the method by which Newmarket could be bested. Again, the start was positive, and early in the half South had a great chance to take the lead when Colin Singleton picked out Al up against the last man. Al’s control of the ball took him clean through, but his driven shot only found the foot of the post and the rebound was cleared away. At the other end, the South backline was doing a generally good job of keeping Newmarket outside the circle. On one of the few occasions when they did penetrate, a rising shot was directed towards the right corner of Jon’s net which needed an excellent volleyed stick save to keep it out.

The game entered it’s final quarter with the score still goalless (time as judged by South having made their final planned rolling sub, Kev coming on for Stephen Fleck at holding midfield), when Newmarket took the lead. Last week the South defence switched off when defending a free hit just outside their circle, leaving a player completely unmarked by a post, who promptly scored. They don’t seem to have learned from their mistake as Newmarket’s goal came from precisely the same route: a player waiting by the back post was picked out by a free-hit, and though he still had a bit to do in controlling the ball and reverse-flicking it over Jon’s despairing stick, he managed this quite neatly. To quote Benjamin Franklin, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Maybe the South defence ought to consult their psychiatrists?

In the course of the Newmarket goal, Gareth Hebbron had been clouted on the thumb, which prompted a brief hiatus to the game. Gaz left the field after commenting that “It feels all weird”, to be replaced at right midfield by Flecky, who had only grabbed the briefest of rests. To quote another well-worn aphorism ‘necessity is the mother of invention’. Within two minutes of Newmarket’s goal, Flecky, in his new position, had created South’s equaliser. He dribbled down the right and crossed powerfully. The ball deflected off a Newmarket foot on its way across, but the Umpire let the play continue as the ball dropped for Dave Stock to force a sweep shot home (having complained about the Umpiring earlier, it is only right to mention really good pieces of officiating, and this advantage was a perfect example of it’s kind. It would have been all too easy for the whistle to have already gone for a South short-corner).

With Newmarket having gone ahead and then been pegged back so quickly, all the momentum was with South. One rapid sequence of passing found Dave for a second sweep shot, which struck the outside of the post, before, with five minutes left, some neat interplay on the right between Jan Brynjolffssen, Flecky and Al got the latter to the byline out on the right. Al drove along the base, before pulling the ball back for Dave, arriving in the right channel; Dave’s third sweep shot in quick succession produced his second goal of the day.

Newmarket tried to press on in the limited remaining time, but South’s backline held them at arms length, before managing to get the ball upfield. With shouts of “keep it in the corner”, South sucked the remaining seconds from the match to record their fifth win in a row, and eighth from ten games since Christmas (only champions Horncastle have picked up more points since the mid-season break). The victory was also South’s ninth from their eleven home matches (third best in the division), and meant that South have beaten all of the sides in 5NW, bar Horncastle, at least once. With a re-arranged match at Bourne to play next week, South could still finish third in the table, which would represent a very decent return from the season.

Commenting on the game, skipper Kev said "The first half had me a little concerned but the team showed again how we can respond to what needs to be done, changing the pace and raising the game, to bring home the points. A gratifying win for everyone." He added "I was relieved my shorts didn't have a hole in them this week!”.

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George Wych
Player of the Match

For interrupting a holiday in Scotland to fly in and play the match.

Gareth Hebbron
Lemon of the Match

For his pratfall during the warm-up