Men's 3rds v : Awaiting Result

Cambridge South started brilliantly and went ahead in the first minute, as Rupert Espley showed great skill and composure to lift the ball delicately over a prostrate keeper. OK, so Rupert's first shot had pole-axed the keeper, hitting his ribs to render him temporarily out of action. South got a second goal soon after, with a mazy Lewis run ending in a cool reverse stick effort from close in.

Pelicans got back in to the game with two goals before half time. The first came after the once again excellent Shahbaz had saved well only to see the ball returning over his head. The equaliser ominously came from a breakaway when South lost the ball in attack and Pelicans capitalised and outnumbered the defence to score easily. South could have had another goal but the Pelicans keeper saved well from a goal-bound Greaves tonk. It wasn't the skipper's day.

The second half became a bit fractious, with too many "umpires" on the pitch and chances at both ends. Stuart Creed and Andy Lewis both got the ball into the D with some good crosses but the ball just wouldn't go in the net, with a couple more trademark Greaves deflections going just wide. The South short corner routine went OK when deployed, but the Pelicans defence stood firm and were able to use their superior teamwork and guile to move the ball swiftly up into attack. Luckily the South defence of Lee, Evans and Passmore were up to the task, aided by good marking from defensive midfielder Wilco, who closed down a hitherto productive attacking route well.

Team South (as in Paul & Tom) battled away manfully and Jake Davis proved his adaptability by playing effectively in a number of positions. Unfortunately Pelicans grabbed the winner with a short corner right at the end, as that man Greaves was penalised for some dodgy footwork.

There were many pluses for South to take into the second half of the league season, with periods of great team play, rugged defence and some neat attacking moves.

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Shahbaz Ali
Player of the Match