Men's 3rd XI Vs Mansfield 4

South produced a complete performance, that had been threatening in glimpses in previous weeks to blow away a strong Mansfield team. The end scoreline of 5-1 didn’t flatter.

Playing a 3-5-2 formation, that at times was more 3-3-4, South passed the ball at speed and used the extra man higher up the pitch to create early chances but good goalkeeping saw Mike, Fletcher, Max and Tom B denied. Mansfield however were no pushovers and good interplay led to a short corner that led to them taking an early lead with a shot that appeared to many, to be too high.

South did not drop their heads and with Fletcher dominating midfield, chances kept being created and it was no surprise when the equaliser came from his stick. A second quickly followed after a shambles of a free hit from Mansfield led to a 4 on 3 that was roofed by Mike from a tight angle. He clearly didn’t want to repay the favour to Tom for last week!

The second half started in a similar vain to the first half, however Mansfield were clearly rattled and great forward play led to a third goal as Max tapped in after good play from Fletcher and Zak. The fourth arrived soon after as Fletcher grabbed his second following good recycling of the ball after a short corner.

Mansfield started to resort to long balls to try and stretch the play but excellent defensive work from Tom C, Craig and Fraser kept Simon’s work to a minimum.

A fifth finally arrived after excellent build up play from Zak, Fletcher, Dylan and Andy as Tom B recycled his saved shot and fired into the top corner. 

An outstanding all round team performance. Man of the match must surely be awarded to Fletcher, who was denied a hat trick that his performance deserved by an outstanding save with one minute to go.