Hempnall FC

Our Junior Cup journey was only in its infancy, we had won the first round match against a competitive Aylsham Reserves side, 2-1. Now we faced another difficult Division 5 side in Buxton FC.

The squad was as good looking as ever with the back 5 of Quants, Dale, Ling, Daniels and Robins. However the midfield was a little uglier with the introduction of Pointer and Nixon in the middle of the park. Chris 'rock solid' Easton and Adam 'Playboy' Willis on the wings gave us some steel and a little charm!

The loss of the Director General, Ben Player meant that we weren't quite as ferocious in the tackle or as commanding in the middle if the park, but I know that we had enough quality on the pitch to get through this round.

We welcome back Lee 'Navigation' Emmett who had last been seen many months ago circling Bungay's chicken roundabout. With the introduction of 2 new players to the squad, Mark 'Partial to a jäger' Jones and Dan '2 clubs' Millican, we had fresh and youthful feel about the squad!!

The game started brightly, with the home team playing 3 in the middle of he park and controlling the early possession. After 15 minutes it was clear to see that although they had possession, we were showing signs of quality, with some great work by Jones, Willis and Daniels who crafted an opening for Richard 'United ' Leathers to tuck home.

1-0 up and well in the game and things took a turn for the worse, within 2 minutes of each other, Matty 'the Volley' Nixon fell over a dandelion and ruptured his knee, and Oli 'after the whistle' Pointer went in for challenge with the corner flag and came out with a broken tibia.

The game should have really been abandoned there and then, the corner flag should have been taken out of the ground snapped in 2 and set on fire!! It's amazing how tough that lightweight, flexible, 2mm thick plastic can be!!

With Pointer and Nixon now both subbed off and Emmett and Millican now on in their places, we started finding the impressive Jones and Leather who created another opening which led to our second. The cross came over and young Dan Millican volleyed one in from 10 yards out over the Buxton Keeper.

2-0 up but I felt slightly lucky to be in that position because Buxton were paying some great football and were working their way back into the game.

The next attack came from.....

( match report ended)

The ambulance now arrived and took away the ageing and broken bodies of Nixon and Pointer.

From what I can remember we were 2-0 up when I was still conscious, so I'm counting that as a win and expect to be put into the next round of the draw!!

The final score Buxton 4-2 Hempnall

By all accounts the positives were, the team performance under the circumstances and individual efforts of the new lads who were thrown in at the deep end, Mark Jones, Dan Millican and Lee Emmett who by all accounts battled well!

It's true to say that we never play well against the teams we are expected to beat! As underdogs in the league we stand our best chance of succeeding!

Onwards and upwards

MOM awards - TBC