NDHC League Match Reports: Saturday 5th October 2019

This Week’s Results

TeamOppositionH/AScoreScorersPlayer of Match
L1sWisbech Town 1H4-2 (W)Mia Bartram x2
Lauren Lawrie
Sarah Jenkins
Mia Bartram
L2sChristchurch 1A1-3 (W)Alex Daplyn x2
Hannah Hardy
Alex Daplyn
L3sHarleston Magpies 3H2-4 (L)Maddy Reynolds
Harriet Rant
Piper Hempsall
L4sReephamA3-4 (W)Georgie Manly x3
Amy Forse
Georgie Manly
L5sCarrow H0-0 (D)Emily Grint
L6sMagpies 5A8-0 (L)Esther Jacobs
L7sUEA 3A3-1 (L)Lara NuthallLara Nuthall
L8sUEA 4A6-0 (L)Emily Matthews
M1sUniversity of East Anglia Men 1H3-1 (W)Mark Flatman
Dan Rix x2
Peter Dickerson
M2sNewmarket 1H0-5 (L)Alex Sharpe
M3sUniversity of East Anglia Men 2A0-1 (W)Jon MilesJamie Mckinnon
M4sHarleston Magpies 5H3-3 (D)Harry Brown
Greg Reynolds
Arj Puvanachandra
Arj Puvanachandra
M5sNewmarket 2A4-2 (L)Charlie Creasy
Andrew Cross
Charlie Creasy
M6sUniversity of East Anglia Men 4A2-0 (L)
BD AN City H3-3 (D)Will Sexton x2
Vithu Baskaran
Will Sexton
BD BWatton A0-0 (D)Freddie Jupe
GD A
GD BPelicans A

East League,  Ladies 1N
Norwich Dragons Ladies 1s v Wisbech Town 1s:

Goalscorers:   Mia Bartram x2 , Lauren Lawrie, Sarah Jenkins
MOM:  Mia Bartram

This match against Wisbech Town 1s was a great build on last week, taking into account what was worked on in training. A 4-2 win saw goals from Mia Bartram x2, Lauren Lawrie after working the ball around the D, and Sarah Jenkins after a fantastic short corner with a deflection off the opposing player. There were fantastic runs up the pitch, notable work by Holly Setchell, and a high work rate was kept throughout the game. Two goals were conceded in the second half, the last scored on the break. Player of the match went to Mia Bartram for an incredible game and working hard to the end.  

 

East League, Ladies 2NE
Norwich Dragons Ladies 2s v Christchurch 1s: 

Goalscorers:    Alex Daplyn x2 ,  Hannah Hardy  
MOM: Alex Daplyn

An early start for Dragons saw them head down the A140 for an away trip with Christchurch. Changes saw Kate McKenna and Sam Franklin return to the team, plus a deserved debut in the 2’s for Alex Daplyn.

Dragons had a good warm up and started the game well, with a long period of pressure following some good work down the right by Sam Franklin and Ally Windsor Waite who combined well. Having earned a couple of short corners, Dragons eventually scored with their 3rd, following a neat pass from Gail Thomas to Hannah Hardy who found the corner. Unfortunately the team then switched off a little, allowing Christchurch to attack and earn a couple of short corners of their own, with the 2nd, a neat routine saw a strike from the left deflected neatly past the Dragons Keeper.

Despite plenty of possession, Christchurch defended deep and in numbers and the visitors found it difficult to break them down. Christchurch had good spells too and Shelly Seaman, Karen O’Neill Simpson and Stella Windsor Waite needed to be alert to the threat, whilst Jillian Christie in Goal pulled off some important saves.

At halftime Captain O’Neill Simpson asked for the team to look to play with a bit more composure, move the ball on a bit quicker and believe the goals would come. The team heeded her words, good work down the right from Georgia Rant saw the ball forced across the D where debutant Alex Daplyn found herself in a great position to fire home into the roof of the net. Dragons 3rd quickly followed, again from the right of the pitch saw Georgia Rant showing good skills to find Hannah Hardy who fired the ball across the D, where Alex Daplyn had once again found space at the back post, to claim her second of the day.

More good Dragons build up play continued; Hannah Ellis was strong in the middle alongside Gail Thomas, both feeding great balls into the ever willing forward runners, Lilli Ballard worked hard, alongside Kate McKenna and Ally Windsor Waite, but the 4th goal just eluded Dragons, with the Christchurch Keeper making some strong saves.

An improved performance and plenty to build on for the 2’s. Player of the Match deservedly went to Alex Daplyn on her 2nd Team debut.

East League, Ladies 2NE
Norwich Dragons Ladies 3s v Magpies 3s:  

Goalscorers:    Maddy Reynolds,   Harriet Rant  
MOM: Piper Hempsall

Empresa Norfolk Women’s League, Premier Division
Norwich Dragons Ladies 4s v Reepham:

Goalscorers:  Georgie Manly x3,  Amy Forse  
MOM:  Georgie Manly

Dragons got off to an attacking start, with some good movement and quick passing. The game was end to end and some good defence was utilised as was the strong attack. They were unlucky to concede a well taken penalty flick after sustaining a quick attack making the score 1-0 to Reepham. Dragons went into the attack once again and after some quick passing,using the space wide, Amy Forsedrove into the d and offloaded to Georgie Manly who scored a great goal , making it 1-1 at half time. After the break Reepham came back out with great intent scoring another goal to make it 2-1. Dragons weren’t to be fazed and after using the space out wide and Amy passing to Georgie who scored again the score was 2-2. After more attacking Dragons won a short corner which Georgie managed to convert giving dragons a 3-2 lead. Reepham scored after a prolonged period of attack equalizing the score once again 3-3. Dragons kept attacking hard, giving everything in the final three minutes. Amy made a blistering run and managed to get another goal with only a minute left on the clock sealing the 4-3 win for Dragons. A very good game against a very strong team. 

Empresa Norfolk Women’s League,  Division 1

Norwich Dragons Ladies 5s v Carrow:

MOM:   Emily Grint

This was always going to be a tough game, Carrow are a strong and well organised team who have developed a style of play that works well for them and often wrong foots the opposition. However, Norwich Dragons, having played them last season, soon got the measure of them and set about taking advantage of youthful midfield in the form of Mary Bowles and Emma Merryweather who worked well to move the ball along the wings and towards the D.
Carrow tried to dominate the middle ground during the first 15 minutes, but the skilful Anita
Mancini and tenacious Louise Brooks, stopped most attacking play before it reached the defensive end of the pitch. Nat Crisp and Jo Jennings both worked hard to move the ball up towards the Carrow goal and successfully played the ball into the D and the waiting stick of Claire Stewart, who came close on a couple of occasions, but a very agile keeper stopped everything coming her way. The best chances in the first half came from a one-on-one with the keeper for Emma Merryweather and a lovely short corner strike from Jane Wells, again, strong keeping and a determined Carrow defensive line stopped all chances. Even two short corners on the half time whistle couldn’t get passed them!

A good half time talk from captain Gemma Ballard, reminded the team to keep its shape and make more of the wings, communication was key and so was easy passes and keeping possession.

The second half saw Dragons taking more chances with Louise Davis and Kate Atkins both taking chances to move out of the defensive quarter to overload the attacking play and this allowed multiple attacks on goal, with Floss Andrews having a couple of lovely runs into the D from the right. However the D was nearly always packed with Carrow defenders, who did a great job of stopping everything coming their way. Carrow had several chances in the second half, with some nice paired runs and passes to high forwards hanging around the D, but Dragon’s defence was equally up to the Job with Emily Grint (POM) making some lovely stops and channeling most attacks out wide. Mia Sommers was always in control of the D and took an attacking stance against the Carrow forwards. With the score resolutely staying a 0:0 both teams ramped up their efforts in the final 5 minutes with Carrow getting a short corner, which was expertly stopped by Emily Grint and Jo Jennings. This was quickly broken down and turned into a Dragon’s attack with Claire Stewart having one last shot on goal. The final score of 0:0 was a fair result for what was a pretty end to end game.

Empresa Norfolk Women’s League, Division 1
Norwich Dragons Ladies 6s v  Magpies 5s:  

Goalscorers:  
MOM:  Esther Jacobs

Empresa Norfolk Women’s League, Division 2
Norwich Dragons Ladies 7s v UEA 3s: 

Goalscorer:  Lara Nuthall
MOM:  Lara Nuthall

Ladies 7s played out their heart and soul against UEA 3s, however we simply out ran by a team of young nippy students with many more subs. Although the scoreline at 3-1  to UEA was the same as against Broadband the game was not as there was improvement throughout. 

Pulling ahead in the 1st half Dragons looked promising with Ceris Burgues working hard at top of the diamond to distribute the ball and from training remembering to push it.  The forwards starting to work well together, Claire Fairhurst taking some stealth positions and working the ball round followed by a shot in front of goal from Lois Metcalfe, however not quite finished on the post (I must learn to find those corners :-)) 

Paige Fisher focused and placed an intelligent slip of the ball to Lara Nutall (Man of the Match)  who with a tiniest of touches guided the ball into the goal. This made us jump around. Unfortunately UEA 3s fought back hard and pushing up the pitch led to a series (I lost track) of short corners and eventfully a save on the line (albeit with a foot) led Emma North to the high pressure situation of a flick. The flick was well executed and landed UEA in a 1-1 draw just going into half time. 

 

In the 2nd half,  we were under continued pressure and almost constant short corners. Maisie Dearmer worked hard to distribute the ball into Dragons possession but it was relentless.   Emma Dyer proving stoic in the middle worked hard along with Jessie Young and Ella Hanly improving the defensive work from the previous week. Despite this they were under almost constant pressure with too many short corners to count. Briony Johnstone worked hard to push up with some well considered runs and at times there were signs of opportunity. 

We have to admit we  tired, with the defence under significant pressure. Help had arrived int he form of Sarah Lucas with her boundless energy . Claire Fairhurst and Lara Nutall moved into midfield this gave some rest for some tired legs, however UEA simply didn’t tire whilst Dragons wanted to in the words of James sit down. 

Scoring two more well executed goals they proved themselves the winner working an excellent passing game that the 7s plan to learn from. Keep focus, keep going and let the ball do the work!

Empresa Norfolk Women’s League, Division 3
Norwich Dragons Ladies 8s v UEA 4s:

MOM:  Emily Matthews

After last week’s fine point-scoring display, the 8s were brought down to earth by a fast-moving UEA team who bagged 5 goals before half time.

Dragons faced a number of challenges, with illness and injury leaving them short of players. When Jo Lees had to go off early with the recurrence of a hip injury, the 8s had no subs whilst it felt like the students had an endless supply of fast, fresh legs. If Dragons had any spare legs, they should have been kicking themselves for failing to take advantage of an empty pitch on which to get to know their new players and get a slick warm up routine going. As it was, they started slow and soft, creating a number of opportunities for the opposition when they gently pushed clearances into the path of onrushing forwards.
 
But enough of the ‘minuses’. Onto the ‘pluses’, of which there were plenty. Dragons had to build from the back, and their re-shaped defence began to create an understanding. Emma Northie North was kicking more strongly and stopped some fierce shots. In front of her, Jess Lockwood moved to centre back and exerted calm control. Debutante Emily Matthews proved her flexibility in a number of positions, and earned POM for a very confident display of tackling and clearing. Debutante and ‘Get Back Into’ player Hester McLean also put in a determined display, whilst Louise Crouch-Read, playing her second game, was lively and fearless running forward or tracking back.
 
Bridget Le Good could be relied on to clear the ball the length of the pitch, but her passes would be more useful if she could direct them onto the sticks of the forwards. The link play between the mids and forwards did not get going in the first half, although Katy Cole chased down every ball in the centre and her distribution looked as though it is going to be an asset as the season progresses. Nic Harrison is another great tackler and chaser who was seldom passed, while Sadie Jacobs picked up some good balls on the other side of midfield.
 
Dragons got the ball up to the forwards several times in the second half, but some solid marking by the UEA defence made it difficult for Johanne Steward, Emma Young and Louise to pick up the long balls.
 
It was in the second half, when Nic and Sadie switched sides and Jess, Emily and Hester/Louise all showed their determination in clearing wide, that the Dragons put in a much improved performance. UEA only added one goal to their tally, a well-taken short corner. The 8s began to move the ball around more accurately. The mids were coming back to tackle, and if the whole team can improve their fitness they should be able to set up more attacking moves with the press..
““““““““““““`Every player in the 8s kept playing hard to the end, and felt no need to be discouraged when captains Jess and Johanne could clearly explain  how the side can improve, working with coach Pat Cline. The 8s know that positivity and determination will carry them a long way. If they can build skills and work on their team understanding then the results will come.

East League, Men’s 2N
Norwich Dragons Men’s 1s v UEA 1s: 

Goalscorer:   Mark Flatman,  Dan Rix x2  
MOM: Peter Dickerson

Another fine performance saw Dragons take all three points from a fast end to end encounter. Mark Beckett-Flatman put Dragons in front and despite pressure from UEA throughout the game Dan Rix scored a brace to see the home side home comfortably.

East League, Men’s 3NE
Norwich Dragons Men’s 2s v Newmarket 1s: 

Goalscores:  James Cross, Eddie Gould
MOM: James Cross

East League, Men’s 3NE
Norwich Dragons Men’s 3s v UEA 2s:

Goalscoresr:  Jon Miles 
MOM: Jamie Mckinnon

A tight encounter against a fit UEA side saw Dragons control their D well and Jon Miles’ goal ended up being the difference between the two sides.

East League, Men’s 5NE
Norwich Dragons Men’s 4s v Magpies 5s: 

Goalscorers:  Harry Brown , Greg Reynolds ,  Arj Puvanachandra  
MOM:  Arj Puvanachandra

Harleston started brightly and pinched two goals before Dragons got going. But Harry Brown pulled one back and the momentum swung to an energetic Dragons side. Soon it was 2-2 after a fine team goal resulting in Greg Reynolds putting Dragons back in the game. Dragons then went ahead with Arj  Puvanachandra finishing calmly in front the keeper but it wasn’t to be as Magpies hit back with 10 minutes remaining. Despite the pressure Magpies held out for the draw playing well in the final stages.

East League, Men’s 5NE
Norwich Dragons Men’s 5s v Newmarket 2s:

Goalscorer:  Josh Bingham Andrew Cross
MOM:  Charlie Creasy

East League, Men’s 5NE(N)
Norwich Dragons Men’s 6s v  UEA 4s: 

MOM:   Tom Helfer   

Development Leagues

Dev Girls A no game

Goalscorers: 
MOM:  

Dev Girls B v Pelicans 

Dev Boys A v  Norwich City:  3-3

Goalscorers:  Will Sexton x2 ,  Vithu Baskaran  
MOM:  Will Sexton

As the score would suggest the match was very even and both teams had the advantage at different points in the game. After the first quarter city were 0 – 1 up but after the second quarter 

Dragons had matched the score and as the half time whistle was blow it was 1 – 1. Into the third quarter City took a lead and made it 1 – 3 by the end of the quarter. From then on Dragons brought it back too the 3 – 3 draw which was well deserved after a great team play in the last few minutes. 

Also because of a lack of players on City’s side they played with 2 Adults who definitely played a big part in the city defence.

Dev Boys B v  Watton:  0-0

MOM: Freddie Jupe