Hempnall FC

After Hempnall, in their previous few matches played well and secured decent results, when they came up against a bottom of the table Sprowston Athletic in a six pointer, they couldn’t find their form. It turned out to be a rather frustrating day for the supporters, the manager and the players.

Hempnall welcomed back Etherington who hadn’t played for a month and sat on the bench, and Hempnall had a decent looking 13, capable, we thought, of securing a much needed victory to steer them to safety.

It wasn’t to be, partly due to the excellent performance of a former Hempnall player, Sonny Atherton, who showed some excellent touches both scoring and setting up his teammates. He was the outstanding player, Hempnall never got to grips with him and paid the price.

Admittedly, the pitch was slippery and tricky, but it was the same for both teams.

Hempnall went ahead early in the game through a bizarre incident, a back pass that went wrong and ended up in the net.

Sprowston came back into it, and with Hempnall not playing to their strengths, allowed Sprowston to dominate and they managed to score an equaliser, so it was game on.

When Hempnall did find the fast running and dangerous Lambe, they looked as though they would go on to dominate.

Early on in the second half, Lambe picked up the ball and crashed in an unstoppable shot from 25 yards into the top corner, and we thought Hempnall would go on to win, but they couldn’t turn this dominant period into goals, and the inevitable happened.

On came Etherington, with fresh legs and the ability to take on players, Hempnall went close but not close enough.

Well done to Sprowston for their fighting performance, but Hempnall will look back on this match as a game that, with more guile in their performance, was one that should be been won.

Hempnall’s MOM was, in the opinion of the writer, again Nick Bliss for a hardworking, skillful shift.