In a close and fluctuating game which provided keen entertainment for players and spectators alike, South did well to overturn an early deficit, fighting back strongly in the second half before being forced to settle for a share of the points when March grabbed an equaliser seven minutes from time.

In marked contrast to the previous two fixtures against Spalding and Bourne, South were unable to click immediately into their smooth passing groove as March played well up the pitch, strangling opportunity and closing down easy escape routes. Though Matt Readman had an early reverse shot wide of the post, it was the visitors who made most of the running, with an incisive movement from midfield bypassing two wrong-footed defenders to leave an unmarked attacker with a golden chance at the edge of the D. Keeper Steve Parker raced out and parried the ball but was unlucky to see it loop into the net as help arrived.

With lots of strikers free, March nearly doubled the score a minute later, driving wide with all the odds in their favour, and South were hard pressed to string more than a couple of serious moves together. Rob Garrett, indefatigable as ever, manoeuvred his way into a great central position in the March circle but just had the ball filched off his stick at the moment of destiny. By the fifteen minute mark, South had still not broken the shackles and Chris Graveling had had to make one of his famous Horatio-on-the-bridge tackles to bring a dangerous March raid to a halt.

March won their first penalty corner shortly afterwards, Parker leaping up to palm a flick from the ever-tricky Jody Betts over the bar. The South goalie was soon in the thick of things again, anticipating superbly to deny a lone March forward parked on the doorstep and then challenging a bevy of yellow shirts at the edge of the D to shoot harmlessly past the post. Readman then adroitly reversed away a cross from the right which was drilled towards the penalty spot and a man running in.

With Garrett providing extra cover in defence, Graveling eagle-eyed in the tackle and in defence of the aerial ball and Jim Thorpe outstanding in reading the trademark Betts wiggle, South held firm, though Parker again had to show great technique and reactions as, staying half-up against a March striker with all the aces, he gloved down a ball headed for his left-hand corner.

After twenty-five minutes, the March keeper saw his first action as confusion reigned around the spot, and there was more of a pot-pourri after the resulting penalty corner when several South strikers fell over one another trying to apply the elusive final touch. The introduction of Russell Johnson seemed to provide extra pep and he and Garrett worked a fine interplay to set up skipper Chris Baker, who was displaced at the last gasp. South built on their hard work, Thorpe shimmying purposefully through the middle to give Garrett and Johnson the chance to squeeze the March rearguard, who for once were slow to clear. From the resulting short, a well-rehearsed slip move saw Garrett skilfully holding the ball long enough to draw the defenders towards him and then feed Baker, who arrowed it through the keeper's legs for the equaliser on twenty-eight minutes.

March continued to menace, with Betts riding four tackles before flicking wide but, after Parker had deftly deflected away an attempted tip-in, South gained their second wind and started to play with more authority. Thorpe brought down an aerial and accelerated out of trouble, Garrett nearly connected with Baker after a long run up the right and Readman made his presence felt with an arboricidal tackle that stayed marginally on the legal side of illegal.

The last five minutes of the half was real backs-to-the-wall stuff as March failed to convert three successive shorts, dragging the first just wide and then seeing the second brilliantly charged down by Eliot Read, who took a pearler on the thigh for his pains. Finally, as Betts homed in with a characteristic jink, Parker stared him out and somehow diverted a goalbound flick over the bar with his arm from point-blank range.

After half-time, with Lukas Snetler replacing Rupert Webb, who had battled gamely despite a heavy cold, South had to weather a further initial storm, with Parker making a terrific diving reverse-stick tackle at full stretch as he was pulled across the D and then kicking clear as two forwards ran on to a through ball. But Thorpe once more stopped Betts in his tracks and, in a perfect counter-attack, Garrett rounded the March defence like a wall-of-death rider, pulling the ball back for Hewitt to bury it first time with a resounding clatter as the keeper dived too late.

The go-ahead goal heralded South's best spell of the game as Baker forced a save, March's forwards repeatedly failed to make any headway against Thorpe and Readman and South at last began to find some width through Read, Garrett and the committed Snetler. Mike Thorogood set up several promising moves with no-nonsense route-one distribution and the defensive mesh became tighter with good close support from Readman in particular, though Parker again had to be at his most alert as Betts tried to finagle one through his legs.

Over the next five minutes, South had their chances to make it 3-1, with Hewitt shedding blood for the cause as he tried to stuff in a cross moments after drawing a good save from the March keeper, and both Garrett, fed by Thorogood, and Baker, from a short, nearly working the oracle. As Baker bossed the game through his calm, sophisticated, hold-and-go distribution, the momentum was with South and, after Parker had again refused entry to a Betts short corner with an adamant left glove, the team looked strong and confident at both back and front. Graveling shot out his impassable stick, Thorpe brought off a life-saver at the edge of the D as a striker teed up and Johnson and Baker combined to unleash Snetler for a powerful reverse shot.

But March gradually recovered their composure and finally turned the tide on 63 minutes as they overcame strong tackling from Read and Baker to exploit a slight over-commitment up front. A pacy run down their right wing exposed gaps in the South defence and a well-weighted cross was roofed from close range to set up a nerve-jangling last few minutes.

South did well to keep out a sixth opposition short and, gaining possession deep in their own left corner after an ominous build-up of one-time passes from March, Thorogood, with a nifty lifted ball, found Snetler, who cleverly reverse-dinked to Johnson, making a good forty yards from the tightest of spots. A final penalty corner three minutes from time gave South hopes of sneaking it at the death but the feed back to Graveling was slightly awry and he was left trying to negotiate an impossible reverse angle. There was still time for him to marshal much-needed resistance in the South zone before the final whistle, which presaged an unexpected attempt by March to lodge the match ball in a part of Hewitt's anatomy where it had no right to be. Perpetrator and victim soon made up and it was generally agreed that an excellent game – confidently handled by umpires Rob Barton and Jim Sutcliffe – had been had by all.

A draw was probably a fair result and South can take heart from the fact that this was a match they would likely have lost a couple of years back. Although unable to play quite as attackingly as they might have wished for all the game, they scored two well-worked goals and, importantly, could be justly pleased with a disciplined defensive performance which allowed March relatively few shorts and neutralised their danger men for most of the time.

Meeting the two relegated teams from last year's Division 2N in the first four games has provided South with a useful indication of their credentials, but next week's encounter with Ely is a crucial one. This, and the rest of the season, will take place without the services of the experienced Mike Thorogood, who departs for France with the club's best wishes and thanks for his classy and committed contribution over the past seasons.