Missing a number of regular performers and with a heavily reshuffled back line, South acquitted themselves honourably against a resurgent Spalding side, giving 100% effort throughout but, as in the previous game against Wisbech, just failing to grab a share of the points in a suspenseful last few minutes.

Spalding continued the good form shown in their recent 8-3 victory against City of Peterborough and hit the accelerator from the off, managing several early forays down the right wing before South got fully to grips with their new defensive formation. Nevertheless, the ball was cleared with good sense and speed when the opportunity arose, with both Nick Young and Ron Oren making a solid early impression. In fact, Oren scored the "goal" of the match after eight minutes when he tipped in a Spalding free hit with a wicked touch for one of the classiest long corners of the season.

South found some difficulty getting forward to start with, though Chris Baker worked as hard as ever to organise good service for the attack, and it was Spalding who won the first short corner after Matt Readman and Russell Johnson had tried their best to repel boarders on Spalding's right flank. A clean strike, strongly beaten away by Steve Parker in goal, was followed by a concerted effort from several defenders which blocked off any thoughts of a re-entry at the far post. Keith Hewitt, who had earlier muscled his way impressively through midfield to give Spalding a fright, then forced a lifted clearance from the home keeper to win South's first penalty corner, which Baker placed neatly to the left corner only to see the ball stick-stopped on the line.

Rob Garrett, typically inventive, sliced open the Spalding defence with a tantalising through ball which both Hewitt and Eliot Read just failed to lay a stick on but, after Young had once more tackled superbly, the persistent threat from Spalding's right finally materialised as a fast and skilful run along the line found a way through the maze of defenders. Parker, exposed, cleaved to his left post and got a good pad on the close-range shot only for the ball to be unluckily turned in by a South stick.

Undaunted, the visitors began to find some shape, with Baker central to several nice moves involving Oren, Garrett and Read, and James Cobbe working intelligently on the left. Read came close as the keeper slid out hard, Baker was robbed in the D after a determined drive upfield and Hewitt did a magnificent handbrake turn before bursting forward and again finding the pads. The excellent work rate continued, with Read, Baker and Cobbe forcing a second short which was smothered and cleared and Garrett apparently ubiquitous. On twenty-nine minutes, a Spalding hit outside the D was crisply intercepted by Read and whipped off to Hewitt, who spotted Johnson free in the centre left channel and put him away on a 40-60/30-70 one-on-one. The keeper rushed him hard but there was no shirking from Johnson, who did his utmost to get the ball underneath before sacrificing himself in a brave diving clatter.

Spalding were clearly rattled at this stage, judging by the bulldozer tactics employed by their big centreman, who earned himself green and yellow cards in quick succession after putting himself and his stick about with unseemly vigour, and a second green was awarded soon after for another over-enthusiastic tackle. Yet despite being short-handed, it was the home side who created the next scoring chance, when Parker agilely covered a free man near the top of the D and, delaying his dive until the key moment, blocked a hard shot on his reverse stick and bought precious time for Garrett to retreat and spirit the ball away to safety.

South stuck to their guns and strove hard to make their numerical advantage tell, with Hewitt making life difficult for the Spalding midfield thanks to his octopus tackles and Johnson covering vast swathes of ground on the left,. Garrett roasted his markers after fine work by Read and Oren, and Cobbe and Read nearly got decent wood on a Garrett free hit but South, rescued late on in the half by a timely clearance from John Benedikz, reached the midpoint still in deficit.

After a slick start to the second stanza, when Young, Oren and Garrett combined to set Read free and Benedikz again held a constabulary hand up to advancing traffic, South unaccountably got pinned on the back foot and had to face six short corners in a spell of ten minutes, signalling a busy spell for Parker, who had to be on top form to keep the wolves at bay. After diving to stick away a loose ball from a defensive slip, he blocked two firmly-hit direct strikes, saw a third go wide and then put in an immaculately-timed tackle and clearance when a lone striker appeared to hold all the aces. Good clearances from the pads by Young and Benedikz helped to attenuate the danger and South briefly counter-punched as Garrett curved in to the opposite to D to force a clearance from the keeper and Read put Hewitt away for another dose of the same. Baker, always taking the attacking option, saw Hewitt running in again and nearly reached him with an angled pass, while Garrett also threatened at top D before being ushered away by a couple of heavies.

Spalding won two more shorts, at which Young was again prominently in the breach, and amidst the to-ing and fro-ing, Readman had to employ all his close-to-the-deck tackling skills and ferrety cunning to get the ball out of harm's way, all done with the disarming grin of a serial Fagin. A period of robust play then ensued as Young was roughly bundled off the play and Baker ran into a wrecking ball, venting his indignation in suitably captainly fashion. None of this deterred Garrett and Hewitt, who continued to beaver away up front always looking for the main chance, but the breakthrough still eluded them.

Parker was nearly wrong-footed by a defensive deflection, reacting sharply to sweep the ball to safety with his stick, before Spalding had the ball in the net at their eighth short corner. After some consultation on the umpires' part (and some consternation on the home side's), the goal was washed out and South lived to fight another day, though under strength for five minutes while Read, bleeding rather more copiously than the umpires could stomach, went off to patch up various wounds with an assortment of ingenious makeshift applications.

Despite further action in the Spalding D, South had to endure two more penalty corners and, from the second, though Parker again made a fine stop, the ball found its way to a South-free zone, from where it was unceremoniously bundled in to leave the visitors 2-0 down after seventy-two minutes. A string of last-ditch tackles prevented a third goal but attracted an eleventh short corner, from which Parker, reading a left slip, covered all the bases and made a top-class save with his left glove before Oren, metaphorically rolling his sleeves up even further, despatched to safety.

Suddenly, South won a free hit on the right wing and Read, enjoying an all-action game, fed Baker, who patiently crafted the ball into the D where Johnson was on hand to sweep the ball in from what appeared to be a defensive flub. Thus emboldened, and with seven minutes to go, South stepped on the gas as Cobbe, Baker and Johnson all got into the thick of it up the left and Garrett nearly converted. Benedikz and Readman remained alert, tackling with interest, while Young howitzered from the back with a no-frills route-one strategy which nearly paid dividends. Garrett made a great run but his cross was intercepted with Hewitt and Johnson well positioned and, as the final minute approached, Hewitt himself strong-armed his way into the circle after a clean pass from Oren, only to find his path to glory blocked by the keeper's outstretched stick. After Cobbe had been flattened by the Spalding juggernaut, Readman manfully tried to get the ball upfield for a last effort but it was to no avail and South had to swallow a second successive one-goal loss.

There was no disgrace in defeat, however, as South maintained their discipline and hard work to the end, never giving ground in what was often a very physical encounter. They conceded on only one of eleven short corners and can be pleased with a very strong defensive display all the more laudable in view of the absence of some experienced campaigners. Though Spalding caused trouble with their quick and organised running, South also had their moments up front and a little more luck may have harvested a point, although a few more penalty corners would not have gone amiss either. Next Saturday sees the visit of Bourne, who are currently in the relegation zone, but as the hard-fought pre-Christmas game against winless Boston demonstrated, no team in this division can be taken lightly.