Men's 1st XI Vs Newark 1

South Nottingham  vs Newark 

Following last weeks 5-0 win ay Nottingham, South were due a tougher assignment at home to Newark. Stuart ‘staples’ Mills returned in midfield along with Tom Crossland following last weeks ‘exertions’ 

Yet again South just didn’t turn up in a first half with little to commend the performance of the home team. Two soft turnovers led to two Newark goals and South were 2-0 down in 15 minutes. From here we started to settle and were a little more solid until half time, with just enough time for us to witness captain chaos Gareth Rich miss his second sitter in consecutive home games from a combined distance of around a yard out. Come on mate Luckily for South his day would improve dramatically and we went into the break still 2-0 down.

It turns out Haribo have started putting something extra into the super mix, as South were unrecognisable in the second half as they dominated throughout and played some sublime pass and move hockey. WADA will no doubt be sitting up and taking notice, adding tangfastics to the banned substance list.

South thought they were level when the skipper appeared to turn in at the back post. However it transpired it had hit a foot and a good piece of *ahem* sportsmanship meant the goal was wiped. Still 2-0. Gareth didn’t have to wait long though as Souths pressure told, and he (finally) finished at the back post to make it 2-1. Newark were chasing shadows such was the quality of Souths play and Carlos showed strength and a good finish to equalise at 2-2 

From here it was a question of whether South could earn and maintain a lead. Some sublime work in midfield from Brains and Mills led to space for Gaz and Ben to threaten the D and the quartet created numerous chances before Gaz grabbed his second with another poachers goal at the back post, 3-2 South. Only the Newark keeper kept the score as it was with some excellent saves.

The game had one final twist with Newark breaking and putting the ball into the D and it finishing in the goal. It was unclear if the Newark forward had touched the ball and the goal was overturned just before the full time whistle. 3-2 the final score 

Ultimately this is a great win for us lads a great effort  we all know however that we cannot keep starting games so poorly and keeping a lead is something to work on, so work to do but a great second half comeback 

MoM - Stuey Mills 
DoD - Gaz Rich (missing two sitters and hat trick avoidance )

Honourable DoD mention to Tom Fletcher who managed to play despite seeing more than one ball following the previous night