On another warm day, South 2nds scraped out a 1-1 draw with Wisbech 3rds in a match with plenty of perspiration but little inspiration.

The first league match of the season saw South take on a Wisbech team which had come down from Div 4NW last season and so were likely to provide a good contest. The opposition arrived late (a few minutes before push back they had only one player, forlornly warming up on his own) and had little time to prepare for the game. Not so South who were inspired by a twenty minute pre-match address from Captain Kev "Maximus Decimus Meridius" Rowland. The stirring sentiments of Kev's address were offset only a little by the sight of him absent-mindedly stroking Mark Pears's leg whilst speaking!

Once the match started South were out of the blocks strongly and took most of the possession from the outset. Wisbech were young and fleet of foot but the Home side looked to have the more skilled players and three points looked a distinct possibility. However, as the half wore on South found it more and more difficult to fashion any shooting opportunities. The midfield were working hard – in particular Dave Aston and Nick Bristowe were winning everything in midfield and Russell Johnson was a livewire up the right hand side, always making himself available – but the pass and move game that we pride ourselves on was lacking. Time and again a player ran himself into trouble rather than make an easy pass to work the ball around the opposition. In fairness, much of this was due to the Wisbech defence which was well organised and kept the marking very tight.

Despite this, the territorial advantage being won by South meant that they were still the favourites but as the defence pushed up the field to create an extra man Wisbech hit back with a classic counter-attack. A long ball hit out of defence eluded three South sticks and Lino was left with little chance and could only turn and pick the ball out of the goal with practically his first action of the day.

The half continued in the same pattern – significant advantage to South in terms of possession and territory but no end product to show for it. In the last ten minutes four short corners were won but not one resulted in a shot on goal.

On to the second half and South did not let their heads drop. Again they won a series of shorts and finally one paid off, albeit in scrappy fashion. A good injection from Ron Oren was stopped and set up for a Dave Monck special. The mighty Monckosaurus took a huge swing and scuffed the shot in the vague direction of goal. This had the effect of wrong-footing the Wisbech defence and, after a melee around the left hand post, Ron Oren just managed to get a stick on the ball and it dribbled over the line.

The game opened out in the final twenty minutes as the heat took its toll on players and Wisbech created several more breakaway chances, but resolute defence from the back four and some blinding saves from Lino kept it at 1-1 at the final whistle.

So no change from last season for South 2nd XI – a tight defence allowing the opposition only rare sights at goal but the team in general just lacking the vision to create the final pass in the opposition's D. Although 1-1 was a fair result, South can be disappointed that they couldn't convert possession and territory into goals.

After the game captain Kev Rowland said "It was good to get a point from the first game of the season however I feel we could have got three. The guys worked hard in the heat, it's that effort we need to use to focus on decisive passing and moving. Next week's game is a 'must win' and we will need to play good possession hockey to make sure that happens."