Men's 1st XI Vs University of Nottingham 5

Game day and South knew they were in for a tough day at the office with the visiting table topping students, South turned up looking eager and in high spirits following a (slightly scrappy) win over Newark the week before; there was no sign of the opponents.. could South be so lucky and get a 5-0 walkover win? Unfortunately not, as they rocked up looking like they they’d just strolled out the gym from a quick warm up..

After some stern but encouraging words from the captain, the game was underway with support on the side - Matty’s siblings and more. South were looking the more dominant team, pressing higher and pushing them back, stepping up to the their level and higher some might say. The first chances on goal were coming from the South side, but they couldn’t finish their dinner and, against the odds, it was the Uni to break the deadlock with probably their first decent chance of the game! 1-0 to the Uni didn’t knock South’s confidence one bit with the old dogs of Matty Robinson and Nathan Gerrard controlling the game in the middle, Dan Truman’s running on the right and Sam Clough having his best game this season on the left. Tom Crosland got himself on and chances kept coming for South, with some one-on-ones between Harry Beedham and their keeper; for some reason Harry thought he was warming the keeper up rather than scoring.. With some outside bets on who would be carded first between our own student James Turner ‘Carlos’ and Tom C, it was one of their players that would beat them to it. With half time closing in and the tireless work rate from the whole team, it was a lapse in concentration and an unlucky deflection to guide the ball into the D for the Uni to nick their second, 2-0 at half time.

Confidence remained high whilst fluid was taken onboard at half time and South were far from out of the game. Second half was underway and the ever present man mountain of Mark Doney in goal was commanding the team from the back with the brick wall of Jim Ward and Captain Will Honey sitting in front, stopping anything getting past them. Some great listening and talking from Henry and Arthur Gilroy-David sured up the defensive line, putting tackles in at crucial times. A second card was to come, but again it was for the Uni with some great umpiring from Simon Recaldin and Ken Shapland having none of their chat! South threw everything at the students with no luck, no matter how much Nathan ran in the middle of the park and how many shots, shorts, chances created, even Carlos hitting the post, South could not put the ball in the back of the net. Tiredness kicked in and the fitness of the students, with a bit of luck, bagged themselves another two goals before the end. 

Final result 4-0 to the Uni, a lot of positives to take from the game and if South can play like that every week then they will challenge any team.