Team	Date	Opposition	H/A	Time	Score	Scorers	Player of Match

 

Women’s East Hockey League, Premier Division

Norwich Dragons Ladies 1s v Old Loughts 1:  2-1

On a high from an important win last weekend, Norwich Dragons Ladies 1s knew that three points from bottom-of-the-table team Old Loughts was crucial in order to continue their climb up the league table.

The game started well, with plenty of possession and attacking plays for the home side. The first 15 minutes saw plenty of goal-scoring opportunities, with a number of balls glancing across the face of goal, but the Dragons were unable to convert. Dealing confidently with the few attacks from the young Old Loughts Side, the Dragons finally took their chance in the middle of the first half. A strike on goal from Liv Thomas deflected high and over the head of the keeper to put the ladies 1-0 up.

The next 10 minutes saw a change in fortune for the Dragons, and the team needed to absorb a wave of attacks and short corners from the visitors. A questionable umpiring decision saw Holly Reding shown the dreaded green triangle, and the Dragons were down to 10 players. During this period of play, some miscommunication at the back gave Old Loughts a clear shot on goal. While goalkeeper Siobhan Cleeve got a foot to it and slowed the pace of the ball, and Lara Taylor was full stretch on the goal line, the ball nevertheless somehow managed to bobble over the line levelling the score.

The half-time whistle soon followed, with the score remaining at 1-1. Some much-needed firm words from coach Pete Thomas saw the Dragons begin to refocus on basic, simple hockey at the start of the second half.  Once again, there were plenty of chances for the home side in the second half, with Issy Wolfe, Katy Hands, and Hayley Toleman each having their chances. But it was not until well-past the mid-way point that a lovely piece of play down the right hand side of the pitch culminated into a perfectly-placed ball across the face of goal. Marie James (purposefully?!) dummied the keeper,  leaving Hayley Toleman with an open goal as a target. She calmly slotted the ball home.

The final few minutes of the match saw the Dragons play some of the smartest hockey they have played all season, cooly playing the ball around the defensive unit of Lucy Ripman, Holly Reding, and joint players of the match Lara Taylor and Sarah Jenkins.

While not the best 70 minutes of hockey the girls have played, the game demonstrated the Dragons’ ability to close out a game and make certain of three much-needed points.

The next big test will be next week’s clash against Sevenoaks.

EDP Coverage here.

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Women’s East Hockey League, Division 2NE

Norwich Dragons Ladies 2s v IES 1s:  0-2

Dragons arrived at a bright sunny Rushmere and took to the shiny blue pitch full of energy and anticipation. Unfortunately a late illness to Jess Bennett meant Dragons were down to a bare 12, with one or two carrying knocks/illness themselves, but they were determined to give it their all.

Captain Karen O’Neill Simpson asked the team to go out hard and strong, which they did, however it was clear IES were a strong and skillful team and Dragons were going to need to keep up the high work-rate for 70 mins to get anything from the game. An early lapse in concentration, saw the ball passed across the D, and the IES Left Mid ghosted in on the back post unmarked, to slot home.

Dragons weren’t about to roll-over however, and kept pressure on IES and had a couple of breaks of their own, with strong play from Lucy Morton, Harriet Green and Mary Alexander, with Alexander having a good effort saved by the keeper. IES were always dangerous however with some skillful forwards and Sarah Borrett and Karen O’Neill Simpson needed to be at their best in the centre of defence, as were Carmel Windsor-Waite and Tash Falzon in the wide defensive positions. Kristina Smyth returning from injury in goal made some excellent reaction saves to keep the score at 1-0 at halftime.

Although IES carried more threat, Dragons were still in the game, through sheer grit and determination, shown particularly by Kiera Goymour on the left of midfield who despite some tough tackling by 2 or 3 IES players, let very little past her. In the middle Gail Thomas was focused and working hard to breakdown the IES attacks, ably supported by Debs Painter. Mid way through the half, Dragons conceded a short, and saw a really slick routine come off for IES, a smart deflection high into the corner doubling their lead.

Dragons huffed and puffed, but in all honesty didn’t offer enough threat going forward. IES took the points and deservedly so, however Dragons battled hard with every player giving all they had, notably Kiera Goymour who earned almost a unanimous PoM award for her battling display. Onwards and upwards for next weeks visitors Framlingham.

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Empresa Norfolk Women’s League,  Premier Division

Norwich Dragons Ladies 3s v Lowestoft Railway 1s:  5-0

The early push back for Dragons Ladies 3^rd team started with the warm up beginning on the wrong pitch, leaving no time for a warm up! However, Dragons began positively and were communicating really well all across the pitch and following a great training session on setting up the press, dragons capitalised early on when under pressure Lowestoft passed their hit out square to be intercepted by Katie Mckenna, who calmly slotted home the first goal.

Any chances created by Lowestoft were efficiently dealt with by the defensive combinations of Luisa Valentini, Sophie Barrow, Kath Mares, Esme Potter and Ismay Whitaker, combined with brilliant tracking back from the wide midfielders of Katie Hale and Hazel Kinights. The second goal was scored midway through the first half by Ally Windsor Waite from patient build up play down the right hand side of the pitch.

The second half again saw Dragons creating scoring opportunities for all forwards including Jess Haw who forced a great save from the Lowestoft Keeper. A well worked move from the left defence up through the pitch via Debs (much more pleasure from setting up goals than scoring them!) Smith for Kate Mckenna to sweep home reverse stick into the corner. The fourth and fifth goals came from short corner routines scored by Hannah Ellis and Ally Windsor Waite.

Another strong team performance that saw Sophie Barrow awarded player of the match by her team mates following a strong and confident performance.

EDP coverage here.

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Empresa Norfolk Women’s League,  Premier Division

Norwich Dragons Ladies 4s v  Norwich City 3s:  2-1

Jemima Williams had looked into her crystal ball and the vibes were positive for the game, with this in mind the Ladies 4s were pumped for battle.  With City having first push back the 4s went on the attack, Vicki Earley slicing through the opposition to pick off the ball.  And passing out wide to Trish Hagan, who used some nifty skills to weave through the opposition.  Gina Hunt and Fiona Fletcher were moving around up front to create some chances in the D.  For the first 10 minutes of the game the Dragons put the opposition under a lot of pressure with continued advances on the goal. Lynne Price and Catherine Matthews feeding the ball into the D.  City found their legs and were quick to move in and pick up the ball.  With Sarah Wagstaff commanding from the back, Jemima and Bella Capps were quick to channel and cut off any advances.  City had a couple of speedy forwards and Kat (Keeper) Speirs was on hand to hoof the ball clear.  The first goal came from City a quick turn over in the middle and passes in the D they pushed the ball in on the corner post.  The 4s were still on for the challenge and had the majority of play, with lovely play through midfield up to Caroline Wolfe who passed up the line to Gina and Lisa Harwood.  The first dragons goal came from a cross in from Catherine, picked up by Trish and fired into the goal, the City keeper went to kick the ball but it rolled under her foot.  The 4s were still hunting another goal and chased every ball. Pressing for a short in the D, it was given and Fiona injected to Caroline, slipped it left to Lisa, rebounded off the keeper and calmly picked up by Catherine who slotted it in on the right post.  Much jubilation followed and we knew we had to maintain the win until the end, although a short awarded to City in the final seconds of the game brought on the sweats.  But with determination from the defensive posse the ball was cleared and final score 2-1, 3 valuable points.  Player of the match was Catherine Matthews for her skilful possession and continued grit.

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Empresa Norfolk Women’s League,  Premier Division
Norwich Dragons Ladies 5s v Norwich City 4s:  0-2

Ladies 6s had a tough game against Lowestoft Railway in Saturdays lunch time fixture. Yet again they had another changing side and with Railway being another team pushing for promotion and in high confidence off the back of a big win.

Dragons knew the key would be to hold the centre of the pitch and force Lowestoft outside.

In open play dragons moved the ball well Anita Mancini working well with Hannah Woods in central midfield creating some good chances. However they were caught early on the break by Railway – who won a short corner that was taken with precision. Another quick short corner goal followed.

Working the ball forward – the wide midfield player Emma Gillard, Jess Vernon and PoM Floss Andrews worked tirelessly to support the defence and forwards.

With injuries setting in – a formation change at half time saw a more consolidated effort. Gemma Ballard, Mia McGhee and Anja Wimmer worked well upfront with Harriet Rant chasing everything down, trying to make some attacking moves.

Defensively, Katherine Hardwick, Jen Buskell and a battered and bruised Kate Atkins remained strong – but with the constant Railway pressure something had to give. Keeper Tilly Connors-Beckett  made some crucial saves.

A lot can be taken away from the game and worked on ahead of next weekends fixture.

Ladies 8’s player of the match – Anna Chapman

This match can be summed up in one easy sentence, must do better!

Before the match the #Awesomeeights were very optimistic (maybe a touch complacent)! We thought we could finally be getting that elusive 2^nd win, we could have done but despite some gold medal winning performances it just wasn’t enough. As the opposition walked onto the pitch it was noted that the average age was probably 14, which as we quickly scooted over, is under half of the age of many the #awesomeeights players! From the outset we knew that this was going to be a running game, luckily with three subs we could keep the team as fresh as possible.

After last week’s beating by our #SuperSevens it was clear that Pelis wanted revenge and fought for the ball from the first whistle. It was obvious that they had utilised their training session to polish up their passing and kept their play wide into the wings. Dragons just couldn’t find their groove and struggled with some of the basics like consistently marking players especially those that were a bigger threat.

GK Emma once again provided some blinding saves, continues to clear the ball wide and stays determined to the end. Centre defender Jo once again converted numerous 16’s to strong hits to either waiting players or into spaces for players to run on to (See the training does work)! Fellow defenders Johanne, Jess and Anna all supported brilliantly, all are gaining confidence and took a number of the free hits in the hope it might foil the opposition. Defenders must remember to work within their means, only push up when they know that they can comfortably get back and to communicate to make sure that any threatening players are adequately marked.  Special mention must go to POM Anna Chapman whose confidence increases week on week and provided fantastic support when back-up was required by fellow defenders or goal keeper! Her increase in attack was a real threat to the opposition and she has the speed to track back when required.

Bottom of the diamond Tracy continues to shine as is quick to re-set, balances the attacking/defending parts of her role brilliantly and shows how to communicate well. Becky G continues to thrive in her flexi-role and her great will and determination is a great example for the younger members of the team. Becky tackles well and distributes the ball well to waiting players. Wingers Nic and Sophie added some much-needed speed to the team and both courageously drove the ball up the line to the waiting forwards. Captain Katy clocked up another gazelle like performance but (after a little advice from Coach Mike) stopped trying to keep up with “Fastest 14-year-old in history” and assisted in strengthening the central core and place some pressure on one of the Pelis key players who just seemed to always get in the way! The rotating forward team of Lois, Shanice, Sadie and Kim worked hard and some attempts were painstakingingly close! A couple of short corners were awarded in our favour but unfortunately weren’t converted.

So onto next week, we need to go for the ball more, get stuck in and really fight (not literally) for it! We REALLY need to want it and go at it for 70 minutes from the first to the last whistle. We need to ALL use our voices and communicate and put names on the ball and shout when we are able to receive. Lastly if the ball is in the D give it a go! SHOOT! You never know it may just cross over that white line. Eights we are an awesome team and we can do this we just need to believe!

The men’s 2nds juggernaut rolls on with a 4-1 (HT 1-0) home win against Ipswich 2nds courtesy of goals from Richard Gill, Alex Browne, Josh Wiggins and post nuptial returnee Matt Knights. Ipswich made a brief comeback making it 2-1 via a well worked short corner routine but this was promptly snubbed out.  MOM was Josh Wiggins and DOD Chris Simmonds for yellow card and his erroneous passing.

 

The game started off with a goal from the opposition – Norwich City – in the first 10 minutes and another soon after. We managed to regain our composure after this and started to work hard to keep their forwards from getting chances on goal. In the second quarter, the opposition slipped past our defence 3 times to make it 5-0 at half time. In the third quarter, we manged to keep their forwards at bay and only let one goal in. Then, after we had conceded once again, we made one final push in the last quarter, and George Bowman ran down the wing and passed the ball to Josh Cormack. He received the ball near the penalty spot and flicked the ball over the Goalkeeper’s foot and into the goal! The game finished soon after at 7-1 and Josh was voted Man of the Match with 7 votes, followed closely by Alex, our goalkeeper, who had 4 votes.