Showing pleasingly few signs of seasonal over-indulgence, South enjoyed a constructive work-out against a youngish Saffron Walden side who at times played some strong attacking hockey.

The first five minutes were even with good movement from both teams but South's incisive forward play, centring round Alex Pooles, Mark Taylor and the canny Rob Barton, soon paid dividends. From a short corner earned when Barton was fouled, Chris Baker drove a firm shot to the keeper's left to open the scoring and, within a minute, the sharp-eyed Pooles had doubled the advantage, whipping home a cross from Taylor, who proved a handful for the visiting defence throughout.

Steve Parker then beat away a free shot from the edge of the D and comprehensively blanked a lone forward who had evaded the South rearguard before Taylor provided another telling cross which Barton artfully tipped past the keeper to make it 3-0 after just eighteen minutes. Following goalbound attempts from Baker and Taylor which were well saved, Walden reduced the deficit when a neat deflection from a hit outside the D zipped in just inside the right-hand post. A second goal for the visitors beckoned immediately but Parker was smartly down to block a snap shot from the right of the circle and there were no further alarms for the remainder of the half.

South nearly added to their lead straight after the break when Taylor ran through three men and deked the keeper only to be denied on the line, but a fourth goal was not long in coming as Pooles burst away up the left and forced a rebound which gave Baker the perfect opportunity to bypass the support troops and walk the ball in. The indefatigable Rob Garrett, exploring all facets of the diamond, then used his extra pace to open up a yawning gap for himself and deserved better than to see his well-struck shot go inches wide. Moments later, though, Pooles adjusted the sights and rifled a shot into the bottom left corner to give South a four-goal cushion.

Walden did not give up, however, and both Leo Tomita, who raced back hard to dispossess a forward on the surge, and Baker, with a calm penalty-spot clearance, made sure that South's lead was preserved. Jim Thorpe, fresh from his headlining role in the Cambridge Evening News prior to Christmas, also manoeuvred coolly out of trouble on more than one occasion to show that fame had not gone to his head. The second clearance was taken up by an increasingly busy Russell Johnson, who nipped the ball through to Taylor for the latter to provide more great service from the wing. Barton glued the pass to his stick, shimmied rightwards across the top of the circle, dragging all the defence with him, and then unleashed a fine shot into the opposite corner to make it 6-1.

Parker then reacted quickly to beat an oncoming striker to a loose ball with a sliding tackle, following it up with an alert dive to his left to smother a good chance on the post. But he was powerless to prevent Walden’s second goal when, after he had saved a firmly-struck short, a fudged clearance allowed a man on the spot to stab the ball home from two yards. The visitors continued to look dangerous, hitting the post twice, forcing Parker into a further fine tackle and generally pushing hard, but South were equally determined, with Garrett, the trusty John Benedikz and Johnson playing coaching-manual triangles up the left and Baker testing the keeper twice without luck.

The lively Eliot Read, who had played a full part in supplying the right side of the attack, also bolstered the defence to good effect, making a great reverse interception as Walden strove to catch up. South ended the game having to withstand heavy pressure including a series of four short corners but Parker stood firm and the rest of the defensive cohort put themselves on the line, with notably brave charge-downs from Garrett, Tomita and finally Read, to prevent any further scoring.

Observing skipper Baker's exhortations to play a clean, swift passing game, South made the most of the space that was available to get the wheels re-oiled and fine-tune the various component parts in readiness for what is sure to prove a demanding second half of the season. Next week sees a rare visit to Thetford for the final warm-up and a chance to hone all disciplines before the league restarts with a key game against Wisbech in a fortnight's time.