NDHC Match Reports: Saturday 24th October 2020

Norwich Dragons Ladies 1s Vs City Of Peterborough 2’s

Score: 1-0

Scorers: Kiera Goymour

MOM: Sophie Thomas

Ladies 1s played City of Peterborough 2s in the midday slot. Dragons dominated the first half and managed to get a goal from a short corner- goal from Kiera Goymour.

Dragons dominated less phases of the game in the second half however managed to keep a clean sheet with our amazing defence ending the game 1-0! A great win.

 

Norwich Dragons Ladies 2s Vs Harelston Magpies Ladies 3’s

Score: 0-4

MOM: Jillian Bain Christie

Whilst the score line flatters the home team slightly it is fair to say they were the better team – very well drilled and sharp in everything they did. Dragons had good early chances through good work by Maddy Reynolds and Sarah Jessica Bennett, but couldn’t quite force the ball home.

Jillian Bain Christie made some excellent saves from some smartly taken short corners by Magpies. However one short was struck firmly and took a deflection to fire past Jillian. Magpies scored a 2nd before halftime with a slight defensive mix up.

2nd half was better from Dragons holding the game at 2-0 until the last 10mins and having chances to score, but their efforts just going wide or well saved. Tiring legs saw Magpies score 2 more before the final whistle. Wasn’t to be for the 2’s who know they can play better but also recognised the quality of the opposition.

PoM was close between Maddy and Jillian with Jillian taking the honours DoD only one person in contention really…… Tabba Emma Tabrett

 

Norwich Dragons Ladies 3s Vs Colchester Ladies

Score: 0-1

MOM: Beth Prakash, Emily Smith & Amy Beadman

The first half saw lots of misplaced passes resulting in us dragons running around making hard work of the game.

The second half was better with much more passing but alas Colchester worked a good goal in form a short corner making the final score 0-1

3’s are getting their stuff together so we hope for a win soon – we will endeavour to keep working hard

 

Norwich Dragons Ladies 4s Vs Reepham Ladies 

Score: 2-1

Scorers: Amy Forse & Charly Burgesson

MOM: Katherine Hardwick

Ladies 4’s played the graveyard shift against Reepham. Fantastic team effort, kept together and played through the ropey bits! Won 2-1, scorers Amy Forse and Charly Burgesson her return !!

 

Norwich Dragons Ladies 5s Vs Pelicans Ladies 2’s

Score: 2-0

Scorers: Gemma Ballard & Lara King

MOM: Louise Brooks 

Ladies 5s played a late game against recently demoted Pelicans 2s. We knew we would be in for a tough game and battled hard with most of the possession in the first half, but struggled to get the ball past their strong defence and excellent keeper. We had a number of short corners, but couldn’t convert them, which was frustrating. Pelis had one effort on target saved by a diving Kristina Smyth (phew!), but that was it.

After our half time team talk from Anita, we went out with more determination, which resulted in a our first goal; a lovely through ball from Liz McDonnell to Gem Ballard who calmly slotted it past the keeper. This helped to lift our spirits and we continued to dominate against the very physical Pelicans.

Our final goal came from some great pressure from Lara King and Anita who got the ball into the D, further scuffles saw the goal cross the line once (but wasn’t noticed by the umpire), it was then semi cleared to Lara who skilfully lifted the ball into the back of the net!! Final score 2:0 to us. It probably should have been more, but just not our day today – particularly with short corners.

 
 

Norwich Dragons Ladies 6s Vs Herlings Ladies 

Score: 2-2

Scorers: Honey Wells & Alicia Fairweather

MOM: Lizzie Costello

Ladies 6’s we’re away to Herlings this afternoon, dragons were very persistent with their play and put great pressure on! Herlings went 1-0 up early on with a quick return from Honey making it 1-1. Later on I’m the first half Herlings snuck a second goal in again followed by Alicia bringing us back in the game.

Second half we played much better and no matter how hard they tried, Herlings did not get their win. A frustrating game which we could have won, but our ladies stayed professional throughout!

 

Norwich Dragons Ladies 7s Vs Norwich City Ladies 6’s

Score: 3-0

Scorers: Claire Fairhurst, Hannah Shepperon & Lucy Courtier

MOM: Team

Ladies 7s played a friendly against Norwich City this morning and worked extremely hard for a well deserved 3-0 win. A goal at the end of the first half came from a ball worked beautifully in to the d which I hit goal bound. Into the second half we had some more good play and two short corners resulted in two more goals, one from Hannah Shepperson and one from Lucy Courtier! There was no MOM as the whole team played fantastically.

 

Norwich Dragons Ladies 8s Vs Norwich City Ladies 7’s

Score: 1-2 

Scorers: Emily Grint

MOM: Nola Mitchell

Ladies 8’s had an early pushback away at City 7’s in a ‘friendly’ match!

POM went to a very deserved Nola Mitchell who as goalkeeper made some cracking saves. Showing no fear as she went to the ball and equally as quick to return back to guard the goal mouth if it got through the first line of defence.

Jess Lockwood, team captain, (defender) showed buckets of Awesome 8’s ‘Grrr’ much to the frustration of the evidently annoyed City forwards. As did Jo Lees, who went in fearlessly on her block tackles infuriating City and causing one City player to ROAR in anger-several times!!! She also made some exceptionally powerful free hits which was perfect as we were minus Bridget today!!

City took an early goal leaving 8’s to up the pressure, never dipping in our energy and enthusiasm. Emily Grint joined us on the team today and literally seemed to play everywhere! Covering every side, edge and corner. She had several hits on goal and was rewarded with a signature clonk, putting Dragons very much back in the match.

Despite persistent efforts from Dragons to get an equaliser it was not to be. Louis Crouch-Reed played an awesome and confident match up front and was often seen scuttling off with the ball on her stick confidently driving it away just like we have had instilled in us by the coaches at training. Johanne Steward was perfectly placed on the goal post when needed, ready and waiting, as Dragons pummelled the ball at the goal.

‘Super Speedy’ Sadie Jacobs played on the wing, and made one particularly memorable hard hit right up the line for Louise to pick up. Imogen Burke (tod) seemed to appear from nowhere on numerous occasions giving Ellie O’Kane ‘back up’ and together they moved the ball with effortless ease and made some great passes for ‘Nippy and super sonically speedy’ Nell Morrey to pick up and race off with. Karen Grint made a ‘mother/daughter’ debut with Emily and proved to be a nifty addition to the 8’s this season, always willing and waiting- and if in doubt, going headlong into a tackle! Emma Young was delighted when I made a successful jab tackle!

Sarah Wagstaff and Amy Forse were on the sidelines giving expert advice, great feedback and plenty of cheering. The 8’s had a lot to be proud of today and what’s better, is spectators are commenting more and on the strength and improvement in our game, which is a huge boost for our confidence as a team.

 

Norwich Dragons Men’s 1s vs City of Peterborough 3’s

Score: 3-0

Scorers: Jack Hallworth, Sam Avery & Oliver Buck

MOM: Alex Brooks

Back home. Back at the Den. Back to sipping the sweet nectar of glory.

The game was a show of domination in play all across the pitch. Controlling the game, the mighty Dragons pushed an aggressive team shape upon the visitors. A convincing score line should possibly have been even more reflective of our play! We opened the scoring from a well worked short corner routine, Jack Hallworth firing a crisp effort into the corner! Soon after, we won a penalty flick…however Hallworth was a little too crisp with that connection.

The intensity was kept high. Some intricate play around the opposition D saw

Mark Flatman and myself work an interchange which found Kit in front of goal, who was unlucky as the keeper reacted well. Ollie King created some opportunities before the close of the half, keeping the opposition under consistent pressure. Towards half’s end, a short corner came out to me slightly wide, and [subduing a primal urge to shoot] I played the ball wide to right slip, where through a befuddling pinball of deflections from a Sam Avery effort, the ball mysteriously looped and trickled in! Always intended…Sam is a magician!

The second half continued in the theme of the first! Brookesy had an assured CB performance, and fullbacks still got well involved in forward play. Peterborough pushed harder for a goal, which gave space upfront for swift counters that cut their defence wide open, just for the final pass not quite making it.

Great signs for future games with the considered attacking of the first half combined with the swift switches in play and rapid counter attacks in the second. Late in the half, a siege on the Peterborough defence resulted in the ball falling to Bucky at the top of the D, whose effort found the back of the net!

Wondrous scenes of glorious emotion. We smash Wisbech next week!

 

 

Norwich Dragons Men’s 2s vs IES 3’s

Score: 4-2

Scorers: Aaron Curtis x2, Arj Puvanachandra

MOM: Arj Puvanachandra

After being 2 goals down at halftime Men’s 2s went on to win 4-2 on a beautiful Ipswich morning. We never like to make things easy for ourselves and within the first 5 minutes,

Dim Leander Ives had ‘escorted’ their CF to our goal after misjudging an aerial.

It was only fair though that given the amount of times he’s bailed us out, we bailed him out… after allowing them to score again (9AM meets are very early) we started to enjoy ourselves a bit more. We turned what was a turgid first half performance into a slightly above average one second half. A considerably more direct approach made for some good opportunities, 4 of which were expertly put away. Everything was right with the world again.

Today, hockey was the real winner!

 

Norwich Dragons Men’s 3s vs Dereham Men’s 2’s

Score: 1-9

Scorers: Robin Clarke

MOM: Phil Good & Bobby Stuart-Sheppard

Another game where the score doesn’t tell the whole story. The initial team talk was all about denying the opposition for as long as we could. We promptly conceded inside the first minute. After that, the game settled down and despite Dereham taking several of their chances very well, Dragons also managed to control periods of the first half.

After trailing 4-0 at half time, we were determined to continue our learning journey, and we definitely did that, forcing Dereham to work hard for their opportunities. Unfortunately they had an excellent short corner routine, which prevented them from getting frustrated.

Late in the second half Dragons got reward for an increasingly competent passing game, when Robin Clarke swept in a neat finish following good work from Matt Hull and Bobby Sheppard.

A number of really good performances, including all those aforementioned, but special praise to Tom McLean in goal and our joint players of the match Phil Good and Bobby.

 

Norwich Dragons Men’s 4s vs Sudbury

Score: 3-4

Scorers: Will Kirby & Jake Hardesty x2 

MOM: Alberto Embarba

Dragons hit the road early for their 12pm push back down in Sudbury but traffic issues made them start with 10 men only. Many of their regular players were unavailable this time, forcing a few others to play in unusual positions. Sudbury took advantage of the general confusion and set themselves ahead with an early goal. Dragons finally had their line up complete some 15 minutes into the game with the arrival of Phil York-Smith, whose skills and cool mind brought back control. Dragons then seemed to settle and started to adapt to both the slow pitch and a sticky ball. The arrival of Adam Bowles, who beat his opponent brilliantly time and again, boosted Dragons play and kept a contained 1-0 score at half time.

The second half presented a completely different story, with Jake Hardesty scoring an early equalizer. Despite Dragons looking stronger and more confident, Sudbury still managed to score two more, but Dragons never gave up and levelled up the score again with another two by Jake and Will Kirby. With less than 5 minutes to go, another brilliantly executed short corner pushed Sudbury ahead and finally gave them the three points that Dragons once had at their fingertips.

4-3 was the final score of a game in which Sudbury used their cards wisely, leaving Dragons with a bitter-sweet taste. Everyone worked really hard, with nominations for MoM for Adam Bowles, John Ives, Owain Hall and Jake Hardesty, and the award finally going to Alberto Embarba, who also managed to secure the Dragon of the Day prize thanks to his brilliant assistance in Sudbury’s second goal. Also special thanks to keeper Dave King for his numerous life-saving interventions throughout the game. Well done everyone, keep up the good work and victories will eventually arrive.

 

Norwich Dragons Men’s 5s vs Newmarket Men’s

Score: 0-2

MOM: Tom Jackson

Men’s 5s go down 0-2 (0-1HT) to Newmarket after a heroic effort against a very physical and hard hitting game. Sadly Shiva Kapur (probably) broke his nose after stopping the ball on the goal line with his face, Ross Barnshaw and Seb Atkinson also picked up knocks during the game. We all wish Shiv a speedy recovery and hope he isn’t stuck in hospital too long tonight.

Dragons where a match for Newmarket during first half, but seemingly the scoring of the flick awarded at the end of first half following the injury, plus our growing injury issues left the them with more wind in the second half.

I was very proud to have captained the team today after such a good effort from everyone.

 

Norwich Dragons Men’s 6s vs Bury St Edmunds 8’s

Score: 1-1 

Scorers: Elliott Stevenson

MOM: Matthew Cooke

Great to be back playing old friends in Suffolk after a couple of years & what a cracking game this turned out to be & a fair result.

Bury probably got the edge in the first half as M6’s lapsed defensively in the last minute of the half to let Bury in. Previously Adam Jones had made a super reflect save at the far post, while M6’s had some good balls across the Bury D without anyone on the end. The second half belonged to M6 who moved the ball quicker, earned some corners & were rewarded when Elliott Stevenson got his first adult league goal.

Everyone put in a real shift with Sam Nutt, Dan Adcock, Will Bloom & Matthew Cooke all making their first outing of M6 this season & MOM was M6 debutant Matthew Cooke who looked really comfortable at right midfield & giving a superb box to box effort.

 

Norwich Dragons Men’s 7s vs North Norfolk 3’s

Score: 4-0

Scorers: Pete Mares x2 & Andrew Cross x2

MOM: Oli Rudling

Men’s 7s hosted a youthful and skilful North Norfolk 3s at the den. A well contested and enjoyable match saw the score line at 4 – 0 by the end of the 1st half. Pete Mares opened up the score line, followed by a converted penalty from Andrew Cross. Not long after Andrew C. scored again with a fine assist from Pete Mares. Not to be out done Pete Mares secured the 4th and final goal of the match.

The second half saw plenty of Dragons possession with Dylan Bondi unfortunate not to score with a great shot deflected off the post. Special mentions for Matt Armstrong, Joe Heywood and Joe Beadman for great work in defence and Zak McEwan and Tom Clifton creating opportunities out wide in the midfield. However, MOM this week, as voted for by the team, is Oli Rudling for his hard work in midfield and in the D (hope the foot feels better soon).  Well done all.

 

Norwich Dragons Boys Development vs Dereham Boys Development 

Score: 5-4

Scorers: Louis Boulton-Smith x4 and Ayrton Rant

MOM: George Hunter

By Ben Towers

A great match today for the Dev boys. The Dragons played well against a good team, who were well organised. We started well with Louis Boulton-Smith getting a goal. We then let in 2 goals before Louis scored again to equalise. Dereham scored quickly into the third quarter but Ayrton Rant scored up at the other end to equalise again, shortly followed by another goal from Louis. In the last quarter, Dereham again managed to beat our defence and scored. We then had a tense few minutes before Louis scored his 4th goal to make us the winners. Dragons 5 – Dereham 4. Man of the Match went to George (U12 Goalkeeper) who made some great saves and communicated well to the rest of the team.  

Thanks to Andy Kelsall, Alpesh Patel and Victoria Earley for managing and sorting the boys and the paperwork.

 

Norwich Dragons Girls Development A vs  Harelston Magpies Girls Development 

Score: 2-5 

Scorers: Amelia Finch & Georgia Demetriou

MOM: Libby Ong

Dev Girls A played a valiant away match at Harleston Magpies early doors this morning. Magpies started on the attack forcing the Dragons girls into lots of defending in the first quarter, but some great tackles from left mid Libby Ong & centre back Jamie Sisterson, together with super clearance kicking by GK Arya Puvanachandra, meant Dragons thwarted the early Magpies efforts.

Dragons then found their rhythm and in the second quarter were able to break through the Magpies defence to have a few attempts at goal themselves, only to see shots narrowly miss, or just saved by the Magpies players. With the first half ending 0-0, there were high hopes for the outcome, however it was not to be. First Magpies struck with a well taken goal struck into the bottom left corner, but not to be deterred, Dragons fought back and following a quick counter attack with great passing between India Bunn, Perdie Finch & Amelia Finch, found the back of the net for their first goal to level the game again.

Sadly a short spell of concerted pressure, with some defensive mistakes from Dragons and good passing in the D by the Magpies players, saw a quick succession of 3 goals scored by the Magpies team. Seemingly undeterred, Dragons continued to battle, and after Georgia Demetriou stole the ball off the Magpies adult player, were eventually rewarded with a 2nd goal, following an initial ricochet off the far post. In the final quarter the game went to and fro between the ends, but the extra subs for the Magpies team showed and they were eventually rewarded with one further goal meaning the game finished 2-5, a score line which but for the short 5 min spell in the 3rd quarter, possibly flatters Magpies, as for the majority of the time, the match was quite evenly balanced!

POM: Libby Ong for fearless tackling & consistent tracking up and down the pitch to both defend and support the attack!

 

 

Norwich Dragons Girls Development B vs  Watton Girls Development 

Score: 0-0 

MOM: Katie Hume

Dragons made a positive start to the match playing on the front foot with attacking moves. Several short corners were won these were injected well by Elizabeth Taylor doing this role for the first time.

Imogen Dolding was making dribbling runs forward beating opponents but occasionally puling the ball back and giving the defence a second chance to tackle her. Imogen Thomas was making good runs ahead down the right wing well supported by Laura Shepperson.

In defence Mae Hollis and Katie Hume playing in those positions for the first time were combining well with Ella Borrett. In the second quarter Freya McAllister took the ball round the Watton adult defender and had a shot from an acute angle hit the post and though the Dragon’s girls followed up the rebound would not fall to them. Watton had a breakaway but Edie Martin in goal saved well.

The girls continued to work well with Grace Hunter working hard at the bottom of the midfield. Lola Brooke was also playing well in left midfield with some skilful roll outs. With only 11 players some tiredness set in during the final quarter with Watton having a substitute. Edie Martin made a couple of important saves to ensure the clean sheet and a well deserved draw which was a fair result.

Well done girls.