With next week seeing in the restart to the 07/08 season, Cambridge South 2nds, sponsored by PwC, took advantage of the opportunity to get a friendly in against Ely before their top of the table clash against Cambridge Ladies.

With 1st team ringer Hayley Sharpe kindly volunteering to play for Ely’s defence (thanks), the girls in attack knew they would have to have their work cut out if they were going to put some goals away today! Each team with only 10 players knew opportunities were available and, with some coaching from Hayley, Ely were prepared to take some chances.

South went out on the attack straight away and were soon rewarded with their first goal which goes to Cat after a hard fought battle between her and the Ely back four.

Ely struggled to break into South’s 25 and with excellent play from the defence and midfield battling for tackles, a superbly crossed ball from the left found Charlie in the D to put away South’s second. Barely 10 minutes into the first half and Cat fired home another excellent goal to make the score 3-0

South then seemed to sit back a bit, much to the delight of Ely who took chance to break through the midfield and put the defence under pressure. Fortunately the ladies were up to the challenge and excellent saves from Loopy Lou combined with great clearances from the backs ensured south kept a clean sheet.

The initial pace and communication from South was waning with frustration and scrappy tackles beginning to edge their way into the game. The match suddenly took on a “who can take out Hayley first” persona and the concern of injuring one of their own, shared with a motivational team talk at half time, snapped the ladies back into the correct mind set.

The second half saw South going out with their usual attacking flare once again, but Ely weren’t going down without a fight and the attack were struggling to increase their lead.

However, South’s 4th goal came from captain Vicky Lavis as a result of a well worked short corner routine. Finally, Ely hadn’t counted on the Webb goal scoring rivalry and Jodee picked out her spot and nailed a goal home by lifting the ball over the keeper and watching it strike the backboard to take South up to 5-0. (Only a few for Rupert to catch up with now)

Welcome to the new player to our team Sophie who put in a sterling performance for her first time out, along with Paula who is growing in confidence with her defending skills. I think we can safely say that the Christmas cheese and wine has been worked off and South are ready to face Cambridge Ladies next week in what will prove to be one of their most crucial games of the season – Watch this space…