Mens 3 vs Cambridge South 4 

St Ives Mens 3s travelled down the A14 to Long Road knowing that a win would almost certainly be sufficient to avoid relegation, and in optimistic spirits against join bottom of the league Cam South 4s

After watching a thrilling 3-3 draw between South 2s and CoP4 in the game before, Ives took to the field with a familiar line up although missing some of the more fresher faces, with just Isaac being under 20 and just Andy Smith fulfilling the 20-29 age bracket (barely)

Some early pressure from CoP nearly paid off with a shot across goal nearly intercepted by Denman but even without the interception, doing enough to put the South striker off behind.

The half carried on with about 10 amazing minutes of Ives hockey - something that has been a trend throughout the season - on and off great hockey. Now to just get to 70 minutes of it.

After a while, John Tudor intercepted a ball in the mid field, and then wandered off up front. After a couple of minutes up there, he got the opportunity to pass the ball to McKenna who set up the first goal to bring up 1-0.

At some point in the first half, Jon Wildin also scored to make it 2-0 - not going to lie, as a goalkeeper, being given match report duties in a game that was not a one sided loss is generally a stupid idea, but then so is nearly running over your teammates..... JT had a good game in the first half and did a lot of good interceptions. Denman made a number of saves and had a great game all round.

Anyway, first half also saw some rather physical off the ball conduct by south, which caused an enraged Jago to go the colour of his shirt hulk style, only for him then a few minutes later to be awarded a card for an accidental foot - a yellow card. And the fines kitty said thank you. 2-0 at half time and Ives were in a good position.

The second half saw Jago sitting on the sidelines for the first 4 minutes, with Dave Jones covering the right back position. After that time had elapsed, ives were struggling to find the elusive third goal that would seal the deal with several opportunities saved by an excellent South GK.

Cam South also looked threatening at times going forward, with Denman making a few smart saves including one absolutely textbook diagonal pad block (I was very proud of it being technically perfect, shh)

At one point, Ives attacked down the left, a raised pass to a high McKenna in a good position was intercepted on its path.... by a south players hand at full stretch. Both teams waited for the whistle and expectant card, only for a yellow one to be shown to Joep when it wasn't awarded as a result of his protestations. More beer kitty.

South siezed the advantage of having DJ play at left back and on an attack down the right had a shot that kit Denman's kicker and dribble in. Oops. 2-1.

Disaster followed disaster , as , with Joep back on the pitch, a moment of mishearing from Tudor played the ball straight to a south player , who ran into the circle with 2 friends and got a 2nd goal. 2-2

With about 5 minutes remaining, Ives went all out on the attack and played some nice hockey again. One such series of passes led to a penalty corner being awarded. The first dragflick finding a foot. The subsequent second PC finding the goalkeeper who played it dangerously, and then somehow with 90s remaining on the clock, Ives scored to take home the 3 points.

If Cam south add a report, it will be at https://cambridgesouthhockeyclub.co.uk/matches/5835/

The league table and results are at https://east.englandhockey.co.uk/competitions/2022-2023-4231403-adult-east-mens-group-4232308-east-mens-division-3-north-west/table