The usual importance of a match against our biggest local rivals was magnified this weekend by the fact that just two points separated these teams in 2nd and 3rd place in the league - with both desperate for promotion. Its fair to say that Cambridge South were more than pumped up for this game, eager to repeat their performance against Nomads earlier in the season which ended with a hard-fought 2-0 victory to South.

The enormity of the occasion had clearly not gone un-noticed with the local sports-fans as a sizeable crowd (there must have been at least 10) braved the drizzle to watch the spectacle. Much appreciated - sorry we couldn't have given you a win!

As the game got under-way, it quickly became apparent that Nomads hadn't been lazing around since that previous match. In fact, its entirely possible they might have even been practising! Or recruiting. Either way, South were slightly caught off-guard by the swift distribution, assured touches and accurate passing from the opposition. Nevertheless South held on and the meanest defence in the league lived up to its name, with Read, Wych and Aston notching up tackle after tackle and Bristow recycling the ball to relieve the pressure. Watson, Williams and Graveling worked hard in midfield to give the forwards something to work with but a combination of disciplined marking from Nomads, a few miss-cued passes and a very slippery pitch conspired to leave the forwards with slim pickings - the only notable chance being a close-range reverse stick effort from McCulloch which was deflected wide off the keeper's pads.

The team re-grouped at half-time and played with more composure in the second half. Ironically this was when Nomads scored. Firstly a drag-flick finally broke Steve's 'brick-wall goalkeeping' after another short-corner was awarded for a rash challenge by the under-pressure defence, and then, following a generous pass to the opposition striker from Bristow that had the bookies calling their lawyers, a miss-hit shot bounced agonisingly over the stranded keeper to leave South with a mountain to climb.

South responded with guts and more creative play. As usual, Aston typified this creativity - cleverly attempting to make use of the large expanses of space that were being left un-marked by Nomads. This might have worked, if the umpires had not cruely intervened and pointed out that, strictly speaking, hockey was supposed to be played within the boundary lines of the pitch and therefore passing the ball directly out of bounds from a side-line hit could not be allowed.

There was still time for Johnson to ping a shot just wide with Watson inches short of a deflection at the far post and for a quickly taken free-hit by McCulloch to flash past Johnson's stick with the goal at his mercy. In the end we ran out of time.

Credit to the team for giving 110% throughout the match and the supporters for cheering us on all the way. The aim for the rest of the season remains the same - win every match!