South set out lacking a few regular players (all with feeble excuses for missing the game), but were hoping to continue their “honeymoon” start to the season, and to improve on their previous showing against their opponents, when they had been Nomadtch for their local rivals.

Nomads had some good moments going forward in the early stages, but the back four of Dave “Under the thumb” Aston, George “Never drinks on Fridays” Wych, Nick “Needs a shave” Bristowe and the Thorpedo stood firm. Wych’s running out from the short corners was once again exemplary. When the South defence was breached, Parker was always in place to snuff out any danger with some solid clearances.

Further forward Mark “not the snooker player” Williams, Tim “if you’re happy and you know it” Clapp, Sanjay and Jack “Fantasy hockey must-have” Chalk were battling fiercely, and Eliot was read-ing the game well on the right (is it time I stopped this?).

The forwards of Simon Ta, the real G Mac and John Hawkes were always causing trouble on the break with their pace, and Nomads soon realised they were in a game. However, it was a rather scrappy game at that, and no real chances were falling to either side. That is, until the aforementioned Chalk picked the ball up in the middle of the pitch, strode forward through a couple of challenges and thundered a shot towards the Nomads goal. The first shot was dealt with by the keeper, but then Chalk (possibly with words of wisdom from Lord Rob Barton ringing in his ears from the pre-match team talk), realised that a much more effective way of beating the keeper would be to plant a slow trickling sweep shot into the middle of the goal. Which he duly obliged to do.

Suddenly South’s tails were up and they went into half time playing the stronger hockey. Nomads came out fighting after the break though, with a thundered cross from the left being deflected just wide by their centre forward. This served as a wake-up call to the defence, which had been tweaked further with the introduction of Eliot at right back.

The second half ebbed and flowed until excellent tenaciousness from the forwards won South their first and only short corner. A fine push out from Graham found Briz at the top of the D, and he “proposed” a fantastic opportunity to Graham with his drilled pass back to the taker. Graham duly said “I do” and deflected the pass into the bottom right corner of the goal, putting South two up midway through the second half.

From this point onwards, South seemed controlled in seeing out victory, although one player helpfully pointed out that they needed to stay professional to the end as there were “fantasy points to play for.” Dave Aston this week decided to cut back on the verbal abuse on his teammates, but replaced it with the physical stuff- drilling a clearance into the right ankle of Mr Clapp, sending him to the sidelines.

The final whistle brought with it another deserved three points. A thoroughly professional (and satisfying) performance from South keeps them in the promotion spots, but perhaps more importantly puts distance between themselves and Nomads, who may well be in the shake up of the top teams come the end of the season.