Report

Our last game of the season was the CS Morley Cup Final on Wednesday 2^nd May at Wroxham’s Trafford Park against North Walsham Town Reserves. Playing in front of a large crowd we knew this was going to be a tough test for us as they are a Division 3 side, 3 Leagues above us, but we had belief in our own ability. We got off to the most perfect start as a great ball from Ollie Eastwood picked Danny Camish out inside their area and although his shot was blocked, the rebound fell kindly for Ross Charlton to finish emphatically from 10 yards out giving the keeper no chance, to make it 1-0 inside the first 25 seconds. We continued to press and forced errors from their defence as our midfield took control of the game playing the ball all over and using our defence as well as going forward. This was used to great effect when a pass back to left back, Michael Green, was then sent forward by him for Ross to try to get on the end of, but a defender read the intentions and just pipped him to the ball and cleared. Soon after, another defensive forward ball, this time from Ollie Eastwood saw Ross evade his marker and as he took the ball round the keeper and hit it with his weaker foot, the keeper made a brilliant stop as he reached a hand out and turned the ball past the post. Minutes later Tom Gilbert played a perfect ball for Danny to race clear to go one on one with the keeper, but the keeper stood firm and once again saved his team from going further behind. This made North Walsham up their game and they got a lucky break down their left when a mistake let them in and the striker finished well, giving Jordan Barnard no chance to make it 1-1. This unsettled us for a while and 5 minutes later they had turned the game round when a corner that was called out, didn’t actually go out and their striker headed in from under the bar with everyone stopping and waiting for the referee to give a goal kick, although it was never coming. They put us under quite a bit of pressure and were quicker to the ball than us and the defence of Ollie Eastwood, Matt Haystead, Jamie Hopwood and Michael Green had to work extremely hard as they bypassed our midfield of Tom Gilbert, Scott Charlton and David Willis while Louis Gelinas and Danny Camish spent more time in our half as opposed to being able to get up and support Ross Charlton. We tried hard to get back on level terms before half time, but we couldn’t create any real good openings with the way North Walsham had tightened up well. The half time team talk half was all about the positives and we set about the second half with the same fighting spirit as we finished the first. On 55 minutes a good pass from Danny set Ross up with a half chance, but his effort went over the bar. Then he was nearly set up again following a sublime pass from brother Scott, but the keeper just got to it first and then Tom Gilbert had a good shot goes inches wide. Jordan had the delight of the North Walsham faithful behind him for the second half and they certainly let him know they were there, he did however show them how good a goalkeeper he is with a superb save in the 75^th minute. We managed to get all 3 substitutes on and Ollie Bell, Jack Peters and Scott Bishop all played their part trying hard to get us back in the game. We continued to work really hard trying to get the equaliser that would have taken the match to extra time, but for all our efforts we just couldn’t get it. We forced a succession of corners andJordan came up for most of them as we had nothing to lose, but this wasn’t to be our night and the final whistle blew. The Marie Meale Photography Man of the Match went to Jamie Hopwood who never put a foot wrong, although it was very close between him, Ross Charlton and Matt Haystead. The team can be very proud of their achievements from their first season together and to reach the CS Morley Cup Final as a Division 6 team is an achievement in itself, added to being Runners Up in the league, this was a very successful and enjoyable season. I must just say how proud I am of each and every one of the players that have played for me this season and look forward to continued success next year. Thank You.....