Hempnall FC

Hempnall came into this game without several regular players including Bliss, Barber, Radvilas and Brown, plus the manager himself who had other commitments, so it was always going to be difficult against a Watton side sitting above mid-table, but by the end of the game, Hempnall found themselves a little hard done by, both by two goals that were given to the opposition, and a couple of decisions that went against them, both, or either, of which could have turned the match.

Hempnall started brightly, with Lambe going close a couple of times, and Navarrina looking dangerous. Kelly is coming back into a bit of form following his knee injury, and Etherington also showed signs of being able to take the opposition apart, so going forward, Hempnall looked the part.

As has been customary just lately, they can be caught on the break, and some good play by the Watton forwards, in particular their number 9, led to problems for the defence.

Watton scored an early goal following a bout of indecision, and then scored a second, but Hempnall replied through Lambe who did what he is good at, slamming the ball in from all of 25 yards.

Hempnall were looking to attack but the Watton defence looked strong.

Before half time, Watton secured a third goal, yet we still thought with a bit of endeavour and luck, Hempnall could get back into it, and so it proved when Navarrina finished well from outside the box, and it was once again ‘game on’.

Then the decisive moments in the second half, the first was when all of us on the touchline thought the Watton player slipped at the feet of the Hempnall defender, but the referee thought otherwise and gave a penalty, duly despatched.

The game was still not out of Hempnall’s reach, and a clear foul in the opposing penalty area on Lambe was not seen as a penalty by the referee, so Hempnall rued their ill fortune and were set to lose another important game despite looking the better team for much of the second half.

My MOM for his all round effort and being missed when he went off battered and injured, was Rout.

There was a strong Watton support, it was good to have them at our place.