Norwich Dragons 5 v 3 Sudbury

Dragons travelled down the A134 to Sudbury (for some their second trip in as many days) with the hope of securing their name in the hat for the next round – should all things go to plan!

Again we had a broad mix of players from all the teams in the club, ex-members and with ages ranging from 41 to 69! plus a John Skittrall, our guest from Norfolk Nomads, who kept goal for us.

With a strong emphasis on enjoyment Dragons started the game determined to take the game to Sudbury and scored their first goal on 12 minutes when John Butler pounced on a rebound and finished with aplomb. Bouyed by this early success Dragons pushed on and quickly got a second when a flowing move, started by Pete Thomas was finished by the same player when he slotted the ball under the advancing Goal Keeper. This seemed to galvanize Sudbury who put some good passages of play together resulting in a goal being pulled back. Not to be outdone more great attacking play saw Phil York-Smith extend our lead to 3-1 at half time.

With tiring limbs and muscles starting to let us down the Dragons were determined to carry on the good work and immediately conceded a goal! : 3-2. Did we shake?, did we crumble? did we heck.. two quick goals ensued from Chris Simmonds and captain Jon Price to claim a well deserved victory – we even allowed Sudbury a consolation goal to make the score more respectable 😉 .

So game won it was back to the Clubhouse for an excellent tea and a pint or two of the local ale, all in all a good day out.

Many thanks to Sudbury for supplying two umpires and their great hospitality. Finally man of the match went to Peter Thomas who rolled back the years and showed us how hockey should be played… if only he were a bit fitter…

STOP PRESS: The 3rd Round Draw has given the old boys a home tie against West Herts or Luton Town on Sunday 16th February at 2pm, they would love to see as many of you as possible giving them your support and encouragement, this match will follow the Under 16 Girls’ crucial match against Bury at 12pm.  A big day for the Club!!

This article is sponsored by………