This Week’s Results
| Team | Opposition | H/A | Score | Scorers | Player of Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L1s | St Ives 1 | A | 1-2 (W) | Kiera Goymour Kate McKenna | Sarah Jenkins |
| L2s | East Coast 1 | H | 1-5 (L) | Georgie Manly | Stella Windsor Waite |
| L3s | no fixture | ||||
| L4s | East Coast 2 | A | 2-0 (L) | Flori Smith Nathalie Crisp |
|
| L5s | Yarmouth | H | 11-0 (W) | Gemma Ballard x2 Hatty Harrison Mobbs Mimi Rutterford Lizzy McDonnell x2 Louise Brooks Anita Mancini Adelice Stanley x3 | Claire Stuart Mimi Rutterford Lizzy McDonnell |
| L6s | Herlings | A | 2-2 (D) | Mia McGhee Hattie Stuart | Jo Jennings |
| L7s | Pelicans 3 | H | 4-0 (W) | Lara Nuthall x3 Paige Fisher | Orla Hardiman |
| L8s | Pelicans 4 | A | 0-1 (W) | Imi Burke | Mehnaz Shammy |
| M1s | St Ives 1 | A | 3-3 (D) | Ollie King x2 Olly Buck | Olly Buck |
| M2s | Pelicans 2 | A | 5-2 (L) | Rupert Snelling x2 | Joe Flatt |
| M3s | Ipswich-East Suffolk 3 | H | 7-1 (W) | Jon Miles x5 Mitch Smith Will Kirby | Jon Miles |
| M4s | Ipswich Cranes 1 | A | 0-4 (W) | Owain Hall x2 Robin Clarke Adrian Kemp | Will Gwyther |
| M5s | Ipswich-East Suffolk 5 | H | 5-0 (W) | David Kidner Casper Lind Will Kider x2 Ross Barnshaw | Matt Armstrong |
| M6s | North Norfolk 3 | H | 0-3 (L) | Adam Jones | |
| BD A | Magpies | A | 3-1 (L) | ||
| BD B | |||||
| GD A | Magpies | H | 0-0 (D) | Elspeth Charlotte |
|
| GD B | Yarmouth | A | 5-0 (CL) | Dragons conceded |
East League, Ladies 1N
Norwich Dragons Ladies 1s v St Ives 1s: 2-1
Goalscorers: Kiera Goymour, Kate McKenna
MOM: Sarah Jenkins
Ladies 1s safely negotiated the A14 roadworks and travelled to St Ives needing a win to ensure safety in Division 1N.
A large group of Dragons’ supporters saw the ladies play some excellent hockey from start to finish and the team deservedly came away with the 3 points needed. Every player worked their socks off, no more so than Sarah Jenkins who was MOM.
A well taken goal by Kiera Goymour from a short corner early on settled the nerves. Dragons continued to dominate the first half and maybe should have gone into half time more than the 1-nil up.
Early in the second half Kate McKenna had the last touch on a strike from Harriet Green to score the second. Supporters’ nerves were starting to settle. However, St Ives came well and truly back into the game and with 10 minutes left they scored a goal from a short corner, making the remainder of the game a very tense affair. Dragons held their nerve and returned home with the 3 points and a place in Division 1N next season.
East League, Ladies 2NE
Norwich Dragons Ladies 2s v East Coast 1s: 1-5
Goalscorer: Georgie Manly
MOM: Stella Windsor Waite
Dragons faced 2nd placed East Coast – welcoming Lily Sore into the squad who was deservedly making her 2nd team debut.
The early stages of the game saw Dragons in the ascendency, playing some good passing hockey and pushing East Coast back from the start. The home team were rewarded for their efforts with a good goal by Georgie Manly, showing some good individual skills.
Dragons couldn’t hold onto their lead for long as East Coast turned the tables with a couple of goals before halftime. Dragons were still in the game though and talked about continuing to press in the 2nd half, however their plan didn’t work out, with East Coast scoring quickly after the break to deflate the home team further. The visitors were by far the better team in the 2nd half, and took their chances clinically extending their lead to 5-1.
The scoreline not totally reflecting the whole game, but the visitors are deservedly in the hunt for promotion. Dragons PoM vote was close with Stella Windsor Waite taking the honours.
East League, Ladies 2NE
Norwich Dragons Ladies 3s – no fixture
Empresa Norfolk Women’s League, Premier Division
Norwich Dragons Ladies 4s v East Coast 2s: 0-2
MOM: Nat Crisp, Flori Smith
Empresa Norfolk Women’s League, Division 1
Norwich Dragons Ladies 5s v Yarmouth: 11-0
Goalscorers: Hatty Harrison Mobbs, Mimi Rutterford, Gemma Ballard x2, Louise Brooks, Anita Mancini, Lizzy McDonnell x2, Adelice Stanley x3
MOM: Claire Stuart
Empresa Norfolk Women’s League, Division 1
Norwich Dragons Ladies 6s v Herlings: 2-2
Goalscorers: Mia McGhee, Hattie Stuart
MOM: Jo Jennings
Today ladies 6’s played away to Herlings finishing with a 2-2 draw. Their goalie arrived with no kit so we quickly took advantage of this with Mia McGhee scoring a cracking goal! When defending slipped up they managed to sneak a goal back! Second half they came out much more determined, causing us to work hard but Hattie Stuart insisted that she scored and what a goal it was! Short lived by an equaliser!
Great game played by all with awesome teas to enjoy after! Pat was great support on the sideline, only telling me off once 👍😆 player of the match went to Joanne Jennings with her persistence in left defence!
Empresa Norfolk Women’s League, Division 2
Norwich Dragons Ladies 7s v Pelicans 3s: 4-0
Goalscorer: Lara Nuthall x3, Paige Fisher
MOM: Orla Hardiman
Empresa Norfolk Women’s League, Division 3
Norwich Dragons Ladies 8s v Pelicans 4s: 1-0
Goalscorer: Imi Burke
MOM: Mehnaz Shammy
Fans and followers of the Awesome 8s better sit down to read this one. The 8s scored their first win of the season by beating Pelicans 1-0 at Lynnsport.
Some mistake? Nope. Freaky squeaky win? Not at all. What, against the same team that crushed them 10-0 at the Den? Yep, the very same team and the very same players – though this time Pelis were a player short.
This was an exciting game, and Dragons believed they had something going for them when they were awarded a penalty corner in the first five minutes and Bridget Le Good struck the ball such a crack that you could have heard it hit the back board at the Den. Although the near umpire thought it was OK, the far umpire considered it had been too high going over the line. Hey ho. But perhaps the balance was addressed when a Peli smacked a second strike at a penalty and it ricocheted into the top corner and was then disallowed So hey ho again.
The game was bubbling from the very beginning when Jess Lockwood, playing the captain’s part, put on the goalkeeper’s kit for their first time in her life. Karen Davidson had some idea of where it all went, and though there seemed to be some spare parts flopping about (the kit, not Jess) she eventually pronounced herself sweating but safe, and went out to do battle. And how well she did! Watching the ball carefully onto either kickers or pads, she cleared powerfully and safely and that clean sheet was never in doubt. Well done Jess.
Usually such a performance would have been good enough for a POM, but on the basis that you don’t win if you don’t score, the 8s were really going for it and it was the young bloods who were gunning. How different life might have been if Ellie O’Kane, Imi Burke, Kaia Peiris, Alicia Billington. Issy Gale and Mehnaz Shammy had all been around at the same time earlier in the season. These girls don’t all go to the same school, and they are not a ‘friendship group’ but wow are they moulding themselves into a cohesive and interchangeable unit with legs, real legs, the sprinty legs that the 8s have been missing all season.
This unit, which covers positions from bottom of the diamond to high forward, is being developed at training, where all the 8s are concentrating and working hard under the auspices of Sarah and Pete. This week the magic blend included Karen Davidson who played three positions, and Nic Harrison who played two. Their tackling skills and game reading were essential to pull the whole team together as Dragons set up wave after wave of attacks, with the Pelis goalie playing a staunch game to keep them out.
Perhaps the 8s still lack that cutting edge in front of goal, though Louise Crouch-Read and Kaia in particular took up some excellent high positions. The significant thing was that in this game the 8s created more opportunities in the circle than they have done in all the other matches put together. Eventually the deadlock was broken, when after a move which must have included the entire team twice, Imi forced the ball home from wide left.
Pelis were confined to individual raids, and Mehnaz, our very own ‘M’ sealed the POM performance by cutting out the dangerous centre forward and then using some lovely stick skills to distribute the ball left and right. Meanwhile at the back, Jo Lees, Bridget Le Good and Johanne Steward looked very secure, even if Johanne did say Bridget was the highest playing left back she had ever seen. How rude!
Dragons had 13 players in the squad, and once again some carefully-planned subbing by Jess had the team running smoothly – though it was useful and a pleasure to have Katy Cole and her bump on hand to facilitate the process.
Awesomes, this lovely game truly pulled together everything you have worked for all season, and the improvements you want do not look beyond your reach. What with some Banging music and a lovely cuddly Bryan2 mascot, this was our day. Same again next week?
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East League, Men’s 2N
Norwich Dragons Men’s 1s v St Ives 1: 3-3
Goalscorers: Olly Buck, Ollie King x2
MOM: Olly Buck
With sporting contests across the globe grinding to a sudden halt, all eyes were on little St Ives, and the gargantuan games on offer there today. The ladies stormed to a roaring win in the game preceding ours – setting a stage and result to live up to.
Just 12 noble Dragons were available today and we soon put a spirited St Ives to the test. The first half was an end-to-end bout with each side sharing spells of possession and dangerous moments. The Dragons struck first through precise forward play, finished off with a neat pass into the corner of the goal by Ollie King.
The half-time team talk was calm, with Olly Buck then insisting that we all employ bedazzling 3D skills more often in the game – giving his own brief foray as prime example. Bucky is a true master of trickery in the third dimension!
The second half saw the Dragons more restrained and intent on hitting St Ives on the counter – twice successfully. First an explosive zig-zag interchange up the pitch from Sean Orton to Matt Knights and to Ollie King allowed the great platter of hair his second goal of the game. Soon after, some cool play from Dan Rix at a short corner fed Olly Buck who finished cutely from the angle.
Winning 3-0 into the final 15 minutes, our discipline in controlling the game wavered and St Ives would bring it level by game’s end.
Plenty to learn from this game and we will [hopefully🤞] round-off the season next week with a performance for the ages against league-leaders Magpies 2s!
East League, Men’s 3NE
Norwich Dragons Men’s 2s v Palicans 2s: 2-5
Goalscorer: Rupert Snelling x2
MOM: Joe Flatt
Men’s 2s unfortunately lost 5-2 after making the away trip to Kings Lynn. As starts go, it wasn’t the best. We found ourselves 3-0 down in the opening 10 minutes. However, after some strong words, we picked up the quality of our hockey and created some decent chances for the remainder of the half. We contested well, but couldn’t keep out the quality of Pelis short corners as they added to their total after half time. We continued to create chances and scored 2 goals in quick succession. Callings of a comeback were on! Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be and we couldn’t add to our total in the last 15 minutes of the game.
East League, Men’s 3NE
Norwich Dragons Men’s 3s v UES 3s: 7-1
Goalscorers: Jon Miles x5, Mitch Smith, Will Kirby
MOM: Jon Miles
Today saw Mens 3s take on IES 3s at home with one team looking to avoid relegation and the other pushing for promotion. Knowing only a win would be an acceptable result in the battle to avoid the bottom three Dragons 3s started with vigour and vitality going 3-0 up quickly.
A half time team talk of “keep doing what you’re doing” saw the home side come out the gates quickly…and concede from a disastrous short corner which should have been an easy save for Captain-not-so-fantasti (Tom McLean). Thankfully we responded and went down the other end to score from a short corner where IES’s keeper decided to do exactly the same manoeuvre of getting swiftly out the way of a ball down the middle of the goal.
At 4-1 up we went for the jugular and a flurry of goals saw the match end 7-1 to the home side. An incredible result and puts the 3s on the cusp of survival.
One game left to pull off the great escape but for now let the beers flow in celebration of a superb win.
East League, Men’s 5NE
Norwich Dragons Men’s 4s v Ipswich Cranes 1s: 4-0
Goalscorers: Owain Hall x2, Robin Clarke, Adrian Kemp
MOM: Will Gwyther
Dragons start strongly against a spirited Cranes side eager to contest every ball. But pressure told as Owain Hall (aka Dwyne) converted a short corner and Bobby Sheppard squares to Robin Clarke to finish. The second half saw two short corner conversions through Owain and Adrian Kemp and put the game out of reach. Man of the Match went to Will (Billy) Gwyther for controller the middle.
East League, Men’s 5NE
Norwich Dragons Men’s 5s v IES 5s: 5-0
Goalscorers: David Kidner, Casper Lind, Will Kidner, Ross Barnshaw
MOM: Matt Armstrong
East League, Men’s 5NE(N)
Norwich Dragons Men’s 6s v North Norfolk 3s:
MOM: Adam Jones
Development Leagues
Dev Girls A v
Goalscorers:
MOM: Elspeth and Charlotte
Dev Girls B v
Goalscorers:
MOM:
Dev Boys A v
Goalscorers:
MOM:
Dev Boys B v
Goalscorers:
MOM: