Men's 3rd XI Vs Nottingham 2

Captain Grozzy reporting.

Freshly promoted (back to back) South travelled the short distance to Goosedale to face a Nottm side who finished mid table in the previous season.

Both sides were severely depleted due to the early start to the season, the hosts even resorting to having “rolling” umpires which was a first!

The Goosedale pitch had gone from a virtually concrete surface to a very spongy one, great on the knees, but also particularly grippy .. Harry Strutt found this out to his cost within 9 mins when he caught the edge of his astros and rolled his ankle & tweaked his knee ... Man Down! Sharpie arrived in the nick of time to take his place in the centre of the park. South took the lead when Ellz intercepted a weak Nottm pass across the back, drove into the D and slotted neatly past the keeper. 0-1.

The hosts tried to press on but South kept soaking up any attack - the defensive unit of Brainz, Batty, Craig Lawson and young Adam Board made sure Keeper James Fildes’s goal was barely threatened as every attempt was intercepted or flashed wide.

Once Batty or Brainz had the ball, the level of distribution was immense as the ball was worked through the midfield unit of Will & Craig Bingham, Sharpie and last minute addition (thanks to Notts Police for allowing him and extra 30 mins lunch break to play), Brian Blackmore.  Chances started to become more frequent for the evergreen front pairing of Grozzy & Ellz and a number of chances went begging along with a string of penalty corners that couldn’t be converted.  The next goal came from a quick thinking Batty who shelled a 16 hit to Grozzy in halfway who squared to the miraculously fit again Strutty who in turn slipped a neat pass to young Will Bingham running in to the D from the right, he was challenged firmly by the defender & keeper but his Dad, Craig, followed up with a sweet strike into the bottom corner. 0-2.

Half time was a positive affair with skipper Grozzy encouraging everyone to keep playing the same tough and progressive way.

Nottm came out flying but couldn’t seem to deal with how well South broke down the play, swiftly turning defence into attack on an increasing number of occasions.

Goal 3 was a neat short slip to Brian who drilled a low hard shot through the players on the goal line from the left of the D. 0-3.

Grozzy missed the sitter of the day when Ellz finally picked him out unmarked on the p spot only for last year’s top scorer to slap weakly wide - DoD for that effort.

More chances came and another P Corner was awarded to the visitors- this time the mis-firing skipper slipped right to Ellz for a 1-2, which worked its way to Will B, the challenge on him saw the ball land in Ellz’s perfect hitting zone to bury into the bottom corner. 0-4!

It was turning into an unexpected rout!

Grozzy finally got his goal and was in his usual spot on the back stick to bundle in his first of the season after great work by Bingo Sr. 0-5.

There was still time for more drama as Brian and Sharpie ran rings around the Nottm midfield and picked out Grozzy at the top of the D who spun & smashed a waist high drive past the keeper who didn’t see the ball at all. 0-6.

In the final few minutes, another South attack saw Ellz set up Grozzy with a pull back from the front stick to bury a hard slap into the bottom corner completing his unlikely 12-minute hat-trick and the scoring for the day.

Final score - 0-7!!!

Great effort by everyone today, really encouraging to see the youngsters Adam & Will really putting in a shift and advancing their development.  Well done everyone!

Onwards to our very local home derby Vs SNHC 2’s!