Hempnall FC

On a very hard, bouncy pitch in windy conditions, it was never going to be easy for the lads to settle an play good football, but the crowd were entertained to a decent, well refereed first league outing.

With injuries and work commitments, the Hempnall Manager had only to call on one Reserve player. Talbot was again sidelined, but did manage to run the line in fine fashion.

Shaun Kelly was made Captain for the day, and responded with a good performance.

Both teams started brightly, but with Hempnall playing against a strong wind, they were rarely troubled. As expected, Blofield had a couple of chances, but after an entertaining half, the teams went into the half time break 0-0.

Throughout the match, the midfield, well mashalled by Bellingham, competed well to set up decent runs from Watts, Billy Kelly and Etherington in particular, and the centre forward, Daynes, looked strong and likely to break through throughout the game.

Blofield scored first in the second half, in fact, both teams looked better against the wind, as neither made good use of the wind advantage.

Hempnall responded, consistently attacking the opposition goal, and when it looked as though the ball was never going to go in, Daynes finished well to make it 1-1.

Well into the second half, with Hempnall looking the stronger, an injury saw the ball kicked off the field. Daynes kicked the ball back to the slightly injured Blofield keeper who made no attempt to keep it out, and the ball bounced into the net. The Ref was obliged to give a goal to Hempnall for 2-1, though sportingly, Hempnall allowed the Blofield player to score unopposed to level the scores.

That's where it stayed, again most of the half chances fell to Hempnall during the latter stages but the ball would not go in, and it ended 2-2.