Mens East League Division 2 North
Norwich Dragons 1s 5:0 Dereham 2

Dragons recorded an excellent 5-0 away win against Dereham, on a day when the weather was far from suited to hockey. The result puts some daylight between Dragons and the bottom 4 relegation places, though they are not yet safe: there is still lots to play for in the last 3 games of the season.

Dragons were initially pushed back by the Dereham attack, but weathered this early storm. They soon started to establish their passing game, with good interlinking play up the left and right flanks and surging runs from the midfield. Dragons opened the scoring through Steve Woodward, who pounced on the rebound off the ‘keepers pads at a penalty corner. Dragons had most of the possession in the first half, but could not convert it into opportunities. Dereham always looked dangerous on the break with their quick, young forwards causing trouble for the Dragons defence, but they were unable to get on the end of a number of crosses and opportunities. The half-time score was 1-0 to Dragons.

Dereham pushed hard after the restart, pressing Dragons high and looking to find the equaliser. Dragons defence held firm though and they extended their lead when a Dereham defender deflected the ball into his own net (2-0 Dragons). Dragons scored their 3rd in the goal of the game, breaking out from a Dereham penalty corner, Alex Browne scoring after a swift interchange of passes up the field. Dragons scored further goals through Alex Browne and Jason Wolfe.

Final score 5-0 to Norwich Dragons.

Dragons man of the match was Dave Sloman.

—————————————————————————————————————–

Mens East League Division 4 North East
Norwich Dragons 2s 4:4 Dereham 3

Dragons started the game well, putting the Dereham defence under pressure. Good passing between midfield who in turn linked up with the Dragon forwards, gave Dereham a hard time.  Unluckily for Dragons, a counterattack by Dereham, by hitting a long ball got through to their forward who pushed it into the goal. This was an unfortunate goal which had gone against the run of play.

Dragons fought back and managed to equalise through Andy Kelsall crashing a ball in from outside the circle deflecting off the keeper into the back of the net. Kelsall continued his strong hitting form by completing all his 16 yard hits through to midfield and the forwards. This allowed Dragons to keep up the pressure on Dereham. Lovely passing and defensive play from Gary Burgess and Chris Simmonds on Dragons left made sure that Dereham didn’t have an attack down their right side. Dragons were unfortunately undone again when another long ball got through the defence to the Dereham forward who played a delightful ball over the Dragons keeper to make it 1-2 Dereham.  Dragons kept pushing and were cutting out most balls from the Dereham defence. Adam Sayer cut out one such ball and slipped it to Simon Nesbit, who fed into Dan Cheesman. Dan dribbled past the keeper and slotted the ball into the goal just before halftime taking the scores 2-2 into the break.

Dragons knew this was going to be a tough 2^nd half and had to work hard if they wanted to get the victory. They took the lead for the first time through a goal by captain Cley Hamilton after a break down from an Andy Kelsall short corner the ball fizzed on to his stick and was duly dispatched to make it 3-2 Dragons. The Dragon midfield of Sayer, Nesbit, Simmonds, Hipper and Price produced some delightful passing and Dereham found it difficult to reply. Dragon captain Cley Hamilton was strong on the ball and made some confident runs to the Dereham defence.

However, Dereham snuck another goal and brought the scores level.  Dragons kept on pushing and a cool, calm Dan Cheesman collected the ball just outside the D from a passing play by Simon Nisbet and Cley Hamilton, and smashed it into the goal making the scores 4-3 Dragons.

Dereham kept pushing and not long before the end managed to score through a short corner to bring the final score, 4-4.  A real battle of a game, which though entertaining to watch, left Dragons feeling that they could have had the win. They look forward to their journey to Bury St Edmunds next week, and 3 points that will bring them closer to promotion.

—————————————————————————————————————–

East Men’s Hockey League Division 5NE
Norwich Dragons 3s 4:1 Magpies 6

Norwich Dragons Mens 3rd team made their way through the deep puddles on the roads on the way to Harleston and despite the heavy rain falling found the pitch in good condition and the ball able to zip across the surface which suited their passing hockey style.

Dragons dominated the early exchanges and as Harleston were not playing a forward the Dragons centre back David Pentin was able to support Stuart Kelly in central midfield and release his captain George Walker with several passes. The deadlock was broken when George Walker and John Ives combined down the right and the ball taken to the back-line and crossed to the far post for Matt Jenkins to score from close range 1-0 Dragons. Magpies responded and created attacks of their own using the pace of their youngsters and the hockey knowledge of their expeienced heads in central midfield. From one of these attacks Magpies were awarded a short corner which James Smith received at the top of the D and beat a couple of players before shooting inside the post where the Dragons defender tried to stop it but the ball had just enough power to cross over the goal-line and bring the scores level at 1-1.

Dragons continued to have the greater posession and territory and Jon Goodson was playing well in the Dragons midfield and the young Harleston goalkeeper was making several important saves to ensure parity at half-time. In the break the message was to carry on the same approach and the goals would come. Dragons continued to work down the flanks in the second half and regained their lead when good bulid-up play involving Ollie King and George Walker allowed the latter to enter the D and noticing the Magpies keeper had come off his line Walker unselfishly slipped the ball square for Adrian Kemp to turn the ball into an unprotected goal 2-1 Dragons. The match was made safe when man of the match Jon Price took the ball from the right flank as he overlapped from fullback and drove into the D and fired a thunderous shot into the far corner to increase the lead to 3-1. Magpies were having a few rare attacks in the second half and were awarded a short corner which the Dragons keeper Robbie Bell made a crucial save from to prevent Magpies getting back into the match. Dragons finished the match in style with a fourth goal after good work at the top of the D by Ollie King whose shot at goal was turned in from close range by Matt Jenkins.

This was a great display of hockey by the Dragons and they now have two matchs left to complete an unbeaten season. The only aspect the team could improve on is their conversion rate from attacking short corners as this has dropped off in recent matchs.

—————————————————————————————————————–

East Men’s Hockey League Division 6 North East
Norwich Dragons 4s P:P Norfolk Nomads 2

—————————————————————————————————————–

—————————————————————————————————————–

Marshall Motor Group Norfolk Women’s League Division 2
Norwich Dragons 5s 4:3 Old Buckenham 2

This was yet another curiosity from the 5s playbook. They scored freely but allowed the Bucks to run at them at will – which is not part of their game. It was a thrilling, error-strewn, end-to-end  game  played in icy rain in great spirit by two teams who gave it everything they had and were a credit to this entry level of league hockey.

So if you are sitting somewhere warm and dry, enjoy the story. The day began with Abi Cowe legging it after her family car to get her hockey stick. She planned to come to the match as the mascot, but we thought she could have a ‘half of a half’. (And given the 4s were unable to play in the snowstorm, that was a result for Abi.) It also meant we played three across the back, a bottom of the diamond, a twin spearhead in attack.

On arrival we huddled about like baby penguins keeping out of the icy blast, and in the first 10 minutes Laura Goodbun sent over three fabulous nicely-weighted crosses onto the P spot and we missed the lot. Would it be a case of ‘same old, same old’? Never fear, readers (and remember you already know the result). Rosie Korn slapped a perfect penalty corner injection to Lizzy McDonnell, whose shot was blocked by the keeper (playing in goal for the first time) but pounced on by Chiara Bond who turned and swept home in style.

This should have been the signal for Dragons to construct a convincing win. But the Bucks were inspired by Susan Lansdell, who players will remember from Norwich Union days. She has a good turn of foot and stick skills to match, and time after time she ran through the Dragons and layed off a ball for one of her youngsters to finish off. So the story was we scored, they scored. Yada yada. Sue Cullum was in fine form in the Dragons goal, and stopped loads. Fortunately she kept her helmet on, or she would have been tearing her hair out at the way we all flocked (penguins again) over to the right to leave players unmarked on the left, lining up to score. Tara Laws, Abbi Thompson and Susan Lansdell did just that. Fortunately for the Dragons, Bucks missed an open goal minutes from time.

This would have been a good match for video analysis, because there seemed to be no real reason why we gave Bucks so much running space. Abi played conservatively while she was on, and grabbed every ball she could reach. Beth Elgood played her second game after a lay-off, and kept her opponents wide. Nicky King played bottom of the diamond and then in central defence, and built on her previous performances. Emma Buxton on the right let nothing past her.

It could have been that our mids failed to get back fast enough and often enough, and that our tackling was rather weak. Too often one-handed jabs were poorly timed and ineffectual. Possibly all of us could have improved our ‘tackling back’ percentage, and once again we allowed the opposition to be ‘first to the ball’. One final aspect of the game that was not ‘Dragons playbook’. We tended to try to carry the ball, and we need to recover that short, slick and snappy passing game which wrong foots opponents.

So how come we won? Lizzy McDonnell moved to the bottom of the diamond and had an outstanding game. Chiara Bond’s confidence was boosted by her goal, and she ran tirelessly and on several occasions made the telling passes to set Laura Goodbun away, and was voted player of the match. Rosie Korn also stepped up to the mark this week. She injected corners beautifully and distributed the ball left, right and centre from the top of the diamond. She showed her value as a secondary striker by always being available in the D and was rewarded with her own goal, the Dragons second. Lisa Harwood and Lois McGregor kept the pressure on the Bucks defence by keeping a high, moving line. Claire Fairhurst and Ciara Willmott also made good contributions, and have now reached a level where more will be expected from them – they handle their short spells on the pitch well, and if they can build their confidence and determination like Chiara and Rosie did this week, they will give the squad even more strength.

Laura Goodbun also deserves special praise for inspiring the Dragons attacks. She was one player who did not tire at all, and as well as proving the crosses, she scored the decisive goals – the last a brave stretching effort to elude a very strong defender.

This week, it was the younger players who caught the eye with their goal scoring efforts, but the Dragons also benefitted from having older, stronger players like Lois and Lizzy available again.  It was great to get the three points from a most enjoyable match which was extremely well umpired – they took every opportunity to let the game flow.We must fine-tune this performance for some harder games to come.

—————————————————————————————————————–

Marshall Motor Group Norfolk Boys Development League
Norwich Dragons: A:A Dereham

With conditions less than favourable, the boys were still full of enthusiasm and raring to go. After last weeks defeat we were determined not to let it happen again. Dereham started well with a goal against the run of play but the Dragons had control of the game . Plenty of good moves were forthcoming. Jonty Gosling in the middle of the park added real value and his individual run levelled the score. Other attacks from Connor Adams, Pedro Goss and Ollie Shippam eventually gave Ben Watson the chance to add another. Finally a touch goal, again from Jonty Gosling sealed the half time score at 3 – 1. Due to the appalling conditions the game was abandoned at this stage. The game will be re arranged but we will not have our 2 gaol advantage so it will all have to be done again. Our younger players, Ollie Shippam. George Wright and Ben Nkrumah all played well and showed their potential for the future.

—————————————————————————————————————–

Marshall Motor Group Norfolk Girls Development League
Norwich Dragons : 1:3 Norwich City

The game started with a Norwich City push back in terrible weather. The rain persisted throughout the match, but this did not dull the spirits of the team. Some early pressure from the opposition resulted in a goal. Dragons soon found their tempo and bossed the latter part of the first half, and deservedly scored an equaliser through a good team build up, and final touch by Flo Pond.

The second half repeated the start of the first half with early pressure by the opposition. Unfortunately two goals were conceded early in the second half. The Dragon’s heads didn’t drop, and pressure was applied on the Norwich City defence, but no breakthrough could be made. Given the appalling conditions, it was a thoroughly entertaining game and a draw would have been a more deserved result. Dragons had about 55% of the possession throughout the game, but with Norwich City’s solid defence, only one Dragons goal was scored.

—————————————————————————————————————–

The hoof table as it currently stands

1	Ladies 3s	4.68
2	Ladies 4s	4.29
3	Ladies 1s	4.15
4	Mens 3s	3.70
5	Mens 2s	3.55
6	Mens 4s	2.47
7	Ladies 2s	2.26
8	Mens 1s	2.24
9	Ladies 5s	1.75
10	Boys Development	1.33
11	Girls Development	1.25