Hempnall FC

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Saturday 30th April was a day devoted to Hempnall, Newton Flotman for the first half of the A teams cup final, followed by a dash to Hempnall to be sub for the firsts followed by a reserve team match vs Southwold.

That's what Sat afternoons are all about, football!! :-)

Hempnall Res vs Southwold

Hempnall welcomed Southwold to the fortress for a 4pm kick off looking to round the season off in style and to gain another 3 points to help them achieve the 6th place finish they desire.

With Andy Clitheroe absent once again, Jordan Mace returned to the starting line up with the rested Dave Hyett returning at left back.

Hempnall set about their task expecting a tough game but found their opponents to be very lacklustre. This made it easy to pass the ball which Hempnall did well at the start, transferring play from side to side for Mace and Barrett to get at the full backs and for the Hempnall full backs to overlap on a regular basis.

There was only one real scare for the Hempnall defence when a forward chipped Beetensen and Potter had to get back to head off the line.

Hempnall took the lead when a cross from the left was headed home by Lee Barrett and it seemed the floodgates would now open but Hempnall dropped down to the speed of their opponents and did not pass the ball with any tempo.

HT : 1-0

After a chat at half time around passing the ball quicker Hempnall came out and showed what they are all about as they moved the ball quicker round the park, Sam Page added the second with a much needed goal for him before Jordan Mace hit a 35 yard pearler into the bottom corner.

At 3-0 manager Potter left the field for Ross Jones and JD came on for the injured Marc Garrod. Minutes later a Southwold forward turned in the box to make it 3-1. This however did not change the match as Hempnall continued to press forward and added a fourth after Kristian Jones scored a penalty after Lee Barrett was felled in the box.

FT : 4-1

A good win to round off the season of what if's. What if we wouldn't have lost the goals of Kingo and Dom Jones before the season kicked off, what if Matt Cartledge and Clitheroe wouldn't have missed so many games due to work and other commitments, what if so many players wouldn't have let Clarkey down and caused Reserves players to be needed in the firsts, what if around 10 goals weren't given against us or disallowed at vital moments, some say they even themselves out but I beg to differ.

In the end every defeat was only by the odd goal and far too many games were drawn when we showed we had lost our ability to 'win ugly'.

Certainly the top teams were no better than us but more consistent, nice for CEYMS to say we are the best team they have played after we battled out two 1-1 draws and we were able to win one close game and only lose by an odd goal against 2nd placed Foulsham.

Would like to place on record my thanks to Matt and Clarkey over the last two years who have done everything in their power to ensure I have the best squad at my disposal and to Dom and Dave who have assisted me superbly with the coaching of the team and all the bits and bobs on match days.