Men's 1sts come back from 2-0 down to draw with Wisbech

In a close encounter of the usual kind with these doughty opponents, South fought back strongly to gain a valuable away point after going two down in the first 20 minutes and, although not regularly threatening the Wisbech goal in the latter part of second half, they held on tenaciously enough at their own end to merit the result.

A promising start by the South midfield was rudely suffocated when a solo run by one of the home midfielders was left unchecked as he skipped into the circle and unleashed a fierce lifter which Steve Parker, diving to his right, could only deflect on its way in. The South keeper had better for­tune with his next piece of action, a firm block to a low, flicked short corner, the remains of which were cleared away by Rob Garrett. The skipper, setting a fine example with his positive forward move­ment and energetic tackling back, had much to do as Wisbech concentrated on possession hockey but South created their chances as well, Graham McCulloch firing just wide from a slipped short corner won after aggressive work from Russell Johnson. A second South short ensued follo­wing Sanjay Agarwala's skilful use of sensible distribution from Dave Aston and Mark Williams, but a rightward slip from James Hawkes was unmet. The latter then forced a save from the Wis­bech keeper with a flicked effort before a profitable line of inquiry again involving Garrett, Aston and Williams saw Agarwala, unaccustomedly popping up on the right this time, asking serious quest­ions of the home defence. Garrett had the keeper on his knees smothering the ball at another short but Wisbech escaped to bang the ball into South's circle, where George Wych reversed out with aplomb and Ian Glover finally made safe. Evenly poised at this stage, and looking promising as a raking midfield move involving the improving James Cobbe and others made good ground to­wards the top corner, the game took a turn for the worse when a mishit cross from Wisbech skew­ered off a defen­sive South stick, opening up plenty of space for a grateful poacher to double the ad­vantage.

Wisbech cranked up the pressure, testing Parker with a firm shot which he cleared beyond the D, but South were still trying to spread the ball as Garrett worked like a Trojan in both attack and de­fence, once making a crunching low tackle and then circumnavigating four men to guide the ball to safety. Slightly closer support was perhaps needed but, after an angled Wisbech cross had just failed to find a winger ghosting behind the defence on the far post, concerted good work from Garrett and Jack Chalk, pressing upwards after a couple of nifty pirouettes midfield, drew a save from the home keeper and then a fourth short corner. From this, a crisp double slip made its way through to Agarwala, who was in perfect position to reduce the deficit and give South the lift they wanted a psychologically opportune two minutes before half-time.

Wisbech jumped straight back into the fray after the restart, a well-positioned Parker blocking a re­verse that was unfussily cleared by Glover, but South then completed their double whammy when McCulloch injected a swift short corner and then headed for the spot to redirect Hawkes's firm slap into the upper half of the goal. The umpires eventually rejected Wisbech's protestations, so 2-2 it was and the home side redoubled both their efforts and, presently, their decibel levels. Parker's good balance made sure a close-range shot loosed after a goal-line run was thwarted and then cleared to the wing before Williams fed Johnson, who penetrated the circle but was brought up short by the rather larger Wisbech keeper. A bout of hacking in the D led to South's sixth short, from which Chalk's shot was blocked, whereupon Johnson's long pass narrowly evaded Hawkes racing forward.

Wisbech's tactical discussions seemed to bear fruit as they started to edge possession and, though McCulloch contended with typical sinew up the right and Parker dispatched out to the corner, Wis­bech created a sudden breakaway. Parker dived desperately and, though missing his man, diverted him enough to allow Aston to swiftly shadow attacker and ball to squeaky safety just past the post. Then, after Johnson had blocked an advance stemming from a left-wing cross, the ball ran danger­ously free from the ensuing 16 and Parker had to race out and slam down the long barrier to prevent a further in­cursion. Two penalty corners for Wisbech followed in short order but again South were equal to the task. From the first, a double slip opened up a big gap but Parker made a fine low stick save, only to see the second phase scoop the ball up and over towards goal where, thankfully, Aston was perfectly placed to bring off a great save on the line with commendable sang froid. The second drew a solid block from the South keeper and an assured clearance from Glover but this barely in­terrupted Wisbech's spell of control inside South's 25. Garrett played his full part in a defence that stayed for the most part pretty calm and unflustered and South managed to break the shackles with a few robust thrusts up the right, although they were hard pressed to keep the ball in the Wisbech half when they got there. Nevertheless, they success­fully withstood Wisbech's persistent hassling and, after a final near-post intervention by Parker five minutes from time, they looked unlikely to con­cede.

This was an entertaining and hard-fought game in which South's new-look defence, revolving around a composed Wych, did well to hold their committed and direct opponents at bay. There was much common-sense application at the back and, when South were allowed to move the ball around further up the field, a hint that they could cause problems, even against a solid defence like Wisbe­ch's. A short-corner tally of six to three in South's favour bears this out, and a conversion rate of two from six shows some promise. Next up are Horncastle, who have endured something of a bap­tism of fire after their promotion but who have probably been unlucky to start off against two teams likely to be among the hotter promotion contenders.

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Steve Parker
Player of the Match

Rob Garrett
Player of the Match