Results

WOMENS 2ND XI - 23/09/2023 VS NORWICH DRAGONS 1 (A) 
 
TEAM: Womens 2nd XI 
DATE: 23/09/2023 
FIXTURE: Womens 2nd XI VS 23/09/2023 
HEADLINE: City will rise from the ashes stronger than before 
LEAGUE: EAST DIVISION 1 NORTH 
VENUE: Dragons  
RESULT: 3-0 Loss  
 
REPORT: 
A strong opposing team to kick the season off for Norwich City womens 2s.  
Dragons showed their strength from the off, but City fought hard in retaliation to show they were not going to make it easy for them.  
 
Mikayla-Mae Glover, after coming out of retirement, proved her 5star talents had not been lost. She showed top notch goal keeping skills and did it with ease and style.  
 
A strong and composed defence from Jess Taylor-Balls, Leigh-Ann Worrall and Sally Rose kept Dragons on their toes, and forced them to make many mistakes. Thanks to their efforts, Dragons failed to reach the goal.  
 
A very superior defensive midfield performance from Lauren Lawrie, Ange Hindle and Frankie Birkenhead. Their slick team work made it tricky for the Dragons to find their forwards.  
 
City’s mid field, Jemma Falconer, El Jarvis, Milly Brown and Helen Harper-Lambert, showed absolute superior efforts from end to end. They worked hard for each other, their triangle passes were text book and between them, managed to carry the ball to the forwards, rattling the Dragons defence as they went.  
 
A tenacious and determined forward line of Charlie Hudson-Madge and Lucy McNarry, made it very difficult for the Dragons defence to keep up. Their hard work won them short corners, but City were very unlucky that their efforts could not quite find the net.  
 
The end result did not reflect the game in anyway. City will rise from the ashes stronger than before. 

WOMENS 3RD XI - 23/09/2023 VS NORWICH DRAGONS 2 (H) 
 
TEAM: Womens 3rd XI 
DATE: 23/09/2023 
FIXTURE: Womens 3rd XI VS 23/09/2023 
HEADLINE: How to slay the dragon! 
LEAGUE: EAST DIVISION 2 NORTH EAST 
VENUE: TRF 
RESULT: WIN 2-0 
 
REPORT: 
Buoyant from a great start to the season an early morning fixture beckoned against our local rivals Norwich Dragons. 
 
With some changes to the squad being made due to unavailability, the squad was greatly strengthened by appearances of the Anthony sisters, Maddie and Emily, daughter and mother combo Anna and Amelie, Emma and Niamh.  
 
We started confidently and had much of the play throughout all areas of the pitch by exploiting the spaces with excellent flowing hockey. The defence were never really troubled by the attacking force of the opposition which gave them the opportunity to push high up the pitch with some attacking moves of their own (and possible nose bleeds!) which resulted in linking up well with the screen players.  
 
Our forwards, wide and screen players were on form today which saw them constantly driving into opposition‘s defence from all angles! One such attack saw a short corner being awarded which resulted in Maddie Anthony thumping the ball into the back of the net with a straight strike - 1-0! Another goal shortly followed when the defence’s opposition were scrambling to clear the ball which saw Anna pounce on their confusion and slotted the ball into the back of the net - 2-0.  
 
We went into the break at 2-0 up knowing that the opposition would come back hard at us in the second half but we needn’t have worried! With the new formation bedding in well for our squad and all areas working and communicating well together we squandered chances to improve on the score. Final score 2-0. 
 
Thanks to our umpires Ali and Fongy. Oh and not forgetting our captain Claire for encouraging and supporting all players during the match 
 
Great work womens - let’s continue the good work and continue to work together as a squad which will make us a very hard team to beat! 
 
POTM goes to Longy!  

WOMENS 5TH XI - 23/09/2023 VS CARROW 1 (H) 
 
TEAM: Womens 5th XI 
DATE: 23/09/2023 
FIXTURE: Womens 5th XI VS 23/09/2023 
HEADLINE: Short corner assassination 
LEAGUE: EAST DIVISION 3 NORTH EAST (NORTH) 
VENUE: TRF 
RESULT: L 0-4 
 
REPORT: 
The team started off strong and had good possession keeping the ball in around Carrow's half, but couldn't quite find the goal. We continued to try to break their defense, but some strong direct passes between their players saw a counter on our goal and a short corner followed.  
 
Goal 1 conceded.  
 
And that's pretty much how the rest of the game continued. City putting in a concerted effort to attack Carrow's goal but not quite being able to convert anything and then a further 2 short corners conceded and converted, leaving city 3-0 down at half time.  
 
Emma roused the team at half time, giving some solid but simple advice on how we could strengthen our game play and we went back out there.  
 
One goal conceded in the second half, once again from a short corner, but generally we held them more at bay in the 2nd half, pulled together and got a good few breaks on Carrow.  
 
Not the score we wanted, not the score that reflected the hard slog that we all felt but we go again next week! 

WOMENS 6TH XI - 23/09/2023 VS NORWICH DRAGONS 7 (A) 
 
TEAM: Womens 6th XI 
DATE: 23/09/2023 
FIXTURE: Womens 6th XI VS 23/09/2023 
HEADLINE: A Hard Fought Win for City 
LEAGUE: EAST DIVISION 4 NORTH EAST (NORTH) 
VENUE: Dragons Den 
RESULT: Win 4-1 
 
REPORT: 
As always, the match against Norwich Dragons L7s was an excellent, friendly game and well matched. An excellent team effort saw City’s Sarah Bird slot in the first goal after an excellent pass in from Clare Clark in the first 15 minutes, which was quickly followed by an equaliser for Dragons. With a 1-1 score line, the team revamped their efforts to gain a 2-1 lead with a short corner with a combined efforts of Helen Lewis and Sarah Bird, and a 3rd goal by Susannah Hamilton in the first half.  
Dragons upped their effort in the second half with Paschka Da Costa, Karen Paterson, Emily Morton, Sarah Sandell and Keeper Jess Westbury keeping them at bay with some excellent defending work and saves. A final goal was scored by Clare Clark in the second half leaving a 4-1 scoreline to city.  

MENS 1ST XI - 24/09/2023 VS ST ALBANS 1 (A) 
 
TEAM: Mens 1st XI 
DATE: 24/09/2023 
FIXTURE: Mens 1st XI VS 24/09/2023 
HEADLINE: Mens 1st team 2nd season in National League gets off to underwhelming start 
LEAGUE: CONFERENCE MIDLANDS 
VENUE: Oakland's College 
RESULT: 1-2 L 
 
REPORT: A long and successful preseason that started all the way back in June had come to an end and our sophomore campaign in national League was upon us. No more benefit of being the unknowns, it was now up to applying ourselves week in week out and earning every single point.  
One of our shorter away journeys to ease us back in, a lovely trip to Hertfordshire to face St Alban's. A team that had shown themselves hard to beat on both occasions last year with a 2-1 and 3-1 victory and would obviously want to correct the double defeat they faced laat year. And this expectation was spot on, they came out hot, pressing us all over the pitch and forcing panicked passes or poor touches. But we saw the majority of that out and started to create chances. 3 short corners, 3 saves but it remained 0-0 at quarter time.  
Wasn't until Q2 when St Alban's showed their true attacking threat and won a few shorts of their own. The rebound of their third one finding its way to a forward and being bundled in for a halftime lead. 
Q3 was a flurry of cards, 2 to us and 1 to albans. And in that chaos Max Wilson found himself in alot of space out right drove into the D and on his debut for the 1s expertly slammed his shot in to the near right hand post away from the behemoth St Alban's keeper who had looked unbeatable until then.  
We started Q4 a man down and Alban's full pressed for the minute they had and made it pay. With a quick free hit outside then D and then advantage played from a foot in the D leading to a hit from the centre of the D. 1-2. We pressed and pressed and created danger included a goal disallowed from a short corner for being above the backboard but couldn't add to our one goal and the result was final.  
Good display, an off day for us but we have plenty to reflect on and learn from and come back stronger Vs Harleston next week.  
 

MENS 3RD XI - 23/09/2023 VS SUDBURY 1 (A) 
 
TEAM: Mens 3rd XI 
DATE: 23/09/2023 
FIXTURE: Mens 3rd XI VS 23/09/2023 
HEADLINE: Tough away trip 
LEAGUE: EAST DIVISION 2 NORTH EAST 
VENUE:Sudbury  
RESULT: 6-0 
 
REPORT: The scoreline indicates a very one sided game. However in places it was very competitive with Paul Gallop and Kit Pallister working hard in midfield. 
 
Sudbury did press well and Harry Ingham Tom Hindle and Malcolm Jewers all made good tackles and Tom Franks made some magical saves. NCHC3s contributed to their own downfall regularly passing the ball to the Sudbury front line.  
 
Upfront the chances were limited but NCHC3s were unable to take the opportunities when they arose.