With the early matches succumbing to the icy pitch at the Den, Dragons were delighted that the forecast was spot on, with the temperature rising to a balmy 3 degrees and even a hint of sun at midday, meaning a perfect playing surface at the Den.

Following an ‘average’ warm-up, the game got underway, with the visitors making by far the brightest start, forcing early short corners, the second of which was forced home by the Ipswich forwards. This served as the wake-up call Dragons needed, knowing they needed to be first to every ball and move the ball on quicker as the visitors were, as ever, keen to be the first team to take points off the league leaders.

Dragons settled and got their game going, moving the ball at pace up to Laura Shreeve, Aoife Lowe-Davies and Marcy Windsor-Waite – who began to get in behind the experienced Ipswich defence. A number of short corners we forced by Dragons, the third of which was slipped to Hollie Limmer whose strike was saved high by the GK only for Laura Shreeve to score with the rebound, however after long deliberation by the umpires, the goal was disallowed. Ipswich took the resulting hit out, however the ball was intercepted by Shreeve, whose fierce strike from the top of the D, deceived the keeper with the sheer pace, to thump the backboard.

From here Dragons pushed on, with the normal midfield quartet of Han Ellis, Gail Thomas, Karen O’Neill-Simpson and Hollie Limmer, putting in their usual disciplined and tireless shift and starting to win the 50:50 battles and spread play well to the flanks or in behind the defence. Similarly Natalie Beal, who had been unwell all week, put in an ultimate cameo performance playing just 5 minutes in each half. Her first half ‘cameo’ resulted in the second goal for Dragons, a fantastic run up the right by Beal, followed up with a smart one-two with Marcy Windsor-Waite and a pinpoint pass into the D, for Laura Shreeve to calmly finish, making it 2-1 at half-time.

The second half saw Dragons firmly in their stride, with some lovely flowing hockey. The defensive line was assured with Freddie Briscoe, Ally Windsor-Waite, Sophie Thomas and Angela Murgatroyd comfortably dealing with Ipswich attack. The Windsor-Waites were rampant down the right, with both combining well to cause the Ipswich defence problems.

Dragons’ fast flowing play was rewarded with more goals, with Laura Shreeve completing her third hat-trick of the season. Hannah Hardy then swept home an effort from a pin-point pass by Dragons Player of the Match, Aoife Lowe-Davies, who then got her rewards for her tireless and unselfish play, with a smartly taken sweep into the corner to take the score to 5-1.

More chances came……..and went, with Ipswich GK Lorna Hassel making some strong blocks to keep the score to 5. Following a slow start, Dragons reacted well as a team and ran-out worthy winners. As always, there are a few things to work on in training, but overall a ‘good day at the office’, from this squad of players who continue to show great commitment and togetherness.

Norwich Dragons 4s 5-2 Magpies 6

Another game that was able to escape the worst of the weather, while we saw some rain, a touch of sleet and right at the end, a bit of snow, the game went ahead without any delays.Dragons took a little while to settle into the swing of things this week and as a result the first 10 minutes saw play solidly stuck in midfield. Once Dragons had gained their feet, play quickly turned in their favour with brilliant passing and team work from all involved. Chelsea Crawford, Sue Cross and Louise Davis did amazing work down the right moving play swiftly and accurately towards Magpies’ D.

We didn’t have to wait long for the first goal to come, a lovely cross in front of the goal from Gemma Rump (PoM) to the waiting stick of Holly Bailey, who slotted the ball in behind the keeper. In return Magpies came close to scoring a few minutes later with a well-paced switch of play through the midfield but Laura Tuck came off her line and took control of the ball taking it out of harm’s way.The second goal came from a well-executed short corner and saw Kate McKenna positioned perfectly on the post to receive a deflected ball and edge it past the line. There were numerous other chances in the first half and Sue Cross was unlucky to be denied two goals where the ball was involved in a scramble of sticks on the line. Louise Davis also had a great strike on goal, but a quick footed keeper cleared it well. Carmel Windsor Waite made some beautiful switches in play in the last few minutes of the half, meeting the ball well and passing it off to Mel Widdows, who was waiting on the left to drive the length of the pitch.

At the end of the first half Dragons were comfortably 2:0 up and looked very much in command.The second half saw Dragons attacking straight away, scoring their third goal in the first 5 minutes. A classic one on one situation where Amelia Dawson dummied the ball right before sweeping it left past the now wrong footed keeper. Magpies however weren’t giving up and after winning the ball in midfield made it to the Dragons’ D and were awarded a short corner which they slipped twice, before slotting it home. Dragons answered with a cracking goal, a long drive down the wing by Issy Wolfe was passed to Sue Cross who slammed it over the line. Moments later Freya Clogan made a wonderful run all the way from the defensive line to the opposition’s D and stuck the ball straight and true, but some experienced defending saw it cleared off the pitch.

The last 5 minutes saw a goal from each team. Another short corner for Magpies saw them score in a packed D, where the number of players involved made it difficult to see the ball and even harder to clear it successfully and Magpies dogged determination saw the ball eventually cross the goal line. In the last two minutes the final Dragon’s goal came, a lovely run straight at goal from the top of the D found Gemma Rump on her own with the keeper, the ball was expertly pushed into the left hand side of the goal with the keeper barely able to move off the spot before it had hit the back board.As the snow started to fall the final whistle blew and Dragons won a crucial game. An excellent team effort.

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Empresa Norfolk Women’s Division 2
Norwich Dragons 5s P-P Norwich City 6

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Empresa Norfolk Women’s Division 3
Norwich Dragons 6s 4-0 Carrow 2

Proof of Dragons sweeping all before them is to be seen on Facebook, where our young players warmed up nicely with a big broom (and Alice Smith and Jasmin Daniels got rid of some excess energy with a snowball fight). Carrow and Dragons both have to travel to Langley and agreed to try the pitch – the groundsman’s opinion being that we would not cause any damage – and actually the surface was fine, perhaps a little faster than usual. All credit to Carrow who are determined to complete their season with a small squad. On this occasion, their ten players kept us down to a single goal in the first half but we wore them down in the end.

Dragons started brightly, and from their first penalty corner, Bridget Le Good saw her shot beat the keeper only to be stopped by the far post defender. She tried the same shot at the next penalty corner and this time kept it a little lower for it to sneak in on the bounce. Both shots were set up by excellent slips from Megan Farrant. Megan had a quiet first half because she was suffering from a cold, but the cold air and unselfish running got her into shape, and she scored Dragons’ third goal from a well-struck penalty corner and the fourth from her own forcing run. Our second goal was a beautiful reverse sweep from Anna Brook, who once again showed she is totally comfortable at this level and able to make a valuable contribution to the team.

Our defence had plenty of work to do in the first half. We were fortunate to have Lottie Korn available when we needed her to mark the very dangerous Carrow left wing out of the game, which she duly did. She channelled, jab tackled and generally made a right little nuisance of herself. Alongside her Katy Saide (centre) and Katie Franks were equally composed to deal with the breakaway runs. Alice Smith in goal did not have too many shots to deal with, but she kept an immaculate clean sheet.  Jasmin Daniels had an excellent game at the bottom of the diamond, and in the second half when Jo Eke rested herself because of a chest infection and a hand injury, Jasmin moved up at every opportunity to support the attacks.

Possibly the unluckiest player not to get onto the scoresheet was Rachel Bruce. Her super speed and excellent positional sense meant she was available to pick up the passes time after time, but Carrow saved their best defending for her work in the circle. Izzi Ferguson, Sarah Norman and Helen Marsh gave Dragons plenty of attacking moves from wide mid, and Helen also did some excellent work in defence.  These players gave Dragons opportunities to rotate without losing fluency.

When Jo was on the pitch, she was her usual influential and tenacious self and Dragons will need her to be back at full strength for the sterner tests to come. Bridget got the player of the match vote, with her threaded passes from the attacking third setting up plenty of attacking moves for the fast young players. This was just the all-round performance the 6s needed to build their confidence.