Results

MENS 1ST XI - 12/11/2023 VS UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM 2 (A) 
 
TEAM: Mens 1st XI 
DATE: 12/11/2023 
FIXTURE: Mens 1st XI VS 12/11/2023 
HEADLINE: Unbeaten top of the table Notts remain unbeaten and top of the table 
LEAGUE: CONFERENCE MIDLANDS 
VENUE: Nottingham Hockey Centre  
RESULT: 2-3 L 
 
REPORT: The long trip to face University of Nottingham had not held man fond memories after being 3-0 down in the first quarter against them last time. Thankfully we were a bit more alert and it was only 1-0 this time. Once again, former Norwich City player Harry Patterson was the goal scorer. The rest of the half saw 3 Nottingham penalty corners that were saved comfortably by Alastair Cooke. Q3 was phonetic from the start, end to end play, 5 minutes in Harry Brown got a turnover at halfway and found Cam Cooke in a great position, he continued into the D and after beating the keeper was fouled by a defender for a p-flick of which he converted to level the scores. But the end-to-end play continued, Notts replying within 2 minutes after Norwich were dispossessed on their 23, Notts quickly passed around the D to find a player at the backpost to restore their lead. But as I'm sure you've probably seen coming, the intense play continued and Cam Cooke won a short corner which Tom Cooke converted to keep the game in the balance to end Q3. 
Q4 started well, Norwich winning 2 penalty corners in quick succession but they weren't able to make an impact on the scoreboard. This was soon followed by a Cameron Cooke quickly taken free hit aerial from just inside the Notts half to find Max Wilson not he move across the D, he attempted to volley the aerial in and to the astonishment of the crowd it blazed just wide. What could have been... And then came the moment of controversy. 60 seconds left on the clock Louis Preston caught their Centre Back with no options at the back and quickly pounced to be leading through into the Notts 23 with only the keeper to beat and keeper was ready and waiting and slide through taking the ball within the 23 but sliding outside of the 23 and taking louis with him. But play on was called and with that the Nottingham winger who had dominated the right channel all game had beaten 3 defenders carried into the D and reversed Cooly into the bottom right corner to take a phenomenal last gasp lead and left Norwich with 30 seconds to reply which was not enough time and it ended 3-2 to UoN. Not alot that could be done after a stellar performance from the team. That display beats every single other team in this league and it was a superb spectacle from start to finish for those at the Nottingham Hockey Centre. And with that we carry that hard work, discipline and clinical play into this weekends home clash with another university side. This time Birmingham.  
 

MENS 1ST XI - 05/11/2023 VS BANBURY 1 (H) 
 
TEAM: Mens 1st XI 
DATE: 05/11/2023 
FIXTURE: Mens 1st XI VS 05/11/2023 
HEADLINE: Spoils Shared Versus New National League Foe 
LEAGUE: CONFERENCE MIDLANDS 
VENUE: Taverham 
RESULT: 3-3 D 
 
REPORT: Taverham welcomed Banbury to Norfolk in their debut national League campaign. An honour we knew alot about from last year, which comes with the benefit of the element of the unknown. We knew very little of our opposite and started with that apprehension in the forefront of our thoughts, sitting off and seeing Banbury enter our D 2/3 times in the first 3 minutes with minimal effort. Thankfully Alastair Cooke & Tom Harris were on hand to mop up the early pressure. No long after we had won the ball in good position and Tom Cooke quickly found his brother Cam on the move who broke away and passed around the keeper to Chris Wardale who defected the ball in. Q1 ended 1-0 to Norwich. 
Q2 started with a flurry of Banbury short corners but Alastair Cooke was equal to them all. Shortly after Elliot Hibell won our 2nd short corner of the game and Tom Cooke obliged to score it and double the lead. After an early start Banburys influence on the game had begun to fade, but they soon changed that with a sharply won and quickly taken freehit they'd slammed a ball in to a free man at the backpost and had open their tally for the day. Soon after they'd moved quickly through midfield to find a man at the p-spot who deflected in aswell. Game level in the blink of an eye. HT: 2-2. 
Norwich were welcomed into the second half with a pair of green cards for Elliott & Dave and Banbury made the numerical superiority pay with a short corner goal to take a well deserved lead. Norwich returned to their full compliment and regained control of play. After threatening on multiple attacks it was Elliott Hibell who cut past one defender before slipping a ball to Thomas Cooke who quickly slapped towards goal. Unfortunately the slap missed it's intended target but it did bounce off the post and Chris Wardale was the fastest to react and he had his second goal of the game and leveled up with 5 minutes to play. A few chances from either side to end but nothing to trouble the scoreboard. The match ended 3-3. 
 

MENS 1ST XI - 29/10/2023 VS CITY OF PETERBOROUGH (A) 
 
TEAM: Mens 1st XI 
DATE: 29/10/2023 
FIXTURE: Mens 1st XI VS 29/10/2023 
HEADLINE: Norwich City Move into the Tier 1 Quarter Finals 
LEAGUE: CONFERENCE MIDLANDS 
VENUE: City Of Peterborough HC 
RESULT: 2-1 Win 
 
REPORT: The half term bye week break for the league might've been a rest for some clubs but as we have decided to enter the EH Tier 1 Cup (open to all national league teams) we had our last 16 tie vs City Of Peterborough who we had beaten 8-3 two weeks earlier. We arrived with a squad full of 2nd team talent, a great opportunity for them to stake a claim for a permanent first team place as well as a show of depth for the club as a whole.  
The first quarter was largely uneventful, both teams warming up and finding their feet, neither side creating too much. It ended 0-0. The 2nd quarter saw a bit more activity with both keepers being forced into action with numerous double saves. Alastair Cooke in particular dashing from right post to left at a short corner to leave his net unharmed. Elliot Hibell was the on hand to win and finish a short corner to put Norwich into the lead before half time. HT: 1-0. 
The second half got underway with Peterborough immediately taking back control. Short corner after short corner were won but after 2 were missed, 2 were saved and a mistrap the score remained 1 goal in the favour of Norwich. Ed Beake then quickly won and took a free hit near halfway, he found Ben Chapman at the top of the D who with 3 touches, beat his defender and passed into the fast arriving Harry Gill who cooly deflected the ball through the Peterborough keepers legs to double the lead against the run of play. Q3 finished 2-0 to Norwich.  
Quarter 4 was a very similar story to the 3rd. Peterborough short after short but still no goal. A yellow and a green for norwich later and more shorts and eventually peterborough scored with their 10th short corner of the day. It was a very tense ending with a peterborough short as time expired but man of the match Alastair Cooke was equal to it and Norwich saw the ball out the D and earned their move into the next round. Lots of big names to potentially be drawn against; Old Georgians, Oxted, Beeston & Bowden to name a few. Ties to be played Dec 16/17. 
 

MENS 1ST XI - 22/10/2023 VS BARFORD TIGERS 1 (H) 
 
TEAM: Mens 1st XI 
DATE: 22/10/2023 
FIXTURE: Mens 1st XI VS 22/10/2023 
HEADLINE: Norwich City's 3rd win in a row  
LEAGUE: CONFERENCE MIDLANDS 
VENUE: Taverham 
RESULT: 5-3 win  
 
REPORT: Barford were welcomed with their long journey with open entry to our D. 3 short corners in 3 minutes but thankfully nothing to trouble to scoreline after 2 Alastair Cooke saves & a Tom Harris pick as post man. After recovering from the early onslaught Norwich took back control. First Cameron Cooke threatened and then Harry Gill beat 2 defenders and ran past 2 more before finding Cameron Cooke in the D to deflect in for the lead. Shortly after, Tom Cooke won a turnover and slapped a pass into Chris Wardale who guided the ball into the D with 1 touch and Cameron Cooke doubled his & Norwich Citys' tally. Q1 ended 2-0.  
Quarter 2 was end to end with neither side taking control but also neither side troubling the scoreboard. HT: 2-0.  
Quarter 2 began with 2 more Barford penalty corners but also 2 more Alastair Cooke saves. Soon after a quickly taken free hit saw Josh Baker being down an aerial deep into Barfords 23 and after a dribble into the D along the baseline he found Elliot Hibell who calmly took the ball onto his reverse and planted it home for a 3 goal lead. And the clinical goal scoring continued with Ben Chapman running from his 23, all the way up the right hand side into the Barford D before he pulled the ball back to Chris Wardale for a first time hit into the opposite bottom and an immense 4 goal lead. Q3: 4-0. 
The 4th quarter opened with Norwich going down to 10men for 5 minutes. Barford made the advantage pay, with 2 short corners they had roofed 2 drag flicks and the once commanding lead had begun to look shakey 4-2. Thankfully Max Wilson was on hand to kill the momentum by being 4 men on a run into the D and reversed into the bottom right corner for a 5-2 lead with 7 minutes to go. Norwich hung on but a hattrick of flicks with Barfords Australian flicker made the scoreline look close. A dominant performance that saw Norwich get well and truly back on track after a shakey start. After next week's cup match it will be another home game vs newcomers & unknown entity Banbury.  
 

MENS 1ST XI - 15/10/2023 VS CITY OF PETERBOROUGH 1 (A) 
 
TEAM: Mens 1st XI 
DATE: 15/10/2023 
FIXTURE: Mens 1st XI VS 15/10/2023 
HEADLINE: Superbly Clinical Display See's the M1s Score 8 
LEAGUE: CONFERENCE MIDLANDS 
VENUE: City Of Peterbough HC 
RESULT: 8-3 Win 
 
REPORT: A well known foe that are always hard to beat but we were in good spirits after last week's performance and knew wed have to be at our best again. 
 
Norwich City made a superb start, Peterbough barely touched it for 10 minutes. 2 goals later and they were well onto the back foot an incredible passing and moving play all the way from a 16 to the D saw Elliot Hibell find Cam Cooke who found Harry Gill who passed across the D to an unmarked Chris Wardale at the back post. Before an Elliot Hibell drag from our first short corner of the day was saved into the path of Josh Baker who rebounded in to double the lead. Unfortunately a calamitious end to the quarter saw peterborough sneak back into the clash after creating zero threat In quarter 1. Q1: 2-1 lead for Norwich. 
Q2 began and the dominance continued. A few short corners were won but nothing changed the scoreboard. Until Thomas cooke quickly took a long corner and found Dave Gilbert in space, he cut into the D and reversed into the bottom right corner towards Chris Wardale (Tapin) who had his 2nd Tap-in and goal of the game. HT 3-1. 
In Q3 after the squad saw out a yellow card we started to see signs of the team back to their best. Dave, Josh, Cam & Ben combining well to give the peterbough defence a torrid time passing around, Turnover after turnover ensued and Norwich city were in the ascendancy. Cameron Cooke worked hard for a turnover and found Dave Gilbert who won a short that Elliot Hibell put away, 4-1. The same trio linked up in exactly the same way for Elliot to make it 5-1 a few minutes later. Then to end the quarter Max Wilson shot was saved, Josh Bakers rebound was saved and Chris Wardale at the third timing of asking put the ball in and had his third goal of the game. Q3: 6-1. 
Quarter 4 saw a few more chances come but the city of peterborough goalkeeper made sure they didn't add to the scoreline. Peterborough did then start to create a few chances of their own, a few 1-2s and they were in our D and made it 6-2 before Dave Gilbert found Chris Wardale by the p spot to deflect in for a 7-2 lead and then Peterborough won their 5th short corner of the day and they made it 7-3. Cameron Cooke singled handedly scored the 11th and final goal of the day with a turnover, run and spin to open up a lovely reverse hit. Final score 8-3. A great display Sunday, back to some of our best hockey. Clinical in the D, superb quick passing & leading interplay. Started well and stayed on top throughout! The boys will look to ride that wave into Barford this week, big effort to be ready to face a former div 1 side who will not give us time and space and will punish each and every mistake we make. 
 
 

MENS 1ST XI - 08/10/2023 VS STOURPORT 1 (A) 
 
TEAM: Mens 1st XI 
DATE: 08/10/2023 
FIXTURE: Mens 1st XI VS 08/10/2023 
HEADLINE: Mens 1s Get Their First Points On The Board For 23/24 
LEAGUE: CONFERENCE MIDLANDS 
VENUE: Stourport Sports Club 
RESULT: 3-2 Win 
 
REPORT: The Longest away day of the year was met with bright sunshine on a weirdly scorching October day. 
Caught napping off the bus and we were 1-0 down inside 3 minutes of play. And after a pair of drag flicks were saved by Alastair Cooke the team finally awoke and showed some thereat with a few D entries but nothing to trouble the scoreboard.  
City took over in Q2 and sent the crowd quiet. First came Elliot Hibell forcing a quality save from Stourports very own A Cooke before Cameron Cooke won and scored a penalty stroke. Soon after he was winning and scoring a short corner and the comeback was complete. HT: 2-1.  
Q3 was measured and controlled with a trio of short taken by Stourport but Russ and the post men stopping anything from entering the goal.  
Q4 started poorly with Stourport playing a long ball down the line and with an easy pass into the p-spot and first time finish they had drawn themselves back into the tie. We then proceeded to receive a yellow card for a bad tackle from Harry Gill and the momentum had totally swung the other way. City saw the 5 minutes out and then pushed for the winner. A Josh Baker reverse went just wide, an Elliot Hibell drag flick went just wide and then Josh Baker stepped up and dribbled around 4 men and the rebound fell to an unmarked Dave Gilbert which saw the summer signing scored his first league goal for the yellows.  
3-2 win, well deserved, could've been easier but 3 points is 3 points and we were off bottom and ended Stourports 54 match unbeaten streak! 
 

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 1ST XI - 14/09/2023 VS UEA 1 (H) 
 
TEAM: Mens 1st XI 
DATE: 14/09/2023 
FIXTURE: Mens 1st XI VS 14/09/2023 
HEADLINE: Thursday Night Under The Lights  
LEAGUE: CONFERENCE MIDLANDS 
VENUE: TRF 
RESULT: 7-1 win  
 
REPORT: last few preseason games before the league begins on 24th. Dominant display scoring 33seconds into the game but lots to still work on. 
 

MENS 1ST XI - 02/09/2023 VS CAMBRIDGE CITY 1 (A) 
 
TEAM: Mens 1st XI 
DATE: 02/09/2023 
FIXTURE: Mens 1st XI VS 02/09/2023 
HEADLINE: Big win vs big opposition 
LEAGUE: CONFERENCE MIDLANDS 
VENUE: Wilberforce Road  
RESULT: 6-1 win  
 
REPORT: Hot day. Hot hockey. Great performance.  
 

MENS 1ST XI - 27/08/2023 VS VIVIER D'OIE 1 (A) 
 
TEAM: Mens 1st XI 
DATE: 27/08/2023 
FIXTURE: Mens 1st XI VS 27/08/2023 
HEADLINE: Tour Game 2: 2nd win  
LEAGUE: CONFERENCE MIDLANDS 
VENUE: Royal Racing Club De Bruxelles 
RESULT: 7-1 
 
REPORT: win 
 

MENS 1ST XI - 26/08/2023 VS LINKEBEEK 1 (A) 
 
TEAM: Mens 1st XI 
DATE: 26/08/2023 
FIXTURE: Mens 1st XI VS 26/08/2023 
HEADLINE: 1st Tour Game 
LEAGUE: CONFERENCE MIDLANDS 
VENUE: Linkebeek HC 
RESULT: 3-1  
 
REPORT: clubhouse tucked away in a forest on the edge or Brussels. Lovely spot and some even better hockey. End to end game for a half. Norwich City held on for a confident win and great runaround to really get into preseason.  
 

MENS 1ST XI - 19/08/2023 VS SPALDING 1 (A) 
 
TEAM: Mens 1st XI 
DATE: 19/08/2023 
FIXTURE: Mens 1st XI VS 19/08/2023 
HEADLINE: First preseason game. Confident display.  
LEAGUE: CONFERENCE MIDLANDS 
VENUE: Spalding HC 
RESULT: 12-2  
 
REPORT: a hot day lead to a very sweaty warmup and a very dry pitch. But that didn't stop the lads getting stuck straight in and 6 goals up at HT. This dominance continued into the second half with lots goals for some relatively new faces - Max Wilson & Ed Beake. Shame we conceded 2 but couldn't deflate what was a a good display to open preseason.