Magnificent South topple league leaders

South kept their unbeaten record at Mortimer Park, the well appointed ground of Midlands One league leaders Luctonians. Not only did they take the Lucs seasons long unbeaten home record, but they prevented the home side from scoring a point for the first time in the 9 years Lucs have been resident in Midlands One.

Determined to start the new year off with a bang South started brightly with Rich Lang and the rejuvenated Keiron Collins probing deep into the Luctonians half for the opening score. Dynamic play from Sam Badham, Chris Bale, Jim Matthews (probably his best match in a South shirt) and Mike March forced the home pack to defend for long periods. Turnovers were the order of the day as both sides appeared ring rusty after the long Christmas break, however, the home backs were always dangerous on the counter attack as Lucs came back into the game.
Mark Lord had a chance to open the scoring with a penalty, but pulled it wide and it was not until the 40th minute that South got the decisive score. A series of forward drives lead by the impressive Rob Sands resulted in McFredries passing to Lord going blind in turn putting Keiron Collins into the very left hand corner. Lord's conversion from wide out was blown narrowly wide, but he redeemed himself just before the half time whistle with a 35 metre penalty as Lucs were penalised for not rolling away at the tackle area.

Leading 8-0 at the break South had to prepare for the home side's onslought and the ever increasing strength of the wind in their faces. From the onset Lucs surged forward in wave after wave, but were stopped in their tracks by the most aggressive collective defence shown by a South team this season. The impressive forward unit kept the ball tight in phase after phase to play themselves out of defence making the hard yards without any mistakes. Occasional break outs lead to Tom Armstrong, Gaz Nicholson, Matt Thomas, Collins and Lang forcing Lucs back into their own territory.
As the half wore on South were forced to defend heroically as they were unable to kick their way out of trouble due to the strength of the wind. Phase after phase of close quarter combat frustrated the home side and their supporters with Mark Bayley, Dom Green and Andy Harris to the fore. Both Jim Matthews and Rob Sands had to leave the pitch in the closing stages having played their hearts out to defend Souths precious advantage. Rich James and the evergreen Dave Green entered the fray adding fresh legs to the contest for the final minutes.
South held out and the magnificent victory was their's.

This victory should be added to the list of great South successes over our tenure in Midlands One. The collective desire not to let Lucs score was so impressive and the team spirit so strong that we can only go on to greater things this season.
It would be unfair to pick out any individuals as man of the match as all 17 players put their bodies and reputations on the line for the cause.
Incredible!

Team: Lang, Thomas, Collins, Armstrong, Nicholson, Lord, McFredries, Bale, Sands, March (c), Badham, Matthews, Harris, Green Dom, Bayley.

James, Green David.

Match report:Phil Lord