A beautiful day, a battling team performance and a terrific goal from Man of the Match Andy Lewis were the positive factors for the final game of Cambridge South 3rds first ever campaign in Eastern League Div 5NW.

Unfortunately, March scored six, which put a damper on proceedings.

The home side got four first half goals without reply, mainly due to their rapid counter attacks leaving the hard worked South defence of Glover, Agarwala and Jelly undermanned as the midfield struggled to get back. Nevertheless, the defenders stuck to their task and made many good tackles. Distribution upfield was also good, with intelligent passes across to team mates or up the pitch, demonstrated well by promising newcomer Matt Readman in particular.

The second half was much more even with Andy Lewis, a constant threat throughout, scoring a deserved goal from long range after a solo run from half way to give a glimmer of hope. Sadly March scored a further two goals but South kept pressing and displayed some good passing moves, neat triangles opening up the home defence, usually involving the Espley, Greaves and Lewis combination. All too often the final pass didn't come and the shots they did have narrowly missed the target or were saved.

So the 2008/09 season ends with South 3rds safely placed in 5NW, having established the core of a team well able to mix it at this new level.

The latter half of the season has been a struggle, mainly to get eleven players on to the pitch. We must thank vice-captain and frequent Man of the Match, Shahbaz Ali, for always getting a team out. Thanks too to the regulars, as well as others drafted in usually at short notice into unfamiliar positions, for making this an enjoyable six months of positive, competitive, hockey.