Mens East League Division 2N
Norwich Dragons 1s 2-2 Sudbury

Dragons were held to their third consecutive draw, this time by a committed Sudbury side determined to stay clear of the relegation zone.  Dragons welcomed back Knights, Charlish, and ‘Little Goose’ Jonty Gosling, but started poorly, Sudbury much the hungrier side in the opening exchanges.  Dragons gave the ball away cheaply, were weak in the tackle, and careless in tracking the interplay of the visitors’ forwards.  When Dragons did keep the ball they looked likely going forward, but Sudbury deservedly took the lead, a rebound from Collinge calmly tucked away and a second followed from a nice passing move and crisp finish.  Dragons finally managed to get a foothold in the game, led by skipper Smith from the back, whose distribution, reading of the game, and bite in the tackle offered a rare glimmer of light in a poor first half.  And crucially they pulled a goal back before the break, Browne neatly guiding home after patient build-up play.

Dragons needed a rocket at the half and they got it, coach and skipper united in their message:  “basically, guys, we love you, you’re great, just go out there and enjoy it and please, please stop playing like such utter muppets.”  And the side responded, again completely dominating the second half but again having left themselves too much to do.  Little Goose was a rock at the back, cartoon-pairing Sloman and Flatman took control of the midfield, Snelling and Charlish irrepressible down the flanks, and Browne and Knights a menace in the area.  Dragons should have been level when Browne chose to shoot straight at the keeper instead of playing Sloman in for a simple tap in (“it’s a sign of weakness to pass when you’re in the D,” Browne explained later).  They were when Snelling’s hours of practice on the training pitch were rewarded when a drag-flick wobbled in at the near post.  And more should have followed when the visitors were reduced to nine men, a disadvantage Overstall courteously took it on himself partially to even up.  Precision and a little bit of luck in the D eluded Dragons, though they might have nicked it with almost the final move of the game, Turnbull deflecting a driven ball from Snelling a rather thick whisker wide of goal.

Skipper Smith had much to reflect on after a game full of incident.  On man-of-the-match Smyth’s return to form he had only positive words:  “it was important that he bounce back after his suspension and to do so by being man of the match today is just a measure of the guy; you couldn’t ask for a better response than that.”  On the controversial omission of mobile midfielder Rutledge from the starting eleven he was more impatient:  “Look, as selectors we have to make these tough decisions.  Anyway, it only took them 8 seconds to score after he did come on.  I’m not saying the goal was entirely his fault but I’d call that vindication.”  On Overstall’s yellow card he was diplomatic:  “I felt sorry for the young lad; I think, to be honest, he just wanted to set the record straight lest his mum, who was in the crowd today, be disappointed by his language.”  Mrs Overstall said “I was just pleased to see Alexander wearing socks for once.”  Young Gosling (if you’ll excuse the tautology) had this to say on his adjustment to the pace and physicality of first-team hockey:  “really, the toughest thing to cope with so far has been the car-trip to Wisbech.”

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Mens East League Division 3NE
Norwich Dragons 2s 3-6 Magpies 3

A much changed (and some might say, fresher faced) Dragons’ second team lined up for what would undoubtedly be a challenging encounter against Magpies third team. Captain Cley Hamilton went for youth in the forward line, with Ollie King and Henry Laming offered the chance to partner the skipper in attack, whilst there was a return to the midfield for Paul Bullard, Lewis Wilkins and Barney Price, and to defence for Sam Mann, all called up from other teams in the club. Chris Simmonds, Simon Long, Simon Nisbet and Rich Phillis added the experience needed to maintain the shape. In a bold move, Hamilton handed Club Captain Ali Smyth a second team debut, alongside Piers Gordon-Brown at the back. Matt Collinge kindly solved the latest week of goalkeeper juggling by agreeing to play in goal (although he’d prefer if Cley told him in future).

The sides were two divisions apart last season, and Magpies had comfortably won the previous encounter and this was evident in the opening quarter of the game with Dragons taking their time to gel, with flashes of positive play often brought to a halt by a mis-placed pass to a teammate not quite where we thought they were.

Throughout the match Magpies looked dangerous coming forwards, and it was this first quarter that really won them the match, with 3 unanswered goals. The first, a deflection off Ali Smyth’s stick to a waiting forward for a simple tap-in, the second, a well moved penalty corner, and the third, a somewhat fortunate tap-in from a corner, after Dragons had done well to defend the initial chance.

After this, Dragons began to click into gear, moving the ball from side to side, and finding the pivots in the middle of the pitch to change the angle. Chances began to be generated, and penalty corners were won. The first penalty corner was somehow cleared off the line by a Magpies defender, after a deft Simon Long deflection had put Ollie King’s effort past the keeper; from the next corner, Henry Laming brought a smart save from the keeper with a drag-flicked effort.

The pick of the first half chances fell to Lewis Wilkins, who decided power was preferable to placement, and after maxing the power bar, slammed his effort straight into the prone keeper; afterward, he was to lament that he “should have lobbed him”.

The half-time team talk was positive, with the idea to continue to build on the latter part of the first half. After the first 5 minutes of the half was selfishly played out between Rich Phillis and the Magpies right midfielder in one corner of the pitch, this duly happened and Dragons soon forced their way back into the match. Patient build-up play through the middle and the right hand side, Simon Nisbet pulled the ball across the keeper for the waiting Barney Price; who, having never scored a goal before, decided he wanted to cherish the moment by taking an age to stop the ball dead, assess his surroundings, and eventually put it in. Given the time he had to think about it, the celebration did not match the moment.

The goal stirred Magpies, who set about attacking with renewed vigour, and were duly rewarded with another penalty corner goal.

Dragons kept to their game plan and came back from this, scoring twice in as many minutes courtesy of an accurate strike into the corner of the goal from Chris Simmonds, who confirmed afterward that he had deliberately taken the pace off the shot to avoid injuring the covering defender, after good work by Ollie King, and reward for King who finished from close range after a good ball in from Smyth, that perhaps attoned for his first half assist at the wrong end. Bouyed by being back in the game, Dragons continued to push, but struggled to generate any clear cut chances, or to win any further penalty corners.

Magpies continued to look dangerous on the break, and eventually got a fifth when Phillis, who, having monopolised the ball for so long earlier in the half, felt he needed a goal to make his possession statistics look better, and calmly side-footed it past Collinge in goal.

Magpies received a gift of a late sixth goal, when Smyth decided that an assist at either end was not enough for one day, and with time running down, rather than attempt to get the ball to other end of the pitch, he’d pass it straight to Magpies centre-forward, who passed to an unmarked colleague for a simple finish.

Although disappointed with the result after doing so well for most of the game, Dragons can take heart from what was an extremely positive performance that offers something to build on for both the rest of this season, and next year.

Despite rumours that Smyth would be subject of a spot-fixing sting in the Sunday papers, his colleagues saw fit to make him both the MoM and DoTD in celebration of his second team debut.

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Men’s East Hockey League Division 4NE
Norwich Dragons 3s 3-3 Magpies 5

With inspirational captain George Walker using his wedding to local footballer Gill Dukes as an excuse to not turn up for this tough fixture away to Harleston Magpies 5s, the Norwich Dragons Men’s 3s knew that despite the lowly league position of the Magpies team, this was going to be a tough fixture.

Having achieved back to back promotions in previous seasons, the Dragons team had found life in Division 4NE a more difficult proposition and had been struggling to find their form.

With a hat-trick for striker Will Kirby and a Player of the Match performance from keeper Robbie Bell, to earn a 3-3 draw, the team’s league position is now looking more comfortable.

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Mens East League Division 5NE
Norwich Dragons 1-0 Dereham 4

We won! Its been a long time coming and we tried our hardest at points during the match to lose it but we won!

The match couldnt have started in worse conditions with the rain lashing down as soon as the whistle blew for the start. This developed into a monsoon with horizontal rain and wind threatening to blow over a few of our smaller players. The rain then turned into hail and everyone looked miserable. This was all except for the two subs and captain who had selflessly started the game off to keep his players happy – but who was happy now!.

The first round of substitutions coincided with the sun coming out, funny that, and normal hockey resumed. Dragons knew the only result that was acceptable today was a win and set about putting Dereham under pressure with midfield domination and multiple attacks. The pressure was mounting and from a short corner switch Ben Watson calmly slotted home to relieve the pressure. Dragons were in the ascendancy and should have increased their lead but Dereham had other ideas and defended resolutely, sometimes from their own goal line to deny any further goals.

The second half saw Dereham grow in confidence and win a few more of the midfield battles but Dragons defence held firm. We had chances to move further ahead but a combination of a bad final ball or wayward shooting meant the final score remained 1-0 and Dragons were happy to return with all three points.

In the coming weeks we have a number of winnable games and we need to take advantage of these if we are to play in this division again next season.

Man of the match : Ben Watson

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Men’s East League Division 7NE
Norwich Dragons 3-4 North Walsham 3

Dragons travelled to Cromer with a good squad but were undone by some poor defending putting them 4 down after twenty minutes. Reshuffling and reducing the errors in defence saw Dragons pull one back at half time through a good finish from Cross. The second half was a much better display from Dragons, despite Walsham threatening with the long ball game.  Another goal from Cross and one from York-Smith meant Walsham had to survive the last few minutes under real pressure to take all the points.

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Women’s East Hockey League Division 1N
Norwich Dragons 1s 5-1 Wisbech

The Dragons welcomed 4th placed Wisbech to the Den ready for what they knew was to be a very tough battle. They were delighted to have Hannah Palmer in their starting line up for the first time this season as her experience at National league level would be vital in this game. The home team started with a high tempo and hit the visitors early putting pressure on their defence and finally breaking the deadlock, Nat Beal adding to her superb scoring record this year getting on the end of an excellent through ball by Lizzie Moulton. Wisbech soaked up the continued pressure that was put on them and hit the Dragons on the break pulling the game level. The Dragons reacted strongly playing some attractive hockey and adding another two goals before the break through Rachel King and Laura Shreeve. As the whistle went one of the visitors harshly competed for the ball with a high challenge on Dragons defender Sarah Borrett causing a slice to hand which needed hospital attention.

As the second half got underway the Dragons were even more determined to not allow Wisbech into this game. The home side had all the pressure and forced another two goals through KING and finally with young Laura Bailey coming close and hitting the post with a fine effort allowing Helen Kelly to slot in the rebound.another great performance by the Dragons who are still 7 points adrift of Saffron Walden but sitting comfortably in second place with promotion within their sights. A top of the table clash next week as they make the trip to the leaders.

Too many great performances to mention but player of the match deservedly went to Vice Captain Rowie York-Smith cleared her defensive lines with composure and confidence whenever called upon.

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

Unsurprisingly the wind was a major factor and possibly the ultimate winner on the day, in this Div 2NE clash at Yarmouth.

Dragons welcomed back Olivia Thomas, Alice Guest and Sarah Radley to their ranks and they started really brightly (with the wind behind them). Dragons short sharp passing game was proving effective, particularly on the right, with Olivia Thomas and Ally Windsor-Waite combining well to threaten the Yarmouth goal early on. The breakthrough however, came following some good hassling by Emma Tabrett putting the Yarmouth defence under pressure. The ball ran loose and was picked up by Hannah Hardy who slipped the ball to Emma Tabrett, who finished clinically, placing the ball neatly into the corner.

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Empresa Norfolk Women’s Premier League
Norwich Dragons 3s: No Fixture

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Empresa Norfolk Women’s League Division 1
Norwich Dragons 4s: No Fixture

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Empresa Norfolk Women’s League Division 2
Norwich Dragons 5s: No Fixture

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Empresa Norfolk Women’s League Division 3
Norwich Dragons 6s: No Fixture

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Empresa Norfolk Girls Development League
Norwich Dragons: No Fixture

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Empresa Norfolk Boys Development League
Norwich Dragons: No Fixture