Men's 3rd XI Vs Newark 3

Monsoonal weather accompanied the short drive up to local rivals Newark but South were lucky and the rain largely stopped by push back. South knew that with the teams around them facing tough games today this could be a huge opportunity to set themselves up strong for the final 2 games of the season, and also as a bonus pull Newark into the relegation conversation. South couldn't have asked for a worse start however as a turnover in midfield lead to a mazy run from the halfway line and a roofed finish after 30 seconds, leaving the away side worried that they could be in for a hammering with the goalscorer set to run the game.

Fortunately after the worldy goal he seemed to think he was done for the day and he did very little else and South set about responding brilliantly. After a few half chances the 3 South forwards cut the Newark defence wide open with Tom Boden breaking and playing it up to Mike Shapland, who waited for Max Brinklow to join him before sliding the ball to Max's perfectly timed run for a one touch finish on the P spot. After the scores leveled both teams had a few chances but defences and keepers did well to keep them at bay. South did have the ball in the net off a short just before the half but skipper Craig Lawson's shot was above the backboard.

Going in at 1-1 South knew they were the better side and set about showing this with quick attacks to start the second period. First Mike hit the inside of the post from a snap shot and Max had a shot well blocked before Tom got the deserved breakthrough and buried one into the far corner after Zak Ryan fed him off the right. Tom repeated the trick 5 minutes later with an almost carbon copy strike, this time Max the provider. With a 2 goal lead this still seemed precarious with Newark looking threatening on the break, fizzing plenty of crosses across goal but no Newark forward could get on the end of them. South enjoyed Tom Cross and Oscar Swinburne having absolute blinders covering the backline whenever Newark looked close to getting in behind, nicking the ball or forcing the attacker away from Simon Recaldin's goal.

Despite the backline demonstrating their reliability, South still felt that they needed another to make the game safe and came close when they hit the post again, this time through Max. Finally the goal that wrapped up the 3 points arrived with Tom blasting a ball in diagonally and despite Mike seeing his deflection blocked on the line by a defender's body, Zak was there to lift the rebound over the keeper.

Craig still had time to win DoD after attempting to rearrange Andy Brinklow's... downstairs area... from a 16 and MoM is still yet to be confirmed (please get your votes in everyone!) and South earned another valuable 3 points, stretching their unbeaten run to 6 as they continue to grind out the results to stay up. Elsewhere in the relegation battle Burton finally lost, at home to Players, seeing South climb to 8th on GD. Unfortunately a definitely-not-strengthened Boots teams pulled off a shock 2-0 win over 3rd place North Notts. The results see 3 teams on 22, with Newark just ahead on 24 and Beeston on 25. Quite the relegation battle!

The big one next week...