Hempnall FC

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Some weeks run smoothly, some weeks do not; last week was definitely in the latter category!!

From Monday onwards it was a case of phone calls trying to resolve departures & arrivals, waiting on injuries & unavailability to get a squad together for a difficult away fixture at Wroxham.

That fixture was always going to be tough with the likes of King, Jordan, Boswell, Cook etc expected in the opposing line up. That challenge got even harder when Wroxham’s 1^st team fixture fell foul to the terrible tragedy at Yarmouth, for which we add our condolences for those impacted.

So the above players mentioned were joined by the likes of Bloomfield, Langlois, Challen, Wines & Lemon. This is not to criticise our hosts, we understand & have ourselves used the reserves to give 1^st team squad members needed game time.

But the fact remained an already difficult fixture became all the much harder.

So with influential skipper Ben Player being one of the players that didn’t make it the starting line up, Tim Downs again took the arm band.

The battle cry of lets give it all we have got & give nothing away early. Two minutes in, we were a little slow getting out, Dan Cook latched onto a lose ball crashing home a half volley through a ruck of players, giving Cuds no chance.

It was at this point you begin to realise with all that had gone before during the week, it wasn’t going to our day.

Thirty five minutes in, with us down to 10 men as Jamie Pretty was being refused a re-entry the field of play following treatment, a mistake from Carl Harwin allowed the prolific Paul Cook to go 1 on 1 with Cuds & he clinically finished.

However it hadn’t been and still wasn’t ‘one way traffic’, as at times we played some neat football leading to some chances of our own. Ali twice & Millsy header were the more notable.

So, halftime came with us still in the game, knowing that the next goal could decide the pattern of the game.

We started strongly, giving our opponents a run for their money but 10 minutes in our good work was undone when a good ball to the far post allowed Adam Brock to head home.

At this point it would have been easy for the lads to fold, having conceded after 2 minutes, being 3 down & up against quality opposition. But, the lads kept plugging away, competing well to keep our opponents from increasing their tally.

Substitutes Hyett, Willis & Clitheroe were all introduced, playing their part in a performance that didn’t give us any points but kept morale & confidence in place for the visit of high flying St Andrews on Saturday.

Iain Mills & Craig Hunting, who has been impressive since joining the club, typified the effort given on the day & shared the man of the match award.

After a quick stock take of where we are at the half way stage, it would be easy to say things are doom & gloom. Yes we are not where we had hoped to be but Saturday’s fixture against St Andrews means we will have completed 7 out of the 8 fixtures against the top 4, with only Cromer to visit.

I am confident that given the potentially easier fixtures ahead & the mood still positive within the camp, we can start to climb the table. That is providing no further players become feint hearted & walk away from the challenge!