Mens East League Division 2N
Norwich Dragons 1s 2:2 Bury St Edmunds 1

Dragons were lucky to escape with a 2-2 draw at strugglers Bury on Saturday in a physical and at times controversial encounter.  Though Wagstaff and Smith might have liked to have named an unchanged side, the team were without front-line attacking trio Charlish, Knights, and Browne and suffered further disruption when the skipper and fellow defender Smyth only made it to the sylvan idyll of Nowton Park after push-back (or, as Rutledge would have it, as testament to the way he plays the game, ‘kick-off’).  Snelling observed after the match, “I have a lot of respect for Ed [Smith – ed. [sic]], but letting life get in the way of hockey just seems a bit weird to me.”  It meant a first-team debut for King, who showed some silky touches and tremendous maturity and composure in a tough game, as well as a run up front for Turnbull who celebrated the opportunity by sneaking ahead of Charlish in the race for the golden stick.

Dragons started sluggishly, battling low slanting sunshine (improbable, but true) and a fired-up Bury side who pressed well and tackled with a certain agricultural ferocity.  Dragons struggled to impose their game and were harried into a succession of mistakes, only fine keeping from Collinge keeping scores even as the side took turns in giving the ball away cheaply.  It’d be unfair to single out any single culprit, though Overstall’s ball to play Bury’s striker clean through on goal was an absolute peach.  Bury thought they’d broken the deadlock when a melee from a short corner saw the ball cross the line, but were eventually called back for a stray foot in the build-up (a theme of the day).  Their pressure finally told, though, when another short corner routine saw Wagstaff desperately kick the ball away from danger and a flick awarded, Collinge carefully diving the wrong way in a transparent attempt to reduce the percentage of conceded goals for which Overstall has been responsible this season.

The belated addition of Smith and Smyth added bite and composure to Dragons as they finally gained some control.  Rutledge should have scored after slick interplay from Wilkins and Snelling but looked to pass when it seemed easier to score himself and then Turnbull calmly tucked away from a tight angle after a nicely disguised pass from Smyth and a characteristically nimble dummy from Flatman left the keeper stranded.  After the match Flatman conceded “I wasn’t at my passionate best today, but it was nice to contribute all the same.”

Dragons looked the better team either side of half-time and went ahead following a well-worked short-corner routine, the fruit of long hours on the training-ground, Snelling gently guiding a Dutch Rabbit past the stranded Bury keeper.  It should have been the spur for Dragons to take control of the game but instead Bury brought themselves level, a succession of short corners finally resulting in a messy goal scrambled in from a Cross-shot.  And Bury thought they had a third, Sloman crudely dispossessed in the middle of the pitch and a flashing break tucked past Collinge.  Again, though, the umpires belatedly brought play back for the initial foul; it was the correct decision, but Bury felt aggrieved given how long it took for the goal to be over-turned.  After the game Sloman insisted he’d been tripped amidst accusations that in fact his legs are just too thin to support his own weight.  In the confusion Dragons were reduced to 10 men when Smyth saw yellow for, as he explained after the game, moving his leg from a position of proximity in relation to the Bury forward to one of contiguity.  There must be technical term for that.

Dragons showed great character to battle away a man light for the last 20 minutes.  They had Collinge to thank for keeping the scores level but also created chances at the other end.  Turnbull might have had a hatrick had the pitch been just half a foot longer.  Dragons were the more skilful side and were disappointed to leave with just a point, but that Collinge was man of the match suggested they were a bit lucky to escape even with that.  On Smyth’s dismissal skipper Smith said “the key thing with Ali is that he’s learning from his mistakes; I mean, at least he didn’t lose his stick trying to hang it on the fence today.”  Wagstaff, similarly, preferred to focus on the positives:  “we were rubbish today.  I should have given the dog a run out at the back.  The teas were good, though.”

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Mens East League Division 3NE
Norwich Dragons 2s: No Fixture

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Men’s East Hockey League Division 4NE
Norwich Dragons 3s 0:1 Bury St Edmunds 2

Norwich Dragons mens 3s faced a well drilled and hard-workign Bury St Edmunds 2s, in the winter sun on Saturday.

After a strong start, the Dragons had the lions share of the chances in the first -half, failing to convert.  Good work form the Bury defence and goalkeeper kept the Dragons forward line at bay and the teams went in 0-0 at half-time.

Eager to capitalise on a good first-half against a team, higher in the league the Dragons started well, but their powers waned as the game developed.  A strong Bury midfield kept the Dragons more and more occupied as the game wore on and an inevitable goal eventually came from the visitors, leaving the Dragons with a difficult final 20 minutes, in which they were unable to claim a draw.

Some photos from this game here.

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Men’s East Hockey League Division 5NE
Norwich Dragons 4s 1:3 Lowestoft Railway 2

Hockey can be a strange game, some weeks everything works like clockwork: slick passing moves, excellent tackling and goals galore! Saturday was, however, not one of these days, infact quite the opposite..

The game did start quite promisingly with the Railway goal put under pressure from the off but no goals alas. And then it all started to fall apart. Railway scored their first and knocked the wind out of our sails. One soon became two from a well worked short corner. A brief spell of encouragement came when Andy Saunders scored a cracker but this was then snuffed out when railway got their third. Half time.

Second half. Slightly bewildered by their first half performance Dragons were determined to put things right. We huffed and puffed and tried our hardest but to no avail. Saturday the 1st of February was not to be our day. Two bright sparks of the day were young Jonty and Ben Watson, the later receiving the man of the match award.

One final note of despair is that we have now been dragged into a relegation battle, along with half the league! Lets hope the hockey gods are kind to us next week.

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Men’s East Hockey League Division 7NE
Norwich Dragons 5s 5:2 Felixstowe 4

Dragons called on the ever faithful Mr Banham to fill in in-between the posts again this week and much is owed by the other players to Mike for helping us out again.

Dragons skipper York-Smith won the coin flip and chose to face into the golden orb and wind for the first half. Conditions, new positions and some credit to the Felixstowe forwards meant Dragons were two down after about the first ten minutes despite threatening early on. Two shots into the corners gave Banham no chance and a response was needed prior to the break or the choice of ends was gonna look a silly decision.  Lower than normal pass completion was noticed , in particular from York-Smith during this pressure and the skipper took him self to one side to give him self a talking to.

Things then changed as passes became more accurate. Short corners were won and chances made which eventually resulted in two being pulled back by half time to enable the half time team talk to be more encouraging.

The second half demonstrated that dragons were starting to gel. As Andy Carver came back on at inside left and Rob Lee took up defensive duties a more settled structure enabled the mid field to spark into action. Lee (hot hatch) Keeler worked well with Carver , Jones and Coyle in the middle retaining more possession and eventually running Felixstowe off the park.

The defence assumed the German calmness demanded by Jorgen Davis whilst the Rock Evans asserted himself back to clean up duties in front of the non troubled Banham.

The forward line then started to fire with Cross assuming the position required and Lawrence running almost half the pitch without noticing. Butler added his experience to it all and chances flowed. Butler in particular unlucky to have his penalty stroke pinched by Cross playing advantage and sweeping the ball home as Felixstowe stood still. Bingham also worked his way into the corners well and showed pace down the side lines.

Scorers were as follows – Cross X3 (missed 9) , Lawrence x1 (missed 2 easy and 4 difficult) , York-Smith x1 (2 failed aerials).

Players of the match went to the tweaked engine of the midfield Keeler and the long barrier at the back Rob Lee.

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Women’s East Hockey League Division 1N
Norwich Dragons 1s 5:1 Norwich City 1

Norwich Dragons came head to head in this local derby against Norwich City on the back of 2 very healthy victories where they scored a total of 22 goals. However matches against local rivals are very different and this proved to be the case.

The Dragons never really found their rhythm of the last 2 weeks and found City difficult to break down. however going into the break 3 nil up without playing at their best was by no means disappointing and probably flattered them somewhat. City continued to work hard and held strong defensively and made it difficult for the visitors to add to their tally.

The Dragons went on to score another two in the second half with fine performances by Rachel King And player of the match Emily ROLLS.  City did score a consolation goal just before the end but never really penetrated the well organised defensive line up of the Dragons. goals from Laura SHREEVE (2), Rachel KING (2) and Nat Beal (1).

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Women’s East Hockey League Division 2NE
Norwich Dragons 2s 1-1 Ely

Norwich Dragons faced the only team to have beaten them in the League so far this season and were keen to overturn a ‘quiet’ spell of form over the last few weeks. Whilst there is no lack of determination within the team, for some reason, things haven’t quite gelled.

The start of the game followed the pattern of previous weeks, with Dragons starting brightly, through strong attacking play by Emma Tabrett, Niamh Lowe-Davies and Ally Windsor Waite, forcing a number of good attacks and a few short corners. Unfortunately the break through did not come and a well organised Ely team capitalised on Dragons giving away sloppy possession, by breaking quickly and earning a couple of short corners, the second of which Dragons failed to clear, and a reverse stick shot from close range was forced beyond the keeper, to give Ely an early advantage.

Dragons continued to try and force the play, however, the visitors were always a threat on the break and Player of the Match for the 3rd week in succession, Angela Murgatroyd, was outstanding in the heart of the Dragons defence. Before half-time, Dragons forced an equaliser, following a SS short corner routine, well dispatched into the corner by Gail Thomas.

With the scores level at half time, the call from the Dragons’ coach was for better quality of passing in the second half. Unfortunately this did not really happen, with the team on occasions forcing passes and losing a bit of shape as a team. They had opportunities to force the winner, Amy Brown made a good run and passed the ball to her left, however the shot from Sarah Radley was just wide of the post.

Ely also had their opportunities too, with one short corner goal being ruled out as the first shot was too high, whilst another effort from a short corner was brilliantly saved on the line by Angela Murgatroyd. On the final whistle, a draw was probably a fair result on the balance of play.

Dragons need to continue to work hard together and their rewards will come. All good teams go through lean spells and its about how hard you work to turn things around – what better place to start next week at home against league leaders Watton.

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Empresa Norfolk Women’s Premier League
Norwich Dragons 3s 4:1 Magpies 4

Building on a solid performance from last week, the Dragons honed their passing, enabling them to take control of the game from the off. The first goal came for Dragons from the second short corner awarded to them. Caroline Wolfe’s initial strike was saved by the keeper, but the rebound was picked up by Harriet Green, who shot straight back to the keeper. The second rebound fell at the feet of Laura Tompson-Wright, who neatly flicked the ball in to the goal.

The next short corner was slipped left to Tompson-Wright. Her shot was deflected upwards by a defender, but landed on the far post where the awaiting Aoife Lowe-Davies was able to guide the ball straight into the goal.

A minute before half time, Harriet Green struck the ball from outside the circle. The Magpies keeper kicked the ball straight to Lowe-Davies who took advantage, scoring from the penalty spot area, showing great goal-mouth composure.

In the second half, Magpies had several breaks which were well defended by Natasha Falzon, Sarah Wagstaff, Sophie Thomas and player of the match Louise Davis, and it was inevitable that they would eventually gain a short corner. They took their opportunity with a straight strike hitting the back board, giving them a consolatory goal.

Lowe-Davis picked up her hat-trick when compact stick work along the back line, from Caroline Wolfe, drew the Magpies’ keeper to the right hand post. A simple, but effective pass to Lowe Davis, by-passing the keeper, resulted in an open goal tap in.

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Empresa Norfolk Women’s League Division 1
Norwich Dragons 4s 1:0 Magpies 6

In what was considerably better weather than last week (almost warm at points!) Dragons took to the pitch determined to continue their winning ways from the previous Saturday. From the outset Dragons had an advantage, for if one was to look at the Magpies’ team closely they would notice a considerable absence – a goal keeper! While this may sound like a whitewash waiting to happen it rarely is in practise because in essence all 11 players on the team become the defence and the D becomes so packed with opposition players it is hard to see the goal yet alone get a ball to it.

Dragons had several attempts to take the lead in the first 10 minutes while the keeper was missing from the team but were unable to capitalise on the advantage due to determined defending from Magpies – play was very closed down and tight and it was difficult to move the ball into a position to allow for a clean shot on goal. Though Hazel Sumner, Sue Cross and Sophie Farrow all had a go at doing so. Once the missing keeper took their place on the pitch play opened up a bit more but Dragons still dominated and had several opportunities including a short corner. Mel Widdows and Rachael Hipperson worked hard on the left trying to create breaks in play to capitalise on the new found space and while Lorna Travers and Gemma Rump (PoM) made good runs into space the goal wouldn’t come.

After half time Dragon’s thought they had taken the lead with a lovely short corner struck by Rachael and slotted in on the post by Felicia Roberts – but it was disallowed (as the ball hadn’t initially cleared the D). Not wanting to let play turn in the other direction Dragons kept the ball in Magpies half for most of the rest of the game with only one or two breaks from Magpies – most of which were stopped before even reaching the D by Abi Cowe (who played in at least 4 different positions during the game), Laura Bruce or Freya Clogan. There was only one real threat, a shot that whistled passed the right hand post, but Morag Morrison was it the perfect position even if it had been on course.

Dragons clenched victory in the last 10 minutes of the game from a short corner that was pushed out to Sue who slipped it left to Rachael who nicely pushed it in past the keeper. While there had certainly been many chances to score in the game we only needed one ball to cross the line to win.

Some photos from this game here.

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Empresa Norfolk Women’s League Division 2
Norwich Dragons 5s 3:1 Norwich City 5

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Empresa Norfolk Women’s League Division 3
Norwich Dragons 6s 2:6 Norwich City 6

Dragons may have gone down 2-6 at Taverham, but there were a number of positives to take from the game – not least that it has been a long time since the 6s have managed to score twice. As usual, they managed to give themselves an unusual obstacle to achieving success – this week it was very low availability, with co-captain Claire Fairhurst only getting a decent squad together after a week’s worth of emailing and phone calls and calling on two players who could arrive late, and letting one leave early! The players showed their appreciation for Claire for getting them a game at all.

Dragons set up to be strong in defence, with Katie Franks, Bridget Le Good and Lottie Korn across the back, Tara Johnson at the bottom of the diamond, Charlotte Stace (the compulsory new player) at left mid, Laura Hansell at right mid, Amy Hunter was at the top of the diamond and Sarah Norman, Claire Fairhurst and Jasmine Mansfield were the forwards.

The tactic worked to a certain extent, with Harriet Williams making her usual percentage of good blocks and clearances. City were using their hard hitting skills to good effect, and were 2-0 up at half time, but our focus on defence meant we were not creating much in midfield or giving our forwards many opportunities.

Lead coach Pete Thomas was available to watch and advise the 6s this week, and this was a tremendous benefit  to the Dragons and made the match all the more enjoyable for them. Once Beth Elgood arrived, and slotted into her familiar left back role, Pete had the opportunity to bring off individual players for guidance and confidence boost, and then gradually reshape the team to be more creative.

A consequence in the second half was that City scored four more altogether, mostly from well-struck penalty corners. Dragons did not help Harriet’s cause by coming off the post and leaving some thunderbolt shots to be deflected. Those shots can end up anywhere, and when we had the youngest players (Laura, Katie and Lottie) doing their stint in defence, they will have learned a great deal from standing up to the powerful play and they consistently put in some first class tackles. Jasmin Daniels had arrived for the second half, and once she had played herself in, was her usual rock steady self, and her presence enabled Beth to go forward on those surging runs which we want her to do.

The inspirational change was to move Tara Johnson up to the top of the diamond. She was good two weeks ago, and outstanding and player of the match this week. She brought all the lateral movements from Wednesday’s training into the game, and by finding Charlotte, Jasmine M, Claire and Sarah, Dragons began to look more of a threat. Amy had to spend more time on the bench as she was suffering from a cold and the after effects of a vaccination, but she still put in a shift every time she came on to give another player a breather.

Pete’s last move was to bring Bridget back on for the last quarter as a forward.  She can’t make the fact she played in goal last week an excuse for missing some glorious opportunities to pass to Sarah and Charlotte, who had worked their way free on the left, but it did get better. She charged down a loose ball and then squeezed the ball past a defender and keeper to score. The second goal was made by Tara, who drifted out to the right with the ball and then gave an inch perfect pass across the goal to Bridget, who only had to control the ball and lift it past the keeper. Claire came back on and did more unselfish running to draw defenders and create space on the right, but we ran out of time to make more of an impact on the game.

The emphasis on moving the ball accurately and laterally and taking free hits quickly has set the 6s another challenge. Is it better to be able to get the goals in, but not keep them out? Or keep them out, but not get them in? The former is far more enjoyable. But we have some terrific defenders and goalie, so there is no reason why we cannot keep the  ball out of our own net and get it into our opponents. We need to show as much determination in the attacking 25 as we do in the defending one, and to keep on encouraging each other as we do now.

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Empresa Norfolk Girls Development League
Norwich Dragons 2:6 Pelicans

Dragons started really well by scoring a goal in the first few minutes scored by captain Lucy Morton, following a long run down the wing by Laura Hansell.  We carried on playing brilliantly but needed some great saves from Alessandra Pelilerini to prevent more goals being scored by Pelicans. By the end of the first half the score was 3-1.   But we carried on playing with an excellent run by Issy Wolfe and strong defending especially Bella Capps. Towards the end we became more attacking with two great runs by Catherine Matthews, one of which ended up with a goal scored by Lucy Morton. The end score was 6 -2  with everybody playing brilliantly and player of the match Lucy Morton.

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Empresa Norfolk Boys Development League
Norwich Dragons 0:4 Pelicans