A game we needed to win. Sadly not to be. A couple of lucky goals sunk CSouth after a largely even, if somewhat heated, game.

The first half was goalless, although John Greaves was unlucky as a goal-bound scorcher was deflected by a Deeping defender's leg just wide of the post. Both teams had their moments, with Deeping more composed, but CSouth the more forceful. Greaves got his reward with the opening goal shortly after the interval, as his long range and sweetly timed effort found the net after a pinpoint pass from Stu Creed into the D.

Deeping retaliated all too soon with a fine flick into the top corner from a short corner. The game could well have finished at 1 -1 which would have been a fair result, but....

A hotly disputed second home goal was given by the distant umpire after his colleague close to the action had ruled a rising shot - deflected off a defenders stick - too high straight from the short corner. The misery was compounded as Deeping snuck in a third when a free hit, taken quickly some distance from the offence which caused it, wrong-footing the away defence, ended up in a short corner, from which they scored with the final move of the match.

The scoreline obscured the excellent defending, particularly from MoM Benedikz & Kern. Their colleagues in defence, Dom Nelson and James Lee, both took nasty knocks on their extremities but manfully played on.

Ultimately CSouth were unable to overcome these misfortunes and the canny "go for the obstruction / foot / appeal" approach of the Deeping players. This leaves us mired in the relegation tussle in a league where most teams are much of a muchness. There is hope from the performance..leaving aside our abiding tendency to give the ball away, and not mark tightly enough...but this needs to be converted into positive results. Soon

The match tea was good