Goals galore for Mens2s local derby against Cambridge South

Four times South went ahead and four times Nomads pegged them straight back.

Within 10 minutes Nomads were 1 down but it should have been 2, after a quite-stunning open goal miss by South. South were in control and Nomads reeling. But with Nomads’ first cohesive attack of the game, Furuta found himself running in on goal from the right wing, to coolly slot home. 1-1.

So Nomads finally woke up, and 1-1 it remained at half time, in a keenly contested game that only occasionally threatened to boil over (Wild man Fieth).

In a crazy second half, South went ahead shortly after the re-start, when Nomads did everything they said they were not going to do at half-time. But redemption at their first short corner, seconds later, as Mutu powered home from a highly-rehearsed Nomads routine. 2-2.

South struck again after a scramble and litany of Nomadic defensive errors. Stung by conceding again, Holmes, with no support ahead of him, picked up the ball at left back, and kept running. Showing some rarely-seen, silky skills he advanced well into South territory. A pass inside to Mort, on to Mutu in the D, then Futura, who fired across-goal before Mort joyously fired in a rebound through a group of players. 3-3.

Promising to defend their goal better this time, Nomads once again failed, and a spare South man buried from close in to put them 4-3 up.

South surely anticipated a win from here, and surely they also promised to defend their goal better. They also failed, as once again Nomads surged up-field, with Whiffen heavily involved on the right. From a quickly taken hit inside the 25, Mort advanced and fired hopefully into the D, where Moots, with back to goal I think, deflected perfectly into the top left corner of the goal, sending the massed crowds into raptures. Nomads were once again level with only minutes to go.

We all hope Moots recovers speedily from the injuries sustained in his exuberant, goal celebration.

In the midst of all this feistiness, the hard-working left-midfielder, Max ‘Bruiser’ Standing, picked up his first green for ploughing through his opponent, and the game was on a continual edge. Nomads skipper (Wild man Fieth) called for a push to victory, whilst the rest of us simply concentrated on keeping our goal in tact and running down the clock.

Even then, there was time for Keeper-John to pull off a miraculous left hand stop, from a goal-bound South effort in the dying seconds. Thus Nomads clung on to a hard earned draw. No doubt South will feel they should have won it – but Nomads will take heart from the isolated moments of quality, amidst a feisty, committed, rear-guard action from the whole team and so earn a point against a good South team on a day when Nomads really weren’t at their best. But the crowd loved it.

And Jez played a blinder!

Match report by Morty