Another murkey Cambridge Saturday morning and the 2nd XI met at the Cambridge University astroturf pitch off Wilberforce Road ready to take on Saffron Walden 3rds. With a nearly full strength squad and a couple of guest stars on the starting line-up, hopes were high to break the losing run of the last few weeks. However, we knew we would have to work extra hard as we unfortunately did not have the luxury of subs.

To summarise…Walden managed to break through our strong defence and scored quickly in the first half, which affected confidence. Tracey, Loopy in goal, Lou G, Sarah A and relative new-comer Kristy all battled hard in defence. However, Walden's hard hitting and clever passing proved too much and we finished the second half 3-0 down. To top things off, the heavens opened and the rains fell!!!!

After a sharp talking to at half time by captain-turned-coach Vicky and some advice from more experienced players Emma and Jodee, we were ready to battle once again and confident that we could pull back the gap.

The second half started strongly however many factors led to the onslaught of goals that were to come. We had a couple of good runs up the right wing with Bex doing stern work and chasing every ball, as well as a few breaks through the left midfield from Jodee up to Emma. We also managed to get an elusive short corner awarded!! Well, not to go into too much detail, Walden went on the score three more, with a further two unfortunately deflected off our defenders sticks. So as the full time whistle blew, the valiant Southerners were left to reflect upon what went wrong.

The general consensus was that we didn't actually play as bad as the disastrous score line would suggest. Walden were a strong side who are apparently rampaging up the league (currently in 2nd place with a goal difference of 32. However, key issues were people passing but not looking for the opportunities to pass, free hits at sixteens and good communication should also be improved, as we have stopped talking to each other throughout the game. Overall, we are a new squad who are just starting to get to know each other's styles of play so hopefully with more experience and emphasis on certain skills we can get back to winning ways!!!