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Date: 12 September 2010
Venue: Home – East Tuddenham
Opponents: Thorpe Rovers
The first game of the season couldn’t have been any harder with former league champions Thorpe Rovers the visitors.
After being beaten home and away last season and trounced in the cup final Thorpe were naturally gunning for us and with several new signings looked a very strong side.
We were weakened by missing James (suspension) and Sam (family commitments), so Danny moved to centre half with Stevie moving into the centre of midfield.
The game started at a frenetic pace with the middle of the park a battlefield with challenges flying in all over, but with Charlie and Stevie more than holding their own.
Early on we were lucky to be awarded a penalty for what to everyone except the referee looked to be a good tackle on Jack. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth Jack duly despatched the penalty with the minimum of fuss past the Thorpe goalie, who looked particularly fetching in a pink and black ensemble.
The game continued at the same furious pace with Thorpe looking dangerous on the counter attack with their pacey front line and Olly had to be at his usual best to thwart their centre forward twice in quick succession with outstanding saves.
Will was looking dangerous on the right wing and in one move completely bamboozled their left back (also Norfolks left back Ha!) and left him for dead.
Jack and Joel were causing problems to their defence with strong aggressive play and the defence withstanding the Thorpe attacks.
Late on in the first half a ball over the top of the defence saw their centre forward get to the ball fractionally before Danny and Olly and did well to squeeze the ball across the face of the goal for their on rushing forward to tap in.
Just before the interval Olly came out to gather a long ball over the top and got a whack in the backside from the Thorpe forward.
Half Time 1 – 1
Dave and Mike got the guys going at half time and made one change, Brad who hadn’t really got going or seen much of the ball in the first half came off, Mark moved to left midfield and Tommy came on at left back.
Taverham started strongly in the second half and after a few minutes a cross from the right came over to the far post where Mark got in ahead of the defender to knock it in to the corner to make it 2 -1 to Taverham.
With the teams well matched the game continued in the same frenetic pace as the first half.
Taverham won a corner on the left which Charlie swung into the box, the ball was cleared to the edge of the box where Joel came running in to thunder a superb shot through a crowded box into the bottom left corner to make it 3 – 1 to Taverham.
Credit to Thorpe where a lot of teams would have given up at this point they continued press and even upped their play.
The defence was under constant pressure with Danny, Charlie, Freddy and Tommy all working hard to repel the attacks
Once again Olly who was still feeling the effects of the knock in the first half was called upon to make several saves and one particularly outstanding reflex save to keep our advantage.
But it was only a matter of time before another ball over the top saw the Thorpe centre forward race through and score to make it 3 – 2 to Taverham.
We were on the defensive now with Thorpe throwing everything at us, Dave brought on Brad in place of Will on the right for an injection of fresh legs, but it was all hands to the defence.
Jack continued to work his socks off up front but with Joel being called in to help in midfield he had little support.
With 10 minutes to go Thorpe got a corner on the right which their player crossed into the heart of the penalty area, the ball bounced around and then fell to a Thorpe player who rifled it in to make it 3 – 3.
The game battled to a conclusion with both sides having one or two further half chances but none could be taken.
On reflection a good result against a strong team who will be there or thereabout at the end of the season, and who after last seasons losses to Taverham were determined to make their mark.
Full Time 3 - 3
Date: 26th September 2010
Venue: Home – East Tuddenham
Opponents: Norman
A damp Sunday morning saw Norman nervously enter “Fortress Tuddenham” for the second match of the season.
We were still down to only 13 with James still out through suspension and Freddy out with an injury picked up at training on Friday. Fortunately Sam was back and he went straight into the heart of defence with Charlie with Danny moving back into centre midfield. Tommy came in for the injured Freddy at right back.
We started energetically as normal but it was clear from the start that Norman whom we had beaten comprehensively both home and away last year had brought in some new players and looked a much tougher proposition.
The pitch was looking lush from the recent rain and the longer than normal grass was not conducive to our normal free flowing game.
The teams were fairly evenly matched at the start and both teams had a goal ruled out for offside. As the half wore on with our superior fitness and ability we began to take control of the game with Charlie and Danny starting to dominate in the centre of the park and Steve and Brad looked to have the beating of their respective full backs.
Jack and Joel were working hard up front to create some scoring opportunities and mid way through the half Jack put in a superb cross which Steve came racing in and his header went narrowly wide.
Some good interplay on the left wing between Brad and Jack saw Brad cross the ball where Danny timing his run perfectly, leapt and planted a superb header into the top corner.
Sam and Charlie were now dealing comfortably with the Norman forward line with Charlie dominant in the air and Sam sweeping round, they are already starting to look a very solid partnership. This enabled both Mark and Tommy to make several attacking runs to good effect.
A corner on the left wing which Charlie swung right into the heart of the goal mouth with his usual accuracy created a scramble and the ball fell to Danny and he smashed it in from a couple of yards out.
We continued to dominate but without reward until half time
Half Time Taverham 2 - Norman 0
From the kick off we were straight at them dominating once again, and the ball was now almost permanently in the Norman half. It was only a matter of time before we increased our lead and sure enough Joel pouncing on some hesitancy in the Norman defence nipped in ahead of the keeper to head it home.
Brad came off for a rest to be replaced by Will wearing a lovely pair of bright blue woolly gloves to protect against the biting mid September cold?
Olly whom had been a virtual spectator for large parts of the game was called into action with a rare attack from Norman and produced an outstanding one handed save to push the ball round the post. Part of the credit for this should be due to the fact that Olly now has his own dedicated goal keeping guru, namely Mark “The Cat" Holmes, whom some people after seeing him in action have cruelly dubbed Michael Jackson (they both wear gloves for no apparent reason).
Joel came off for a rest and Will pushed up with Jack and Brad went back on in left midfield.
Steve continued to cause their left side problems with his tireless attacking runs.
Jack saw a great shot from outside the box come back off the post and was also unlucky not to score when put through with a brilliant first time lay off from Will.
Brad did well beating his man on the left and crossed in for an onrushing Jack to power in his header, unfortunately the ball cannoned off the goal keeper who didn’t really know what hit him. As the ball dropped from the rebound Jack bundled the ball in but it was disallowed for hand ball. It was just going to be one of those days for Jack.
Another corner on the left saw another quality cross from Charlie right into the heart of the six yard box and an onrushing Danny bundled the ball in with an unidentified body part to complete his hat-trick.
Even with the game won, to the boys credit we continued to dominate and to try and increase our lead but to no avail.
A good solid victory against a much improved team.
Full Time Taverham 4 – Norman 0
Man of the Match – Steve Ridout:- A typical non-stop all action display from Steve. An example to everyone of work rate and commitment.
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