Hempnall FC

Comment on this article

The A Team were hosts to Taverham last Saturday, a team that had been relegated from Division 1 and have struggled so far this season. Following the 6-0 defeat to UEA, Hempnall were looking to find their second league win to kick-start their season.

The side was depleted because of a call-up to the reserves for Oli Pointer and the absence of Jon Osborne, this meant manager Matt Oakley had to come out of goal to play centre-back, with Jimmy Omond moving to left-back. In the opening ten minutes Hempnall were behind due to a freak goal. A goal-kick was allowed to bounce which fell to a Taverham striker who hoofed the ball from forty yards which lobbed the unfortunate Andy Soanes, who could have done nothing to prevent Taverham from taking the lead.

Minutes later the Hempnall strikers were causing problems in the box, which led to Taverham's keeper dropping the ball between his legs and a good yard over the line. Unfortunately the only two people that seemed to miss this were the referee and the away team's linesman, meaning the goal was not given.

However, Taverham's undeserved lead didn't last long. After a spell of good pressure and a succession of corners, Hempnall levelled thanks to a cross from Mike Clarke that was headed down by a defender, only to find Ben Ling waiting at the back post to tuck the ball home. This was a surprise to a few of the Hempnall players who thought the ball had actually gone wide, only to see their captain running back in celebration.

Hempnall continued to dominate and looked the more likely to get the third goal but couldn't find the breakthrough before half-time.

During the break, Matt, Andy and Dave Pointer shared their views and told the team what they needed to do in the second half, keep things tight and get the wide players more involved in the game. When the teams restarted, things were fairly even, with both sides having chances to get the next goal. Unfortunately it was Taverham that took one of their chances first with a good move on the edge of the box that resulted in a striker delivering a fine finish from a tight angle.

The goal didn't put the heads down of the young Hempnall team who pushed hard to get their second equaliser. However as they pressed on, they found themselves short at the back and Taverham grabbed their third goal, which was a real blow.

But still the home team kept on fighting and managed to pull one back through Kev Oakley who got his sixth goal in as many games with a fine volley. As the deficit was once again reduced to one goal, the A Team believed they could get another and came very close to doing so when Stuart Mattos's superb volley beat the keeper, only to hit the crossbar.

As the game neared the end, Hempnall continued to make chances and hit the bar again, Ben Upton going close this time. Hempnall's bad luck continued as Taverham got a fourth goal against the run of play, this really gave the home side too much to do and the game ended 4-2.

This was a result that left the players very disheartened as they deserved at least a draw. But with twelve players including an injured sub, positives can be taken from the game.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Tim and Trevor for letting me having some input on the website, I'll be looking to do some extra pieces as well as the match reports with Matt.