On a misty day that was more Atkinson Grimshaw than mellow fruitfulness, South beat off the dangers lurking in the gloom to record their first win in six outings and haul themselves up two places to sixth in the Div 3NW table, with a game in hand over most teams above them.

The visitors made a convincing start, with diligent work from sweeper Matt Readman allowing John Benedikz to glide the ball easily up the wing before Chris Baker and Rob Garrett pressured the Nomads keeper into kicking clear as they harried up front. South then gained a free hit just inside the twenty-five and the ball directly found its way to Baker, who slipped it laterally for Lukas Snetler to make the most of a golden opportunity and steer the ball into the far corner with the defence AWOL.

Stung by this reverse, Nomads attacked in numbers and unleashed a string of shots which were all stopped by defensive interventions as South formed an unpierceable protective shield. Baker, Readman and Chris Graveling in particular brought off excellent tackles, while Benedikz neutered a tricky aerial with soft hands and a keen eye. Russell Johnson worked hard as both aggressor and defender during this phase, and his GPS system adroitly navigated him to the perfect co-ordinates for a key clearance after Steve Parker, faced with a Nomads attacker who had threaded his way through three South tackles, dived to his right for a spot of twilight robbery.

Parker then amazingly got a pad in the way of a shot which had sent him one way and been deflected another before Readman, cheeks puffing with relief, gratefully found touch. There was no let-up, though, as Nomads – uneponymously direct and focused – moved the ball round smartly, forcing a fudged back-pass which gave Parker no option but to put in a charging tackle at the top of the D. The leftovers were coolly removed by Readman and Chris Graveling, whose normally angelic mien was made meaner by his two-week beard, a necessary camouflage after the gashed chin at Rutland (referred to by the Cambridge News in an extraordinary feat of either medical or typographic revisionism as a gashed shin).

This was not enough, however, to prevent Nomads gaining their first short, a two-way slip leading to a fierce shot from which Parker made a superb save with his left leg aloft. Once again, a well-ordered clearance was to hand but, this time, Nomads did not return as a breakaway emanating from South’s bottom right-hand corner found Keith Hewitt, who forged upfield with Johnson in support. As a triangular clash with the keeper to the left of the home D loomed, Hewitt most unselfishly laid off the ball to Johnson, who with a deceptively elegant touch reversed round the keeper from a narrow angle for an aesthetically pleasing goal and a slightly unexpected 2-0 lead.

Nomads continued to press but, as Eliot Read retired temporarily to mollify the effects of a recent lurgy, Alex Pooles jumped into the action and was immediately involved in a good move up the left featuring Benedikz and a switched-on Hewitt. Hewitt again put in a telling pass, this time to Garrett, who fed Snetler for a lifted attempt which was foiled by the home keeper’s stacked pads. James Cobbe, showing mature common sense at the back despite vowing several years ago never to play there, put in a timely tackle in the left corner, bravely held off a Nomad who was winding up for a free shot at goal and then heroically stopped a rising short-corner strike with a deftly-placed knee, which thankfully soon recovered after soothing and practical advice from the distaff side.

After skipper Baker was nipped in the bud while following up a Hewitt pass, Nomads surged to the other end, pulling a swift ball back from the by-line to set up a first-timer which Parker saved left-footed at full stretch. The hosts screwed the pressure to the max as Parker was forced to make a diving double save and a fourth short corner was resoundingly blocked by Read, but South nearly turned the tables straight away as Johnson’s pace earned him a direct shot, the rebound from which Hewitt rifled entertainingly into the top corner of the goal (the football one directly behind its hockey counterpart, unfortunately). A rampaging home attack threatened to pull one back in the final few minutes of the first half but Read, holding up a lone high man, Graveling, pulling off a fine reverse stop and clearance, and Readman, tackling with stiff resolve, ensure South went into the break with a 2-0 lead.

The opposition forwards redoubled their efforts on the restart, commanding the area between the halfway line and the South twenty-five and finally worked a way into the circle, from the top right of which a crisp shot was buried into the far angle of the backboard to make it a one-goal game after thirty-eight minutes. Read was then deceived by a bad bounce from a simple cross-pass in his own right corner but retrieved the situation with dogged tackling as South broke the shackles for a short period. Garrett gained good ground with a fine straight run before Snetler took a snap shot which banged into the side-board; another chance came Snetler’s way moments later after Pooles and Hewitt had combined usefully, but this time the keeper saved convincingly.

Ominously, Nomads worked their way upfield again and a series of one-touch moves perilously close to the South D was only halted by a brilliant reverse stop and clear by Garrett. Readman was unfortunate to be judged "caught in possession" when squirrelling his way out of a tight spot near the post and, from the resulting penalty corner, Nomads slipped the ball to an unmarked man on the right who stuffed it away without ceremony to level the scores after forty-eight minutes. A certain fractiousness pervaded proceedings at this point but nothing of note transpired, especially as head boy Baker kept things calm by responding to a green card with exemplary deference.

South's only short corner came to naught as a gremlin in the pitch sabotaged the injection, but Pooles and Hewitt again did well to give Snetler another opportunity up front; Hewitt, showing a distinct Stakhanovite tendency, then popped up at the other end to make a saving clearance as both sides struggled for the advantage. Then came perhaps the turning point of the match as Nomads were awarded a penalty stroke and the chance of a 3-2 lead which might have proved unrecoverable in the circumstances. But once more, Parker's technique and psychological strength won the day as he made a superb low stop from a well-taken flick, a reprise of his indoor effort a few days earlier. A further tackle from Parker was followed by two short corners, the first neutralised by Benedikz, the second slipped wide, from where Parker, reacting quickly to block a shot to his left, then had to scramble across to his right and save again on the far post before Benedikz coolly got shut to the sideline.

Having weathered the onslaught, South seemed to redouble their determination as Readman, Garrett and Hewitt all made telling interceptions; from the final one, Garrett set off on a tantalising run, holding off three different defenders and, waiting until the moment was ripe, releasing a perfect pass for Snetler to smash thrillingly into the far corner with the keeper blameless. Snetler nearly doubled the lead a minute later with a shot into the left side-board following good work from Pooles but, with eight minutes to go, South understandably put more accent on the defence. After swarming menacingly round the top of the D, Nomads won a seventh short after sixty-six minutes but this foundered on Graveling's clean take and firm drive out. Pooles came close to a late shot at the far end, but otherwise Baker, Garrett, Johnson and Read all concentrated on getting the ball as far away from the South goal for as long as they could. Even then, Parker was called into the action once more a minute from time – returning the ball whence it came with interest – before Readman dipsy-doodled the clock down to a relieved finish.

This was a hard-fought, fast-paced match much enjoyed by players and spectators alike, a good advert for Div 3NW hockey and played in a competitive yet friendly spirit. Skipper Baker conceded that any other result would not have been unfair but was delighted to see his troops put in such a resolute performance, particularly in terms of team defence. Seeing off the early first-half attacks and taking a two-goal lead was crucial, yet equal resilience was needed to stave off a determined comeback from the hosts and turn the tide once more. South now have two further games before the mid-season break, the first against a resurgent Alford side who are clearly a force to be reckoned with, and the second a rearranged away fixture against Boston. Maximum points from these would make the ideal Christmas present.