Hempnall FC

Hempnall Reserves 1 

Gentlemans Club 2

This Saturday the Reserves were under new management following the decision of Andy Cramner to step down from his position. Dan Roache will be seeing the rest of the season out running the team along side the injured Matt Oakley who suffered a broken foot the previous week.

After a week of attempting to lure players back to play who had played earlier in the season to add to the current squad, the new management were pleased to name a 14 man squad for the visit of second placed Gentlemans Club to Bungay Road.

In very cold and blustery conditions the new look side took 10 minutes to get used to each other did manage to keep the visitors at bay.

Then as confidence grew we started to create some decent chances with Danny Elton thwarted by the keeper in a one on one and Tommy Leeder seeing an effort well saved.

But after 25 minutes the visitors took the lead when their speedy winger was on a rare occasion allowed too much space to run into the box and fire a hard shot from close range high into the net.

Going behind didn't seem to effect Hempnall as it would of done in other games and we pressed in search for an equaliser and probably the best chance Forbes saw an effort just pass the wrong side of the post.

An injury to Jordan Batterham saw him having to retire meaning Sam Turner came off the bench to take a wide position and Aaron Bradley drop back into defence. Turner’s introduction to the game soon had an effect and he got the ball into the box a few times but we couldn't find the net.

At the break young George Saunders was brought on to add a bit more pace to the side and Hempnall looked the more likely to score with the visitors pinned back in their half for long periods. Elton was having his best game in a Hempnall shirt for a while and kept running at the visitors defence causing problems.

Then midway through the half Gentlemans Club had a 10 minute spell when they started to look on top and had a number of close chances, one of which was expertly tipped on to the bar by our keeper Lewis Bailey.

Hempnall weathered that storm and took hold of the game again feeling there was something in it for them and any attack from the visitors was snuffed out by the back four.

Finally our pressure paid off when in the 89th minute a cross from Adam Lockwood got caught in the wind and their keeper who had kept them in the game lost track of the ball and it sailed over him just dipping under the bar to give Hempnall a deserved equaliser.

Thinking there was still time to get a winner Hempnall had two great chances, one from Elton which was saved and the other from Turner that looked like it would creep in but at the last moment found the outside of the post.

But in the 91st minute, a Hempnall attack was broken up and on the counter attack Gentleman's Club liveliest player ran through and a last ditch attempt to block the ball from Bradley saw a wicked deflection off his shin wrong footing Bailey in goal and see the ball trickle in for the visitors winner with the last kick of the game.

A bitter pill to swallow for the lads who looked on top for a lot of the game and deserved at least a point. But there are alot of positives to take from this and hopefully can carry this on to next week.

MOM is very hard to choose this week. Special mentions go to Keeley Cleverly for keeping their best player in his pocket most of the game, Tommy Leeder returning from a leg break looking better each game and Danny Elton looking dangerous up top.

But the award goes to young Josh Roache at centre back making only his third adult football start looking solid at the back and can definitely be one for the future.