Men's 2nd XI Vs Notts Uni 5

Our final pre-season friendly fixture saw a largely unchanged team as we welcomed another new club member, Mark Green to the ranks in addition to a couple of 1st team regulars Ben Ryder & Steven Waters. We had the luxury of 14 players to choose from, which quickly turned into 13 as Elliot D withdrew himself from selection due to an existing back injury.

We were unsure of what to expect from our opposition as Uni teams can be brilliant or terrible depending on their Friday evening activities! 
The signs were ominous as they turned up with around 20 players and warm up was a blur of high intensity drills.. 
Straight from the start we knew we were in for a tough match as the Uni team swarmed all over us with their blend of youth & fitness, they were obviously very well drilled as their movement and communication was excellent.

We quickly fell behind 2-0 following many energetic exchanges in the first 15 minutes, with very little space to be found in and around our midfield due to the full court press from our youthful opposition. Another goal quickly came from a Short Corner and it started to feel like it was going to be “one of those days”... 
South continued to stay focussed trying to break down continued slick University passing play, then, after some solid defensive work, the ball found its way to Andy Jenkins who split the midfield with lovely cross field pass to Neil Batty who drove at the last defender a placed a weighted pass to Grozzy who neatly finished past the advancing keeper.

South, with spirits slightly raised continued to work hard, but saw another goal conceded from more quality play by the University.

Going in 1-4 at Half time was not the ideal situation on a rainy afternoon, but a good team talk allowed South to set up with added resolve for the 2nd half.

After losing another player, Dan Slinger, to injury at half time, the importance of physical & mental strength was going to be key for the final 35..

The rain fell harder in the second half, but it seemed to affect the Uni team more than South as continued pressure rarely resulted in anything other than a solid South challenge and release of pressure.

A couple of chances came South’s way with some nice passing moves on the break, but came nothing due to a mix of tiredness and ruthless defending - Grozzy getting hacked down following a cheeky jink to eliminate the last defender. The resulting short corner strike by Steve W went agonisingly wide and South eventually saw out the match without conceding further!

Solid 0-0 2nd half performance - should set us up well for our first league match next week at home to Derby!

Great performances all round, think we will all be feeling it over the next couple of days!

Thanks the umpires Simon R & Dick S! ..

Essay / great report from Grozzy

Double thanks for the umpires as ever great job!