Results

MENS 5TH XI - 04/12/2021 VS NORWICH DRAGONS 4 (H) 
 
TEAM: Mens 5th XI 
DATE: 04/12/2021 
FIXTURE: Mens 5th XI VS 04/12/2021 
HEADLINE: A game of two halves and short corners! 
LEAGUE: EAST DIVISION 4 NORTH EAST 
VENUE: TRF 
RESULT: 3-2 
 
REPORT: 
A mid-afternoon game at Taverham saw two well matched teams go head-to-head in a well spirited, but cold game of hockey with City claiming the victory.  
 
The game started off with even amounts of pressure being applied at both ends. With each team in turn counter attacking well the first opportunity fell to Dragons winning a short corner, but the City defence held firm. 
 
City responded by winning their first short corner or the game. Good injection from Matthew Brine and stop by Tom Cooper allowed Corey Rushton the chance to drag flick, forcing the keeper to make a good save. After taking turns to attack and defend with Sam Williamson and Mark Bailey combining well for City down the left, it was Dragons that got the first goal. 
 
City responded well, with good attacks by Angus Irving and Glen Tobias, this time down the right side. A short corner won by City allowed Matthew Brine to drill the ball bottom left to level the scores. 1-1 A second short corner followed, with a carefully planned ‘alternative routine’. Injection by Tom Cooper, a firm hit from Matthew Brine to Corey Rushton, who deflected it in giving city a well-earned lead. 2-1 City! 
 
Yet another short corner, saw the team revert to short corner plan-A, with Matthew Brine picking his spot, in the bottom right hand corner taking City two goals clear. 3-1 
 
Dragons did manage a late break against the run of play to pull one back with a minute left. City however were more than strong enough to not let a spirited second half performance slip and hold out for a well-earned victory. 3-2 City!. 

MENS 5TH XI - 20/11/2021 VS DEREHAM 3 (H) 
 
TEAM: Mens 5th XI 
DATE: 20/11/2021 
FIXTURE: Mens 5th XI VS 20/11/2021 
HEADLINE: Played well, great in some parts with one lapse of concentration 
LEAGUE: EAST DIVISION 4 NORTH EAST 
VENUE: TRF 
RESULT: 5-1 
 
REPORT: 
An overcast morning saw the 5's take on Dereham 3's in a hotly anticipated battle for third in the table. Despite what seemed like an early and strong warm-up, City started very slow and sluggish which resulted in Dereham applying the initial pressure and having a couple of chances. After those first defensive 15 minutes City then woke up and started playing much better hockey, with some great spells of; passing in triangles, posting up and pushing harder in the 50/50s which resulted in Matthew Brine scoring a goal.  
City continued their dominance with Paul Gallop close control and range of passing being a lynchpin in midfield and kept upgrading in the last third to penalty corners. This gave Matthew Brine another chance to grab a goal with a lovely drag flick at which the Dereham defender on the post seemed to attempt to head away but fortunately there was no contact.  
Paul Gallop, Tom Cooper, and John Ewart continued to antagonise and frustrate the Dereham midfield and defense with some intricate passing and moving and Paul Gallop showed some great composure in the D to claim a goal and City's third before halftime.  
Dereham tried almost everything to regain a foothold in the game with long balls, close midfield play and strong driving runs all being thwarted by a stalwart defensive display. Even the penalty corners and a chance being cleared off the line couldn't help the away side to find a goal going into the break. 
After the halftime team talk discussing the initial sluggishness City were once again slow in the restart, with the pressure coming straight away by Dereham who were clearly attempting to not leave with an embarrassing score line. This pressure was easily soaked up and a cameo appearance by Paul Roy led once again to some superb team play in the midfield and a remarkable bouncing shot hitting the backboard - Paul Roy starting and finishing the move.  
City managed to concede a series of penalty corners which led to Dereham scoring their consolation goal due to a minor lapse of concentration by the post marker being punished by a well-aimed shot. This seemed to raise Dereham's broken spirits a little but the meagre hopes of a comeback were very quickly quashed when Kit Pallister rounded off City's scoring to make it 5-1 at the end.  
 

MENS 5TH XI - 13/11/2021 VS IPSWICH EAST-SUFFOLK 4 (A) 
 
TEAM: Mens 5th XI 
DATE: 13/11/2021 
FIXTURE: Mens 5th XI VS 13/11/2021 
HEADLINE: Close game for City 
LEAGUE: EAST DIVISION 4 NORTH EAST 
VENUE: IES 
RESULT: 3-2 
 
REPORT: 
In Ipswich, we had a close game against the home team. As half time came by, we tied 1-1 with them scoring the first goal, the pressure was building for both teams to get possession of the ball and ultimately, secure a lead on the scoreboard. The defence was tested throughout the game, but it held strong enough to keep us in the game. 
 
For a vital 15 minutes, some excellent hockey has been played in the offence through teamwork, which had got us the upper hand and 2 more goals. The opposition returned the favour by scoring one more against us which proven to us that the game was not over yet. The final minutes of the game resulted in us keeping composure to ensure us the win. Overall, it was a great game and everyone should be happy with their performance. 

MENS 5TH XI - 06/11/2021 VS NORWICH DRAGONS 5 (A) 
 
TEAM: Mens 5th XI 
DATE: 06/11/2021 
FIXTURE: Mens 5th XI VS 06/11/2021 
HEADLINE: Dominant play for the Norwich 5s 
LEAGUE: EAST DIVISION 4 NORTH EAST 
VENUE: Dragon's Den 
RESULT: 3-0 W 
 
REPORT: 
In our match against Dragons 5’s, we won 3-0 and the team played excellently, as a team we worked together in pairs and sometimes threes on and off the ball to earn ourselves short corners and other penalties. We held a majority of possession throughout the match and overall it was a great game. It took us about 10 minutes to officially get into the flow of the game but then we started playing really well, but towards the end a few of us started to falter but that’s nothing that can’t be improved. 
 

MENS 5TH XI - 16/10/2021 VS IPSWICH 3 (A) 
 
TEAM: Mens 5th XI 
DATE: 16/10/2021 
FIXTURE: Mens 5th XI VS 16/10/2021 
HEADLINE: Positive performance 
LEAGUE: EAST DIVISION 4 NORTH EAST 
VENUE: Ipswich 
RESULT: W 6-2 
 
REPORT: 
The men’s 5ths travelled away to Ipswich and where delighted to come back home with a 6-2 win. Rees Leonard opened up the scoring with a brilliant lob over the keeper. Our second goal was a great team effort, it had fallen to Max Coubrough on the P-spot who pushed it into the corner to make it 2-0. They struck back just before half time with a goal, this made the score 2-1 at half time. Norwich had been dominating throughout this first half but Ipswich had also shown some attacking flair to get their goal. 
 
We came out of half time wanting to secure our lead. We had worked our way into their D and earned a short corner. This was powered into the top corner by Rees Leonard who had drag flicked it. After this Ipswich had put together some attacking play and were able to get back a goal and bring it to 3-2. However, we were able to keep on the attacking pressure and earned another short corner. This was identical to the first one and was powerfully flicked by Rees Leonard straight into the top right corner. Our next goal was also a short corner which Rees Leonard flicked bottom right like a bullet. The short corner routine was unstoppable. By this point it was 5-2 and we had our heads up to capitalise on this opportunity. We had forced a shot into the keeper and it had gone into the air, Duncan Mallet got under it and volleyed it straight into the goal. This made the game 6-2. It was a strong defensive effort to keep Ipswich to only 2 goals, and our goal keeper made some amazing saves to keep Ipswich at bay. It was a great win away for Norwich. 

MENS 5TH XI - 09/10/2021 VS BURY ST EDMUNDS 4 (H) 
 
TEAM: Mens 5th XI 
DATE: 09/10/2021 
FIXTURE: Mens 5th XI VS 09/10/2021 
HEADLINE: Unlucky for Norwich 5s 
LEAGUE: EAST DIVISION 5 NORTH EAST 
VENUE: TRF 
RESULT: L 2-1 
 
REPORT: 
Bury 4s travelled to Taverham with the sun setting over the H2O pitch and unseasonably warm weather, the game set off with a strong start. Promising link up play going forward and a couple of short corners being won made it feel like the fifth team were close to going ahead. Unfortunately despite some great saves made by Chris Watson to keep City in the game Bury capitalised and went ahead. Bury had a strong midfield although felt challenged by City when pressed. Two goals against the run of play meant Bury were two goals ahead by half time.  
 
The second half brought new energy from the fifth team. Rees’ short corner persistence eventually paid off with a minor deflection taking the ball into the corner of the goal away from the keeper. Despite a flurry of cards in which Tim and Tom left the pitch after greens, City left the pitch feeling like an extra 10 minutes would have given a different result and perhaps a draw. The game ended with Bury 2, City 1. 
 
Player of the Match: Duncan Harris 

MENS 5TH XI - 02/10/2021 VS NORWICH EXILES 1 (A) 
 
TEAM: Mens 5th XI 
DATE: 02/10/2021 
FIXTURE: Mens 5th XI VS 02/10/2021 
HEADLINE: Lessons learnt 
LEAGUE: EAST DIVISION 5 NORTH EAST 
VENUE: TRF 
RESULT: L 5-1 
 
REPORT: 
We had a tough match from start to finish from the Norwich Exiles, loss of 5-1 final score with Rees Leonard scoring our only goal, the midfield had a tough time keeping suit with Exiles’ play style. They liked to play the long ball down the pitch to their striker, marked by Kieran Shapcott (PotM). The defensive line had a confusing start where we conceded two goals but we started to work together more and more fluently as did the team as a whole. The strikers were playing a very good game being fed from Geoff’s ariels but got quite stuck when faced head on with the opposing defence. It was a shame no more goals were scored on our behalf. On the whole the team played well as a unit and we did our best.  

MENS 5TH XI - 18/09/2021 VS PELICANS 3 (A) 
 
TEAM: Mens 5th XI 
DATE: 18/09/2021 
FIXTURE: Mens 5th XI VS 18/09/2021 
HEADLINE: Great start to the season 
LEAGUE: EAST DIVISION 5 NORTH EAST 
VENUE:Lynnsport, Kings Lynn 
RESULT: W 7-1 
 
REPORT: 
The 5’s travelled to Kings Lynn to play Pelicans 3 for their first league game of the season. It was a great win 7-1. Jack Whitlam got us onto the score sheet with a good finish from an aerial from Geoff Spencer. We made the most of our short corner opportunities with Aaron Curtis scoring two more. Jack Whitlam than scored again to finish the first half 4-0. 
 
We continued to play well as a team into the second half with strong performances from all, maintaining focus and passing the ball well between us. Will Jewers in goal made some good saves and only conceding one unlucky goal. We carried on dominating the game with Aaron scoring another 2 goals and Jack another 1, ending a great afternoon where City were in charge throughout.  

MENS 5TH XI - 04/09/2021 VS BURY ST EDMUNDS 6 (H) 
 
TEAM: Mens 5th XI 
DATE: 04/09/2021 
FIXTURE: Mens 5th XI VS 04/09/2021 
HEADLINE: Positive start for Norwich 5s 
LEAGUE: EAST DIVISION 5 NORTH EAST 
VENUE:TRF 
RESULT:3-0 W 
 
REPORT: 
It was great to begin the season with a friendly against Bury and a good 3:0 win. Rees Leonard got us onto the score sheet with a great goal, giving us an early lead. This was followed by a second scored by Glenn Tobias. It was a game full of short corners for Norwich City and the second half saw many that came close to going in, but Bury put up a good defence and made some great saves. Later in the second half Paul Gallop snuck one in bringing the final score to a 3:0 victory, ending a great game where Norwich where dominant throughout. 
 

MENS 5TH XI - 28/08/2021 VS INVITATIONAL XI (A) 
 
TEAM: Mens 5th XI 
DATE: 28/08/2021 
FIXTURE: Mens 5th XI VS 28/08/2021 
HEADLINE: Interclub game shows promise 
LEAGUE: EAST DIVISION 4 NORTH EAST 
VENUE: Taverham - Sand 
RESULT: 1-0 Win 
 
REPORT: 
To start the 2021 season off the 26 players from a combination of the Mens 3s, 4s and 5s squad took to the field on a warm August Saturday to compete in an interclub friendly.  
 
The game was hard fought and close with only the one goal coming from a Rees Leonard penalty corner flick.  
 
There were lots of good performances on either side and the season promises to be a positive one.