This Week’s Results

Team	Opposition	H/A	Score	Scorers	Player of Match
L1s	Cambridge University 2	A	1-1 (D)	Lucy Morton	Sophie Barrow
L2s	Yarmouth 1	H	1-0 (W)	Hannah Hardy	Kristina Smyth Grace Kidner
L3s	Watton 1	A	14-0 (L)		Esther Jacobs
L4s	UEA 2	H	1-4 (L)	Niamh Somers	Emily Smith
L5s	Beccles	A	0-3 (WC)	Beccles Conceded
L6s	N City 5	H	0-4 (L)		Emma Dyer Stevie Spencer Emma North Mia McGhee
L7s	Slip Date
L8s	Slip Date
M1s	Pelicans 1	A	5-2 (L)	Mark Beckett- Flatman Matt Knights	Mark Beckett-Flatman
M2s	Ipswich 2	A	5-4 (W)	Joe Flatt x3 Isaac Diver Hall Angus Blazer	Isaac Diver Hall
M3s	North Norfolk 1	H	2-4 (L)	Jon Miles x2	Stu Kelly Phil Good
M4s	Pelicans 3	A	2-1 (L)	Bobby Sheppard	Kit Scott
M5s	Bury St Edmunds 5	H	1-1 (D)	Ali Smyth	Tom Bailey
M6s	Norfolk Nomads 2	H	4-0 (W)	Mike Banham x2 Dan Orsborne Casper Lind	Andy Hollis
BD A	Slip Date
BD B	Slip Date
GD A	Slip Date
GD B	Slip Date

East League,  Ladies 1N
Norwich Dragons Ladies 1s v Cambridge Uni 2s:  1-1

Goalscorer:  Lucy Morton
MOM:  Sophie Barrow

The Ladies 1st team drew 1-1 against Cambridge Uni 2s today. It was very evenly sided with a lot of ‘ping-pong’ action in the middle of the pitch for most of the game. It was 0-0 at half time, however Cambs scored from a penalty flick in the second half. After a strong fight back, Dragons scored when Lucy Morton tapped in from a well worked short corner.  Player of the match went to Sophie Barrow for her goal-line saves and runs up the pitch.

East League, Ladies 2NE
Norwich Dragons Ladies 2s v Yarmouth 1s:  1-0

Goalscorer:  Hannah Hardy
MOM: Grace Kidner

With half term holidays causing havoc with availability and a last minute drop out, Dragons were extremely grateful to Elsa Scott, Harriett Marlee and Harriett Rant who all stepped up to play for the 2’s and performed extremely well on their 2nd team debuts. It was great to see the Rant sisters take to the pitch for the first time together in the 2’s. Dragons also warmly welcomed Grace Kidner to the team for her debut for the Club.

The game started with a concerted spell of Dragons pressure, with the central midfield duo of Han Ellis and Grace Kidner breaking down Yarmouth’s crash balls down the centre of the pitch and quickly turning defence into attack. Gail Thomas on the left and Elsa Scott on the right were providing great midfield support and feeding the willing forward runners, however Dragons couldn’t quite work the Yarmouth GK as much as they should have.

Finally a dangerous attack into the D saw Georgia Rant use her skills alongside Harriet Marlee, the Yarmouth defence struggled to clear the ball and a shot at goal was stopped near the line by a defenders leg. The umpires deliberated before a short corner was awarded. The resulting short corner was despatched inside the near post by Hannah Hardy.

Whilst Dragons were largely on top, they still weren’t quite playing their fluent hockey and Yarmouth had breaks of their own, earning a number of short corners particularly in the first half. Kristina Smyth in goal made some fine saves against the direct strikes from Yarmouth. The defensive line of Stella Windsor Waite, Alex Daplyn and Karen O’Neill Simpson worked really hard to break down play and ensure a clean sheet at half time.

The second half saw more of the same with Dragons working hard to gain possession, but just not finding the effective final ball to cause the Yarmouth GK any real problems, however there was lots of good work particularly through joint PoM Grace Kidner. Kristina Smyth was the other joint PoM with some important saves again from short corners and one particular one on one effort with Yarmouth centre forward, where Smyth and Alex Daplyn combined really well to clear the danger and kept the clean sheet intact.

So 3 points to Dragons, it wasn’t pretty but they all count!

East League, Ladies 2NE
Norwich Dragons Ladies 3s v  Watton 1s:  0-14

MOM: Esther Jacobs

Empresa Norfolk Women’s League, Premier Division
Norwich Dragons Ladies 4s v UEA 2s:  1-4

Goalscorer:  Niamh Somers
MOM:  Emily Smith

Empresa Norfolk Women’s League, Division 1
Norwich Dragons Ladies 6s v Norwich City 5s:  0-4

MOM:  Emma Dyer, Stevie Spencer, Emma North, Mia McGhee

Empresa Norfolk Women’s League, Division 2
Norwich Dragons Ladies 7s v no league game

East League, Men’s 2N
Norwich Dragons Men’s 1s v Pelicans 1s:  2-5

Goalscorers:   Mark Beckett-Flatman, Matt Knights
MOM: Mark Beckett-Flatman

East League, Men’s 3NE
Norwich Dragons Men’s 2s v Ipswich 2s:  5-4

Goalscorers:  Joe Flatt x3, Isaac Diver Hall, Angus Blazer
MOM: Isaac Diver Hall

Mens 2s travelled to 2nd placed Ipswich 2s this morning, showing our true dedication to the club by missing the England game!

A poor start and saw us go 2-0 down within 15 minutes. However, some excellent play and brilliant teamwork saw us draw level just before half time.

A busy second half saw us at 4-4 with around 5 minutes left on the clock before we finally (for the first time in the game) took the lead at 5-4.

Goalscorers:  Jon Miles x2
MOM: Stu Kelly, Phil Good

After watching the England rugby team demolish the All Blacks NDHC Mens 3s went into their game with high-flying North Norfolk 1s with spirits high even with the weather doing its best to dampen that elation. Unfortunately it seemed all minds were still on the rugby as Dragons went 0-1 down in the first minute, simply not having switched on and NN 1s taking full advantage finishing at the back post. Soon after the visiting team went 0-2 up after a deflected shot, high in the sky, was volleyed down into the goal, slowly the home side worked their way back into the game coming to close to scoring but at half-time the score was still 0-2. NDHC 3s weathered another storm after starting slowly in the 2nd half again but were dragged back into the game by prolific striker Jon Miles, scoring a beautiful drag flick high into the corner. With 10 minutes to go and still 1-2 down Dragons threw caution to the wind taking off multiple defensive players and playing four upfront to push for an equaliser. They came close before suffering a dagger blow conceding from a short corner. With a never-give-up attitude the team brought it back to 2-3 after a nice move ending in Jon Miles finishing yet again (taking his tally into the double figures for the season!). With everyone attacking the visiting side broke on the counter and scored their final goal on the bow of the whistle leading to a very flattering score of 2-4 to North Norfolk 1s. Many positives to take from the game including some gorgeous attacking, solid defence against a very good side and an unbeatable attitude. MoM was shared between Phil Good and Stu Kelly for superb defensive work and some great runs down the right from Phil!

East League, Men’s 5NE
Norwich Dragons Men’s 4s v Pelicans 3s:  1-2

Goalscorers:  Bobby Sheppard
MOM:  Kit Scott

Dragons 4s suffered their first defeat of the season on Saturday, against direct rivals Pelicans 3, who swapped positions in the league table, pushing Dragons down to the third position on a goal difference basis only.  As soon as they left Norwich the rain started, and it never stopped, neither during the long trip to Kings Lynn, nor during the game, not even on the way back to Norwich.

As soon as the game started Dragons knew it would be a tough one. Pelicans were strong and very well organised, with quite a few well-known faces that had been seen before playing in higher leagues. Soon after the push back captain Alberto Embarba made good progress in the run fur goof of the day, by brilliantly intercepting a ball in the midfield, making no apparent effort to use the lawful side of his stick, the same stick that was later seen flying backwards off Alberto’s slippery hands after a hit. As time went by Pelicans were dominating more and more and managed to lock Dragons in their half of the pitch. But Dragons proved to be really strong in defence and stopped every single attack from Pelis. With some 10 minutes still to go, Bobby Sheppard got the reward to his efforts when he scored a great goal that brought Dragons some fresh air. But a few minutes later Pelicans got the equalizer, setting a 1-1 score at half time.

The second half started in a slightly different fashion, with Dragons gaining momentum and pushing Pelicans defence more and more often. The combinations between Kit Scott, Bobby Sheppard, Gregg Reynolds and Robin Clarke were very prolific, but still a second goal couldn’t be achieved. Keeper Peter Dickerson, with his magnificent saves, managed to keep Dragons’ aspirations alive for most of the game, but Pelicans got their second goal in the end. Nevertheless, Dragons never gave up and kept fighting fiercely in the ruthless rain until the final whistle.

Everyone played really well but Neil Shorten, Bobby Sheppard and Kit Scott were shortlisted in a very tight MOM draw, with Kit Scott getting the award in the end for his brilliant contribution to the game.

East League, Men’s 5NE
Norwich Dragons Men’s 5s vBury St Edmunds 5s:  1-1

Goalscorer:  Ali Smyth
MOM:  Tom Bailey

East League, Men’s 5NE(N)
Norwich Dragons Men’s 6s v  Norfolk Nomads 2s:  4-0

Goalscorers:  Mike Banham x2, Dan Orsborne, Casper Lind
MOM:   Andy Hollis

Development Leagues

Slip Week

Friendly Mixed Ability Dev Boys v Norwich City Dev 3-12

On a very rainy Saturday afternoon Norwich Dragons played Norwich City at Taverham High School.  Dragons did well to clear the ball wide and made some good runs but City were strong on the attack. Dragons lost 12-3 but despite played well. Dylan Bondi scored first for dragons with a reverse stick near the top of the D into the right side netting. This was followed by Ayrton Rant running down the right side of the pitch and sending it just in between the post and the goal keeper. Zak McEwan made it three by receiving it from across the box and tapping into the goal. Ultimately this was not enough and City scored again and again. POM Aytron and Dylan