Southbank won their first game of the season with a spirited performance on the Pangbourne cow field to see themselves jump above their opponents into 8th place in Division 1 West.

After a pretty even opening period, whilst Pangbourne where down to ten men, Southbank came into the game thanks to impressive performances from Andy Hands and Paul Towner in the centre of the park.  With the two of them running the game Southbank stayed well on top on what was an awful playing surface.  The only thing preventing The 'Bank from taking the lead was a number of very dubious decisions from the Pangbourne linesman.  Every time the ball went forward the flag seemed to go up and attack after attack were called back for a Pangbourne free-kick.

In the meantime Pangbourne where restricted to a couple of half chances.  Spokesy was pretty redundant in the Southbank goal thanks a much improved defensive display, with both Allan Kemp and Ollie Bradbury outstanding at the back.  With the score 0-0 at half time it seemed only a matter of time before Southbank took the lead as Hoola and Towner pulled the strings from midfield.

The second half started appallingly for Southbank when Pangbourne scored without a Bank player getting a meaningful touch of the ball!  A Pangbourne corner was blasted in to the top corner and the goal allowed to stand despite strong appeals for a foul on goalkeeper James Spokes.  Southbank could easily have let their heads drop at this point but showed good character to bounce back and level when Allan Kemp capped a fine performance with a well taken volley following a Towner throw.  A second followed shortly after when Ricky Gale kept his head and scuffed a shot low into the bottom corner.  This goal looked to have secured Southbank their first win of the season but skipper Budda thought that would be too easy and deflected a misplaced shot into the top corner to give Pangbourne an undeserved equaliser.

With both teams now pushing for an all important win Richard Smalley produced a winner from just inside the box to put The 'Bank in the lead with only minutes remaining.  Some resolute defending from all 11 players maintained the advantage (despite a late chance for Pangbourne) to finally see Southbank claim 3 well deserved points.

This was much improved performance that saw all 11 put in the effort required to get a result.  Things would have been made easier if the rest of the squad had turned up as promised but that shouldn't overshadow what was a good team performance.

Team: Spokes, Booth, Kemp, Madden, Bradbury, Thurgood, Towner, Hands, Smalley, Holton, Gale