Norwich Corinthians Match Report 19/11/11

What a lovely morning to face what was expected to be the toughest game of the season for the Heigham Park Rangers U8s.

Pre match banter in new team jackets

This time, the team were ready for a tough match as we had been made aware, from the playground feedback, that Norwich Corinthians had assembled a team from exclusively PDC players, all except for one.

But first we had a game against Taverham who we had narrowly beaten in one of the tournaments earlier this year. Before that we had to actually get into the ground as the caretaker seems to have taken umbridge to the request for an earlier start and stayed in bed. Good job nobody needed to do number 2s!

We kicked off with Luke and Sol up front and Aidan in the middle. We were trying out a different formation today as we knew we would need a stronger defence for our second game, and decided to keep the team formation constant. We were soon pushing forward with Aiden naturally playing further forward and Sol dropping back and helping in defence. An easy goal was soon popped home by Aiden before half time.

Evie came on to join Felix for the second half and Ted replaced Aidan in midfield with Archie R joining Luke up front. Two more goals from Luke and Ted put the score at 3 - 0 where it stayed to the end thanks to excellent defence, notably from Max and spectacular saves from both Frankie and Sol.

Hand shake with Norwich Corinthians

We had a five minute break before the second game (the Corinthians management were keen to get to the Arsenal game) and then we were away win a 1 - 0 lead after seconds with the Archie R/Aidan partnership up front. This was always going to be tough, but all the players stepped up and gave their all. They were taken aback by the quick, short corners (something to practice for us) and they soon had a equaliser. The second from Corinthians came from the big number 5 and would have probably injured one of our players should it have hit them! They got another past us, but it was from a goal mouth scramble. 3 - 1 the final score. Not bad considering a couple of their players will probably end up in the NCFC Elite Squad next year.

Player of the Match - Max for fast, strong defence and positional play.

A tired, wet but happy HPR side.

Taverham came through to balance proceedings up for the final match with a spirited side winning 3 - 1 against the Corinthians (considering they had lost their first match to us), breaking the Corinthians 100% winning record.

So, winners (and losers) all round. And proof that all teams can be beaten - shame we didn't get to play the Corinthians second. There's always next time.

Mulbarton Match Report 5/11/11

A damp, but mild start for this game which was originally scheduled to be played at Blofield, but was changed, as Mulbarton were late additions to the league. Once everyone had found the ground we learned that Mulbarton have been winning most of their matches with an apparent 12-0 thrown in there.

Ted and Aiden arrived just in time for the first match which was Heigham Park Rangers against Mulbarton, who were fielding a rangey forward!.

We knew we would have our work cut out so had a chat with the team about positional play and passing and sent on a strong opening side. The play was fierce from the off with both sides fairly well matched with Sol and Felix out left and right. The first strike was to Mulbarton due to a brief lapse in concentration by Heigham Park. A good high shot produced a valiant effort from Ted in goal, trying to tip it over the bar with a characteristic, acrobatic display. Unfortunately it found the top left corner.

The team maintained some good passing play after the half time break with Ted up front and Luke taking over from Sol on the right. Frankie was able to wallop one in from the edge of the box to equalise. Max and Evie, as ever marshalled the defence to great effect during the match with customary, crunching tackles. A 1-1 draw at the end was a good result from a very exciting match, enlivened by Aiden's goalkeeping antics in the second half (use your hands Aiden, for the sake of the parent's heart rates!). Certainly the closest match of the season so far.

Next up, Hillside FC who we have beaten already this season 3-0. We were hoping this would be an easier match and it started that way with Archie R popping one in within the first minute. The formation was less disciplined but we soon had a second from Aiden as a result of a Hillside defensive blunder. Frankie did a nifty save in goal which was immediately knocked back to be denied by the woodwork. So we went into half time 2-0 up.

During the second half Heigham Park's performance can only be described as 'ragged' with players out of position leaving openings for Hillside, themselves fielding a rangey forward, who soon pulled one back. A second claimed for Aiden during a goal mouth scramble had HPR feeling the game was in the bag. But all credit to Hillside who fought back exploiting the HPR midfield confusion (which no amount of vocal encouragement from the management could turn around) to get two more goals. Another draw at 3-3, but the team felt they should have had the 3 points.

Not a bad record though, 8 matches - 5 wins, 2 draws and one loss. That would give us, were we to be taking the league seriously (!?!), 17 out of a possible 24 points.

The team have had it easy with some of the previous games, now they are getting up against some stronger sides, they are adapting their play. The loss against Norwich Utd. was a wake up call - there are teams out there that will beat us if we let them. More positional play in training and keep up the passing play that saw us through the first match today will give us more wins in the future.

Player of the match today was Frankie for and excellent equaliser and a great save in the second game.