South Ladies 1s played an early morning match against Sawtry this week. Injured captain Geogie’s ‘work hard, be nice to each other and don’t swear’ pep talk set the tone for a business-like performance from the whole team. Ranging end-to-end play provided lots of opportunities for the South forwards and midfield to show off their slick passing and diagonal runs (thanks, Colin), while some lovely distribution from the back (along with great defensive play) earned Lindsey a well-earned Man of the Match award. Sawtry’s well established, strong team gave the defence plenty of work but good marking, a high work rate from the midfield and some great tackling kept the threat on the D to a minimum (except for a short period in both halves when they boxed us in the corner for a scary minute or two). Oh! And there were goals! One early in the first half, and another just as we were starting to feel twitchy about hanging onto the lead in the second half. Sian’s was the culmination of a smart sequence of passing down the right of the pitch, and Kendra’s was a testament to good reflexes during a sustained attack on goal which may or may not have come from a short corner. I've no idea which was in which half. So there you have it: a hard working, coherent team, with some great individual performances resulting in South heading the Prem table for the first time in the season. Whoop! (You didn’t really want details, did you? Tough. I lost the bit of paper and feel I did jolly well to remember this much.)