May I be one of the first to congratulate Wilkie and the Wroxham Reserve squad who, after beating us on Tuesday, will now surely be crowned Champions.
I know Cromer can still catch them mathematically, but it’s a very unlikely scenario, and in my view the young Yachtsmen are worthy champions, undoubtedly the best team in the League.
The match saw them be the only team to complete the double over ourselves, with a footballing lesson in their 4-1 win - this shows us the benchmark we need to aspire to.
Our preparations were hampered by the unavailability of Way, Solley and Barnes plus Tom Halliwell being stuck at work, therefore unable to make kick off, joining King and Webb on the bench.
Frankie dropped into an unaccustomed ‘holding’ role in midfield, and Ben Lydka joined BP in the engine room.
Ironically for 20 minutes, the game went well for us, when after 10 minutes, a good move down the left terminated in a good delivery, and Frankie arrived late to drill the ball past Jackson.
From there on in Wroxham upped the tempo, and at times we struggled to compete, but a combination of good defending and good luck kept us in the lead.
That is until 20 minutes, when Paul Cook swivelled in the box and drilled home through the legs of two defenders, leaving Cudden unsighted.
Notman was causing us problems down the left, and continuously found space, as did the two fullbacks, forcing us back .
We contributed to the pressure, as we continuously gave possession away cheaply when we did win the ball back.
Challen was controlling the back four well, and we spluttered to make any inroads towards the home goal.
Just as it began to look like we had weathered the storm and might make the safety of the halftime dressing room, the referee gave the first of what we regarded as harsh decisions.
A home player broke through, shot wide and as the ball went out of play, Cudden’s momentum in trying to block the shot caused him to clash with the striker. The referee deemed this to be a penalty despite the ball being out of play.
Downs was booked for contesting the decision but the spot kick was successfully converted giving Wroxham a 2-1 lead their played merited.
A change in system in the second half, pushing three up front, saw us come more into the game, as the fullback sorties were reduced.
King and Halliwell entered the game, but in fairness, Wroxham still held the upper hand.
A poor piece of defending from the whole team, as we tried to play offside from a Wroxham free kick 15 yards outside our penalty area, only saw us isolate a striker right in front of goal and he tucked the shot home.
Further bookings followed saw King cautioned when the keeper threw the ball into his back as he ran across to shut down the full back.
If earlier decisions were harsh this was totally bizarre.
Then worse followed as Cussons, back tracking towards goal, had a home player continuously tugging on his shirt and as he tried to shrug these attentions off, the referee deemed it to be a ‘raising’ off the hand to the face and gave Cussons the red card. This came as no surprise given the earlier decision making in the game.
The resulting free kick saw the cross headed in at the far post to complete the scoring at 4-1.
After match chat was as much around the refereeing performance where it was allegedly, in many peoples’ opinions, was the worst seen for many a year.
But let us be clear, we take nothing away from Wroxham, who thoroughly deserved their win and I believe the conversation should have been around their performance. Funny old game!
Our best wishes go to Sonny Slogget who broke his collar bone in two places during Sunday morning football; this follows Sol’s suspension and Barry Allard’s season ending knee injury.
When will you boys learn!