Nomads match City Vets 3-3 in titanic match

It was certainly a clash of experience on Coldhams Common as Nomads Twos took on second-placed Cambridge City Veterans - a team that has bubbled up through the lower leagues over the last 3 or 4 seasons without really being challenged.

The game started brightly as the first minutes saw Nomads keeping possession of the ball in our opponent's half. We looked hungrier off the ball and sharper on it and appeared to be more creative. Nomads moved ahead thanks to a fast break as Woody took the ball from halfway line into the D, constantly dribbling and shielding the ball from a City defender. With a perfect reverse stick pass, Woody found Matthew sliding in on the back post to put the ball against the back boards. At the other end, Ethan excellently parried some shots away.

At half time, Nomads sensed that intellectually they had the upper hand, but in no way could they be content. City drew level with a series of swift passes from the 25 yard line into the D to find a man on the P spot to put the ball away. As the pace of the match lifted, a fast break found Ellis at the top of the D. The goal keeper ran out to meet Ellis, but then stopped and waited. With coolness and adept execution, Ellis simply nutmeged him for Nomads to lead for a second time.

Again, City matched Nomads with a Vets striker making a superb reverse stick hit high into the netting from a tight angle. He commented in the bar afterwards that he didn't know that he could bend that low!

Ellis once again put Nomads in front with a relatively easy shot past the keeper, following some elegant Nomad interplay from the right side to the top of the D to find Ellis unmarked.

Passionate and heated play that was a characteristic of the second half intensified. Full credit to Rob & Ben as umpires for controlling the game in trying circumstances. Ben caused some comedy by 'accidentally' pulling out a red card to a City player - much to his initial horror. To credit City, a number of apologies were received in the bar and afterwards about their behaviour.

The quality of Nomads pass selection dropped off in the final 10 mins or so which resulted relentless City pressure. Eventually they converted this pressure into a goal following a rebound from Ethan's save which found a man on our back post to score.

In conclusion, it was an epic struggle with both sides threw everything into the match - possibly too much! As Seth said in the pub, "If you'd offered me 3-3 at the start, I would have taken that and been happy".