The Norwich Dragons Under 16 Boys travelled to Colchester on Sunday Feb 10th for their final regional round of the Knockout Competition. After good preparation with two friendlies against a combined Mens 3rd/4th team and the Dragons Masters optimism was high for good performances and results.

After a delay to start times as the previous event at the astro overran the boys finally got onto the pitch for their first match against Colchester. A great start was made by the team with some attractive flowing passing hockey being played with Alec Bidet-Steele and Jonty Gosling slicing through the middle of the pitch and Colchester were slightly on the back foot in open play. Eddie Smith was supporting the attack with strong dribbling runs from right back powering through the Colchester defenders. The forwards Ben Watson and Josh Bingham were bursting into the D when the passes were put through and were also pressurising the Colchester defenders into poor choices when they took the defensive 16’s. James Whitmore was playing simple passes to start attacks on one flank while on the other Henry Laming was dribbling past the defenders to cross into the D or turn back to find team-mates.

The team took the lead with an open play goal from Jonty Gosling and when Colchester attacked the two John’s Franks and Savill were working hard in the centre of defence. However Colchester began to win short corners and their forward scored two goals when he dribbled through tackle before scoring from close range. When Colchester had to resort to shots from further out Michael Glerum was making good saves. The team were able to score two more goals to go into half-time leading 3-2.

The second half gave the opportunity to put on the young fresh legs of Pedro Goss and Tom Byrne who impressed with their commitment and energy. The team scored a fourth goal from a Alec Bidet-Steele drag flick at a short corner Colchester replied with two goals to make the scores level at 4-4. A turning point in the match then occurred when Colchester were awarded a penalty flick and Dragons celebrations started when Michael flew across to his right to make a diving save. The joy was short-lived when the umpires ordered the flick to be retaken as the Umpire said he had not blown his whistle and from the retake the Colchester player placed the ball to the left of the goal to give Colchester the lead. Late in the match Colchester scored a sixth to ensure victory by 6-4 . The Dragons performance and skill in this match had deserved greater reward than they had received. At the end of the match Mark Savill suffered a nose bleed and had to be treated for this.

The Dragons team had very little recovery time before they had to face Ipswich and East Suffolk and with the driving rain and biting wind players hands were starting to get cold and numb and the Intense! manager(One of the boy’s description) on the sideline was suffering from the shivers. As Mark recovered from his nose bleed his place in the defence was taken by James Whitmore who did an excellent job deputising. The team once again took the match to the opposition and opened the scoring from one of their silky attacking moves which were opening up the opposition defence. Dragons had most of the possession and pressure but could not add to their lead thanks to good saves by the IES keeper. This proved costly when possession was lost and in a rare attack IES equalised. Dragons reacted immediately to this set-back by going straight on the attack and taking the lead within 30 seconds. At half-time the team were still leading 2-1 and Mark Savill showing great determination returned to the team allowing Eddie Smith to move into midfield. The team continued to attack and make chances and Mark Savill was having a strong second half performance. However possibly due to tiredness creeping in as the team played their second match against a fresh IES team and the adverse conditions an equaliser was conceded. The team pushed hard to try to get the winning goal but the teams could not be divided and the match finished 2-2.

The boys have played well and improved in their individual and team play as they have played the three rounds and have acted as great ambassadors for the club when they have played the two rounds away at IES and Colchester.

I would like to pass on my thanks to the parents of the boys for their support in getting boys to the training sessions and friendlies we have arranged to prepare the team and also for providing the lifts needed to get to the away rounds.

Thanks also to Kerri for helping on the sideline at the two away rounds.

Thanks to Ali Smyth for acting as an umpire and his support as Mens Club Captain and to him, Rob Wagstaff and Phil York-Smith for assisting at training sessions run for the team and to the committee for helping organise the round we hosted.

David Pentin