Hempnall FC

Hempnall faced Mattishall Reserves in a game they had to win by three clear goals to stay in D2. Manager Dimsey assembled a good looking squad to face the side that had beaten them 4-1 in the reverese fixture a couple of weeks ago.

Talbot reverted to his centre back role alongside Everard, with Stevenson leading the line.

In front of a good crowd, Hempnall were, as expected, very attack minded, with Kelly, Lambe and Etherington in particular looking to take on the opposition at every opportunity well backed up by a hardworking midfield, and both fullbacks doing their bit to support their wingers.

It came as no surprise when, after 20 minutes, Hempnall found the breakthrough, with a strong shot from 25 yards from Rolfe that the keeper couldn’t hold.

The play was pretty even for the rest of the half, the closest Hempnall came again was a header from a corner that Everard couldn’t quite control and it flashed across the goal to safety.

Hempnall had several chances and half chances, Kelly should probably have scored but the defence kept him out.

The second half continued in similar fashion, until Hempnall were awarded a free kick outside the opposition box, Stockell stepped up to crash the ball against the bar, and Stevenson was first to pounce on the rebound to score Hempnall’s second.

The great escape looked on, Hempnall were still pressing, Lambe then Rolfe with a similar but less accurate free kick, Stevenson and Nobbs all went close, but not securing that third gave Mattishall great confidence and they stormed back, scoring twice.

This was a valiant effort by Hempnall, until the last 20 minutes it looked as though Hempnall would go on to score a third and claim the victory, but it wasn’t to be.

Hempnall will look back at missed chances, but the problems were underperfomance in a number of games against the lower half teams in the division.

After the game, the lads welcomed the new management team for next season, let’s all look to competing well in D3 and hopefully to promotion.