Under 10 boys – Brown Dragons (Silver Tournament)

The team: Theo Wood (GK), Gus Sanders, Leo Sargent, Casper Lind, Alex Wolfe, Ben Panter and Jake Reynolds.

The team played against Norwich City B and Harleston Magpies B, with two fixtures against each team. Both games against NorwichCity were drawn 0-0, with the teams only defeat in their first game against Magpies. The final match, again against Magpies, resulted in a 1-1 draw and by far their best performance.

All the boys played with determination and 100% effort, and our team performances improved with each game. Our final match against Magpies nearly resulted in a victory, only for Magpies to draw level in the final moments of the match.

After each game, the boys voted for their player of the match.

Vs Norwich City B – Leo Sargent
Vs Magpies B – Casper Lind
Vs Norwich City B – Jake Reynolds
Vs Magpies B – Theo Wood

Thanks to Rob Panter for managing.  Well done to Theo Wood who stepped up to go in goal for the first time.  Thanks to Sam Clarke for working with Theo on the Friday before the tournament to give him some keeper training.

Written by Ben Panter.

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Under 10 boys – Green Dragons (Gold Tournament)

The team: Angus Reid Edwards (GK), Cameron Tasker, Tom Bailey, James Cross, Edward Cross, Edward Taylor, Blue Hempsall.

The U10 green boys played 4 matches against some strong opposition.

1st game drew 0-0 against Pelicans. All boys up front had chances at goal but were unable to convert them.

2nd game lost 1-0 against Norwich A. Majority of play was camped in the Norwich half with lots of chances but Norwich snatched victory with their only shot at goal.

3rd game won 3-0 against Dereham. Tom Bailey, Edward Taylor and James Cross all being rewarded for their efforts.

4th game lost 2-0 against a very strong Magpies side. All the boys played their best hockey in this game battling until the end. Some great saves from Angus Reid Edwards and brave tackling from Cameron Tasker who was injured close to the end of the match.

Ended a respectable 3rd place but felt we could have been runners up with a few more of our chances converted.

Well done to all the boys.  Thanks to Andrew Cross for managing and Sue Cross for assisting

Written by Tom Bailey

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Under 12 boys – Yellow Dragons (Silver Tournament)

The team: Samuel Keeley (GK), Huck Hempsall, Fred Sargent, Mccartney Aldous, George Wright, Harvey Lake, Louis Cann

I personally believe today was a great day for the U12 Dragons B team. Coming first in the tournament was a massive surprise to all of us, and not a single player was disappointed with our performance today on the pitch.

The team was satisfied drawing 0-0 with City, after last weekend. We played a decent game, with some good passing from McCartney and George and some amazing runs from Fred.

Our next game was against Magpies. We all didn’t know what to expect and were thrilled with the outcome 1-0 to us. Thanks to a goal in extra time scored by Louis! I also saw some good saves by our keeper Samuel, some phenomenal blocking by Huckleberry and some amazing effort from Harvey!

For the next match we were against City again. We played the game extremely well. McCartney took an astonishing cross early on in the game to Louis, who hit the ball into the back of the goal. After that the team were feeling pumped and continued to play some brilliant hockey, with more good running, positioning, tackling and passing from Fred, McCartney, George and Harvey and Huckleberry.

We believed the next game was fatal to us being first place. Everyone was probably aching, having previously putting in all their effort. We were running on empty.

Magpies were a strong team and quickly put a goal behind Sam despite trying his hardest to save it. Shortly after we were alert that this was not going down well as they put another goal behind us. Then out of the blue McCartney scored. Our hopes were raised! We were putting it all in, but our all wasn’t enough as in the last minutes magpies scored again, the game ended up 3-1 to Magpies.

The team were disappointed. We thought we’d lost the tournament to the Magpies. We gathered round for the ceremony afterwards waiting for our names to be called in 2nd place. “Last place is: Magpies” we looked at each other in disbelief “second: City” our hearts lept. “First place: Dragons!” We were extremely pleased. Especially the likes of Fred and Harvey as it was their first tournament!

Today I was extremely proud of captaining this brilliant team.  Well done dragons!

Player of the tournament: George Wright.

A special well done to HarveyLake who played hockey for the third time!

Thanks to Tom Bailey from the under 10 team for staying on and helping out in the first game.

Thanks to Natalie Beal and Ray Hansell for managing.

Written by Louis Cann.

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Under 12 Boys – Green Dragons (Gold Tournament)

The team: Ollie Shippam, Harry Williams, Ben Nkrumah, Raunaq Rai, Pedro Goss, James Hansell and Jono Chaney Baxter

In the Ist match against Pelicans we got off to a good start and went straight on the attack, with Jonathan, Raunaq, Pedro and Harry creating some good opportunities but our shots were either straight at their goalie or slightly off target. We were a bit slow in getting back after our attacking moves, which left us vulnerable in defence and Pelicans scored through a lucky deflection. After that we were mainly pinned into our D, and Ben made three great saves. We struggled to clear the ball, and a couple of minutes later they scored again.
The next game was against Norwich City, who also fielded a strong side, and it was pretty even for the first five minutes, but then they got a few short corners and it was only a matter of time before they scored. Despite some good runs from Ollie and Raunaq, we struggled with their clean neat passing and the final result was 3-0
After a breather, our next opponents were Dereham, and this proved a battle, with play alternating between the Ds; but our defence was sound. James made some great block tackles and clearing out wide, whilst Jonathan did some excellent channelling preventing crosses. Raunaq created a couple of good saves from their goalie and it looked like it was going to end in a draw. However, a minute before the final whistle Pedro dribbled up the field, noticed Harry unmarked across the other side of the pitch and made a great through pass; and Harry took the ball into the D, passed to Ollie who neatly stopped it and tapped it into the goal.
Last game was against Magpies, who had beaten NorwichCity, but from the start we went on the attack with Pedro, Harry, Raunaq and Ollie all battling in their D, with one shot after another, and it was only a matter of time before Harry picked up a rebound from their goalie to give us one up. This gave us confidence to do more attacking, with Jonathan pushing forward and making some great runs down the left wing and crossing it into the D. We gained several short corners and Raunaq struck well to put us 2-0 up. However, they were dangerous in attack and Ben made a couple of brilliant saves. James and Jonathan were good in defence – managing to clear out wide and getting the ball out clear from 16 hits. Ben players unmarked in the D Harry scored a Short corner from Raunaq. Then Magpies got one back.

Pedro hit out some fast accurate injections to Raunaq but Magpies defended and after a tussle at the edge of the D the ball went to Harry who dribbled to the right past a defender and a fine strike into the woodwork at the back of the goal, to make it 3-1.

Overall a respectable third place. Congratulations to all the players who worked very hard with no subs to provide a breather!

Thanks to Ali Smyth and Pat Goss for managing.

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Under 10 Girls – Blue Dragons (Silver Tournament)

In the Silver Tournament our tenacious little Dragons Blue namely, GK Tilly Connors-Beckett, Anabelle Hodgson, Octavia Udy, Harriet Marlee, Georgia Rayner, Charlotte Carr, Logan Gilvey, and Jemima Watson all worked really hard having only one substitute available all competition.

They played Magpies B’s firstly, the result of 2-0 to Magpies, second match was against Norwich City B’s ending in 1-0 to NorwichCity, then again playing Magpies ending in 0-0, then faced NorwichCity again when we were beaten 3-0.

Although we had 3 losses and one draw the team battled on relentlessly and we had some lovely chances in the D which we just weren’t able to convert on the day. And our keeper did a marvellous job and saved some great goals! Every single player gave their all and gained some great experience on the day.

Big thanks to the Dragons Blue Manager Ally Windsor Waite who kept them all in good spirits and many thanks to the Umpires.

Written by Jemima Watson

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Under 10 Girls – Green Dragons (Gold Tournament)

The team: Lucy Buxton, Molly Finegan (GK), Scarlett Udy, Simran Rai, Sasha Armstrong, Stella Windsor Waite, Sofia Groves.

Match 1
First we played NorwichCity. It was a very tough game. Sasha Armstrong and Simran Rai did some great clearances of the D. Unfortunately we lost 3 – 0 and we then had to go straight into the next game.

Match 2
We then played Dereham. The next match was a closer match as the ball went up and down the pitch. Scarlet Udy made some cracking attempts at scoring but unfortunately it bounced off the goal post and the opposition were great defenders. Stella WW made some brilliant interceptions. The final score was 1 – 0 to Dereham but it was very close.

Match 3
Lastly we played Magpies, who were a very strong team. Molly Finegan (GK) did some amazing saves as some people thwacked the ball into the goal. Sofia Groves dribbled the ball into safety very well. The score was 2 – 0 to Magpies.

The whole team played very well, the end result was…
1st Magpies
2nd NorwichCity
3rd Dereham
4th Green Dragons

Thanks to David Pentin for managing and Marsha Locke for standing in for Claire Hupton who was ill.

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Under 12 Girls – Green Dragons (Gold Tournament)

The team: Alessandra Pelligrinni (GK), Carmel Windsor Waite, Heather Tasker, Lucy Morton, Rachel Bruce, Catherine Matthews, Ella Mansley, Ellie Woods.

Dragons Greens v Pelicans A 0-0

From the push back these two teams looked well matched. The initial skirmishes were confined to the middle of the pitch with neither side giving much ground until Dragons made a break and put in two great crosses, one after another, in front of the Pelicans goal. Sadly neither were converted but both were good goalscoring chances.

Dragons looked strong in these early exchanges but Pelicans countered with a run at the Dragons goal, shooting wide after some useful defence from Dragons. A big tackle in midfield brought a minor injury to one of the players who went off and was replaced by our sub Ellie Woods.

Another great cross came in from Dragons which we just failed to control. Then came our best chance, an undefended shot on goal which unfortunately was fired straight at the Pelicans’ GK’s legs.

Several late Pelicans short corners followed which Dragons fought hard to keep out. This was Pelicans’ best chance to go up but Dragons defence held firm to keep the final score 0-0. A fairly even match though one which Dragons had the upper hand in scoring chances.

Dragons Greens v Dereham A 0-0

Dragons Catherine put in some long attacking runs to test the Dereham defence but we couldn’t quite get round them. In midfield and defence Dragons progress was hampered by some telegraphed passes that invited interceptions.

A huge long run down the wing was more great work from Lucy with a good pass through to Catherine, who just shot wide. Dragons defence from Heather and Carmel was solid.

A period of pressure from Dereham turned into some tough scraps in the centre of the Dragons half but a short corner was forced, followed by a long. Strong crosses in from the corners forced Dragons back on their defence. This was a late resurgence from Dereham, though Dragons were still looking a marginally stronger team. All the girls put in a solid performance and the score remained 0-0 at the end.

Dragons Greens v Magpies A 0-5

From the lineup Magpies looked a big powerful team. They’d won their matches before this and we knew that it would be a real struggle to contain them.

Heather and Carmel had their work cut out from the start but Heather looked calm and collected as she cleared a ball upfield and Carmel was soon battling for the ball on the right. GK Alessandra was also due for some action and was soon in the fray, keeping out a good lofted shot that was heading for the netting.

Another good save from GK Alessandra kept the scores level before Dragons had a useful break from Lucy which led to our only real chance at goal. A Dragons short corner was well defended and led to a counter attack. The Magpies strikers were very strong, skilful and mobile and a big hit was again well kept out by GK Alessandra.

Dragons defence was tested to the limit by a number of aggressive attacking moves from Magpies. A huge amount of pressure was starting to pile on the Greens leading to a first goal and after a lot of brave defending the second was scored off a short corner from an unlucky deflection off Heather, flying up into the top corner, way out of the reach of GK Alessandra.

The third Magpies goal was a great solo run from their striker through a slightly vaporous defence with a good shot into the corner, leaving GK Alessandra no chance.

Dragons were now looking a bit flustered and losing their shape a little under the constant barrage of Magpies attack and a lot of short corners followed. Our defence weren’t getting out quick enough to the receiver from the short corners, leaving her plenty of time to compose a hard shot, and this made it 4-0. A really unlucky deflection led to an own goal off Carmel, but it made no difference at all to the outcome – Magpies were a great team and just too strong for our Greens.

Dragons Greens v Norwich City A 0-4

Dragons Greens had their work cut out against another really strong side, comprising almost entirely Year 7 girls from Norwich School, with at least three County players among them.

They were also up against a particularly vociferous and noisy crowd of Norwich City parents! City needed a five goal winning margin to win the tournament outright over Magpies and the supporters sounded as if they were keen to help bring that about…

Dragons were playing for pride in this match, and did themselves proud. They were under relentless pressure from City from the start and had to throw themselves into defence throughout most of the game. City had some huge hitters at the edge of the D off their short corners. Time and again Greens were having to face up to defence of short corners and did so with a lot of heart.
The best we could do was keep the goals down and on that measure at least Dragons stretched themselves to the limit. The girls rose to their task and all of them defended with real grit and determination. Without this, the score could have gone a lot higher, but Greens held on and kept City down to four goals, enough only to share the tournament first place with Magpies.

The Girls U12 Greens worked incredibly hard under manager Amelia Dawson to put in a really solid effort to come in fourth out of the five teams, and with a couple of goals from the several chances in the early games they could easily have taken third place. Well done to the whole team for their tireless commitment!

Written by Heather Tasker

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Under 12 Girls – Pink Dragons (Silver Tournament)

The team: Dani Harvey (GK), Alice Martin, Esme Potter, Jodi Rump, Lara Taylor, Louisa Dixey, Niki Kerdegari and Aspen Gilvey.

Match 1 – Norwich City B – 1-0(L)

With three players making their debut for Junior Dragons some teething problems were considered inevitable; however, despite the fact that Norwich City looked likely to score right from the start of the match, the Dragon team worked well together and bearing in mind the pressure they were put under, were unfortunate to concede a goal close to the end of the match.

Feet have an awful and inconvenient habit of getting in between stick and ball, and unfortunately during this match it tended to happen most of the time when the ball was in the D, which led to a barrage of short corners against us. Whilst not ideal, what this did do was demonstrate the excellent defensive skills that the girls’ have built up over the season so far. Determination paid off with our first runner, Lara, quickly reaching the top of the D to put pressure on the opposition, and an excellent clearance from close to the line by Jodi Rump, who was guarding one of the posts. Unfortunately the ball was quickly hit back towards the goal, which resulted in a series of fantastic saves by Dani who, it has to be said is really showing some form at the moment. Further short corners were blocked by the Dragons defence with Esme demonstrating some powerful clearances away from the D.

This game saw most of the play in our own half; however, Alice made some good attempts at finding space to receive the ball from Esme and then use the width of the pitch to make a break towards the other end , and Aspen worked well on the right, linking with Jodi in the centre and Lara in defence. Nikki and Louisa, both playing for the first time up front, didn’t see too much action during this game, which gave them the opportunity to settle in to their new positions.

Match 2 – Magpies B – 1-0(L)

This match saw slightly more action towards our attacking goal, which meant that Louisa and Nikki both had to work hard in attacking play, which they did to good effect when the ball reached them. However, the team still seemed a little reticent in moving forward and attacking.

Every player in the team showed excellent defensive skills, regardless of their position on the pitch, for example, both Louisa and Nikki moved back to help their team mates when required, despite being in attacking positions. More defensive short corners meant more great blocks by Dani, who had to maintain her concentration and direct her defenders. Also a fantastic clearance from the line by Alice, strong tackling and clearances from Esme and excellent running out by both Aspen and Lara kept the goals at bay during short corners. With the amount of defending required from our young players, the fact that only one goal resulted is a testament to their determination.

Some good, strong clearances from Esme, twice saw Alice able to break through the Magpie midfield and make a strong run down the left, whilst Jodi followed in the centre to offer support; similarly down the right, with Lara clearing towards either Jodi or out wider to Aspen, who would drive the ball down the pitch. However, it was noticeable that the girls’ were always ready to defend, rather than actively pushing forward. It sometimes seemed in this game as though there was an invisible line preventing entry to the attacking D. Perhaps this resulted from the constant defending from the first match, but it was clear that it needed to be addressed before the third and final match.

Match 3 – Pelicans B – 1-0(L)

Following a good pre-match discussion, the girls’ entered this game with a renewed determination to move the ball up the field and attack, with the intention of scoring a goal. First Nikki, and then Louisa had their work cut out as true to their word, the girls’ moved the ball up the pitch. Esme and Lara made sure that their clearances from the back were put out wide so that they could benefit from using the whole width of the pitch, Alice and Jodi worked extremely well together moving forward, whilst Aspen watched where they were and made some meaningful runs into the D to receive the ball. Louisa visibly made progress in this game as she clearly enjoyed pushing up with the ball, making some strong and decisive tackles along the way.

Defensively there was slightly less to do, largely because when the ball did come back, both Lara and Esme made considered clearances so the ball was less likely to come straight back into the D. Dani could have thought that she could relax more in this game as the play wasn’t always surrounding her, but she did well to maintain her concentration and watch the play. This meant that she was able to make a strong save when required.

The goal that did come from Pelicans is not a good reflection of the game in general, which would have been more suited to a draw. The whistle of one umpire had gone for a foul against us, which meant that our player who was tackling, as well as the player behind her, stopped playing. The other umpire, who hadn’t heard the whistle played advantage to Pelicans and from this they scored. The goal was very well struck, which cannot be disputed, however, the situation itself was unfortunate, and a real shame for the Dragons who worked so hard during that game.

This match was by far the best overall, and demonstrated that as a team the girls’ are able to defend well and attack well. Moving forward these girls have the makings of a very strong team.

Many thanks to Gemma Rump for managing the team.

Written by Jodi Rump

 

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Your tournament was brought to you by…

 

Umpires:

Freya Clogan
John Clogan
Michael Whitmore
Mike Banham
Ali Smyth
Amelia Dawson
David Pentin
Pollyanna Watson
Dan Ryan
Jason Wolfe
Natalie Beal

Fundraisers:
Sue Cullum – raffle (raised £185) (and parents donated prizes)
Andrea Matthews – cake stall and tuck shop (raised £250)

Scorers:
Gail Thomas
Pete Thomas
Sophie Thomas
Hannah Hardy

Tuck Shop and Cake Stall staff:
Andrea Matthews
Catherine Matthews
Rachael Matthews
Jess Tye Leech
Josh Bingham
Laura Hansell

(and lots of parents made the cakes)

Tournament Director:
Angela Murgatroyd (Spike)

General set up and running around all day:
Mike Hardy

Set up and Pack up:
Mike Hardy
Gail Thomas
Hannah Hardy
Andrew Cross
Ali Smyth
Sue Cullum
Andrea Matthews
Mr Buxton
Angela Murgatroyd
Natalie Beal