M1 3-3 City of Peterborough Mens 4

After drawing a blank against league leaders Ely last weekend, South rediscovered their scoring touch to the tune of three first-half goals this time out, but it was still not enough to secure a victory as visitors Peterborough, 3-2 down at half-time, nicked a late equaliser to grab a share of the points.

South - once again forced to make positional rearrangements owing to sundry absences and the departure of cultured defender Rupert Webb to as far away as it’s possible to go from Cambridge without actually leaving the planet - made a promising start, with Rob Garrett running directly at the Peterborough defence and Eliot Read getting a good shot in from the right following typically forthright approach work from skipper Chris Baker. Although Peterborough too looked businesslike, the few nasty moments they caused in the opening ten minutes were expertly smoothed away by Chris Graveling's skilful tackling and Jim Thorpe's calm pick-ups and clear-sighted distribution.

South deservedly took the lead after nine minutes when league debutant Al Sinclair, profiting from a controlled build-up down the left, found just enough space to fire home a high reversed shot from a narrow angle. The lead could have been doubled or even trebled in the next few minutes as first Read and then Baker, from a classic one-two short with Garrett, beat the keeper only to have shots stopped on the line. Thorpe then neutered a rapid Peterborough attack with deceptive ease before Graveling neatly halted a big drive and fancied his way artistically out of the D to earn a straight ten from the judges.

On thirteen minutes, Keith Hewitt created space for himself in the Peterborough circle and unleashed a fierce rising shot which the keeper parried soundly to his left. South continued to have the better of the play as they moved the ball nicely round the back, Richard Morgan, Leo Tomita and Chris Massey contributing to the general air of control with safe but expeditious passes, but Peterborough, carrying more in the way of experience than they appear to have done of late, were unfazed. Surging forward, they forced Steve Parker to make a timely interception from a cross that was bound for a spare attacker and, from their first short moments later, worked a right-left-right slip that gave them the opportunity to pick their spot and jubilantly fire home from close range on twenty-two minutes. Worse was to follow, though, as missed tackles allowed them to force a way into the D from the right and set up a man on the spot to lift home for a slightly unexpected 2-1 lead.

South, trying to recover their composure, were a little static in the build-up for the next few minutes but gradually got things moving up the left through Garrett, Hewitt and Read and, after the Baker-Garrett-Baker short routine had resulted in a near miss, the equaliser came on thirty-two minutes when Graveling roofed a slipped penalty corner via a defender's stick, the process being completed at such speed that the umpires had to confer before awarding the goal.

Thorpe, under considerable pressure, then trumped Graveling's earlier balletic effects with a superb pirouette and chassé to get out of jail free before Baker, fed a perceptive through ball by Hewitt, was unceremoniously bundled over. The resulting short, a drive from Baker himself, was again stopped by a defender, but South closed out the half in perfect fashion when Hewitt crashed the backboard with a lovely first-timer assisted by Garrett.

The upper hand continued to be held by South in the opening quarter of an hour of the second stanza, with Garrett and Hewitt fashioning more runs centrally, Sinclair just failing to nick in a driven short from Baker and Hewitt whacking in a great, but unconverted, cross after outsmarting the visitors' right flank. Peterborough, always playing a physical game, became increasingly chippy and Russell Johnson, who repeatedly worried the defence with his pace, was at one point roughly shoulder-charged off the ball and sent crashing. Graveling and Thorpe were again in the thick of it in front of the South D, tackling with assurance, and, though South did not quite come together up front at this point, they still created opportunities, with Sinclair, Hewitt and Baker combining to pressure the visitors into conceding a sixth short after Massey had extricated himself elegantly from a little local difficulty. This time, Graveling’s sweep shot was saved by the keeper diving to his right post and two further shorts over the next few minutes also yielded "nul point" though there was some false excitement when the ball was rammed in only for the play to be whistled up.

Garrett, Johnson and Hewitt all maintained the forward pressure at this stage without unlocking the door and even Thorpe felt it incumbent upon himself to surge mightily northwards but Peterborough, suddenly appearing energised after having a man yellow-carded for a comment too far, locked onto the endgame with intent. From their second short, three minutes from time, Parker made an excellent save to his right but from their third a minute after, a breakdown fortuitously created clear water for an unmarked forward to float in what initially seemed to be a speculative flick. Somehow, it evaded everyone and, to South's dismay, ended up in the back of the net to bring the scoreline to 3-3 with all to play for. In one of those awful don't-look-now moments, a Peterborough attacker then burst free with room to spare, but Parker raced out decisively, blocked the lifted shot and bought enough time for the alert Graveling to rush back and prevent the second phase from getting in behind and scoring. Yet another Peterborough short was hit wide, averting disaster, before, in a frantic finale, Massey set Hewitt free to put in a great through ball from which the finishing shot was drilled just inches past the post. Gulp, deep intake of breath.

South will be disappointed to have had to settle for a draw in this fixture but Peterborough, being a fourth team, are possibly more likely to be affected by variations in strength and this was certainly one of their more experienced formations. A second week of enforced changes perhaps disrupted South's midfield cohesion a little and it would have been useful to convert more than one of the eight shorts on offer, although in South's defence it must be said that the visitors did well to stop at least a couple of these on the line. South are keen to get back on the winning trail next week at struggling Boston but know there are going to be few free lunches in this division.

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Jim Thorpe
Player of the Match