Hempnall FC

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Firstly let me congratulate Sam Page and Ben Nichols who both played for the County on Tuesday night and secured a 1-1 draw against their under 18 counterparts. I understand Ben received the man of the match award. This is obviously brilliant for them but it is also very good for the club in terms of its stature, especially when you consider the squad I believe only contained 3 players outside the Ridgeon's league and we had 2 of them (with the 3rd from Cromer). Well done lads I am sorry I couldn't get over on Tuesday to support you.

Secondly, Wednesday night; Football has that great habit of kicking you in the teeth when you least expect it and however old or experienced you get, it still knocks you back.

A good win on Saturday, virtually all the squad on the mend with the exception of Greg Devlin and new Boy Dan Cook, morale was high and we had the knowledge a win would take us to a creditable 3rd position in the league . What could go wrong!?

Then the drama began!! Carl Harwin and my phones both went wrong (what are the chances of that!), so we ended up with lack of communication and a dash across the City in rush hour and a 20 min late arrival. No major problems, all was cool, quick rescheduling and we are back on track- I should have known better the signs were there!!

I asked Barry Allard (Baz) to come along as cover with no Reserve game for him to gain fitness and the lads having done well (all 14) on Saturday, so we didn't feel we could change it. Barry thought I meant the 11 starters, he had been involved in 2 really stressful days at work (including a TV debut on Look East, well done mate) rushed overand everyone was fit. He obviously wasn't happy, I accept the mis-communication is mine, we have a heart to heart and hopefully we are back on track!?

The game commences and Kristian falls awkwardly on his hand after 30 minutes, its straight to Hospital and at time of writing (Thursday morning) he is currently awaiting the operation to sort 4 dislocated fingers, ouch!!

BP replaces him and we are back on track, again! We take the lead on 50 mins and all is looking controlled. Watton step up their battling qualities and a dangerous looking 2 footed tackle goes right through Tom Halliwell who can take no further part in this game (and at a minimum Saturday). The Ref only sees it as a yellow!

No problem, we have a quality squad and Gareth fills in for Tom, all back on track, yes again!!

On 65 minutes, all our good work is undone as Fez rushes to the corner of his box and kicked clear only to see the ball balloon off an inrushing striker and spiral at an amazing angle into the back of the net. At this point I suddenly get that feeling that maybe lady luck isn't with us tonight. Am I slow on the uptake or just over optimistic (No comments, I know which way most of you would say!).

On 70 minutes a thunderbolt from 25 yards is already goal bound at pace before it takes a helping deflection to send it further away from Fez and we go behind. A wry smile of resignation settles on my face as the penny finally drops, it isn't going to be our day and we are now definitely ‘OFF' track!!

Carl Harwin is then kicked off the ball, the officials have seen it! Yes, that glimmer of hope we can get back on track. I start to think about reshaping the side to play against 10 men. But no, bizarrely even though it's been seen it's only deemed a yellow, how can that be? We are still off track!

But who knows, we have another ace in under 18 striker Sam Page who may turn the game our way. The last card is played, he has the quality and potential to make something happen, I am still optimistic we can get something. But alas Watton have other ideas, they carve us open for a good 3rd goal and I finally accept we are derailed!! Finally, a health warning to any potential managers, this is not a one off, don't do it unless you are mad or ‘slow' like me!