Men's 1st XI Vs Loughborough Students 5

Stuart mills reports

Loughborough Uni 5th 2 v 1 South Nottingham 1’s

A lack of players available; a lack of players attending training but a lack of heart and character is something you won’t get from this South side: they’ve got it in abundance. It feels strange being so positive, after a defeat to a team lower than ourselves in the league, but the effort of every South player, with many stepping up to play, I can only speak positively off.

South knew they had an uphill task with arguably 7 players missing against a Loughborough side who would have a strong squad and be full of running. A poor start to the game from South saw them quickly drop 2-0 to two well worked shorts from the Loughborough side. It would have been easy to have rolled over at this point and a long 60 minutes would have followed.

However, South gathered themselves and soon found their rhythm of play and looked dangerous on the counter. A testament to the running of debutants Mike and Finn, who gave their all for the cause running lines up top. And Finn looked threatening, with only a heavy touch preventing him from a goal scoring opportunity. A real testament to the Young man, the type of player who should be playing first team regularly and given the chance to get used to the level.

But South finally got themselves back into the game thanks to the tireless running of Skipper Gaz Bland. Playing upfront felt like a thankless task today but the skipper never stopped and held the ball up magnificently giving the South side the reprieve it needed. His driving run won South a short and a rare opportunity to threaten the Loughborough goal.

And this was chance was taken by the incredible Robbo. If you were to google ‘too bins’, it would probably show you a video of Marty’s drag flick, which flew into the top corner. I’m running out of superlatives to describes Matty’s performances recently but he was superb today and the highest compliment I can play is that he was the best player by a distance on the pitch.

At half time, the message was clear: stay in the game and we’ll get a chance. The half started in a familiar rhythm with Loughborough dominating. Superb resilience from the full backs Jim Ward and the returning Andy Wallace (an absolute pleasure to have him back in the side) repelling the attacks. Andy even taking a nasty blow to the face for the cause. And Jim, a player who often doesn’t get the credit he deserves for his consistent performances week in and week out.

As the half went on, South had their best 10 minutes of the game and will kick themselves they couldn’t find an equaliser. With Millsy’s never ending dribbles, showing with his brothers new hockey shoes, he could easily fill his boots and the tireless running of both John and Harry Lane they built pressure on The Loughborough goal but lacked a killer instinct in front of goal. What they would have done to have had their top goal scorer Tommy C there.

With the South legs tiring, they relied on the incredible impressive partnership of Tommy P and Batty. Both of which had fantastic games and their last ditch low tackling in the box kept South in the game and both delivering their games of the season when it was most needed. They were aided by Mark in goal, who not only pulled off a number of good saves, but his commanding leadership of the back line kept Loughborough at bay.

South gave everything to muster one final opportunity. But credit to a Loughborough side who defended magnificently at the end to prevent South from doing this.

South were left to rue a lack of availability but not a lack of effort from the 12 there. Personally, all 12 should be incredibly proud of the shift they put in for the club, even in defeat.

#UpTheSouth