Hempnall FC

'Sometimes it's better to take the bus'

As we approach the festive period and the division 2 starts to unfold we can see that the season is full of challenging fixtures.

Being a reserve side, we are used to having an unsettled team because of 1st team call ups, suspensions etc. That's why when we aren't quite at full strength we must learn to adopt some slightly different (and less subtle) tactics in order to compete against our strong Division 2 rivals.

This week was one of those weeks! With Ben 'no-phone' Ling, Dean 'Shandy' Mortimer, Aaron 'the Mexican' Haynes and David 'McCririck' Storey all offering their services to the first team, we found ourselves in a hole, well more of a shallow dip than hole.

When you're faced with an uncompromising situation such as this, there's is only one thing to do...Call in the A team!!

Matty 'Hannibal' Oakley and Marni ' BA Baracus' Howard came to the rescue, and not only that they brought with them a bus!!

With 5 A teamers, 4 under's 17's and 4 original Res players available we had come to the decision that Plan A would be to line all 11 players in our 6 yard box and defend for 85 minutes like troopers, before switching to Plan B for the final 5 mins. Plan A was appropriately named, Park the Bus!!

The first half went to plan, with the bus holding firm bar a small hole in the rear axle.

Half time Score

Hempnall Res 0 East Harling 1

The second half began exactly as planned, with the lads putting in a huge amount of work, covering in a scrambled defence from one side of the pitch to the other! As the game went in we found ourselves within 2 goals of Harling with 5 minutes to go and it was finally time to execute plan B. Plan B was simple but DEADLY....it was to throw on, from the bench, one of south Norfolk's most deadly strikers...step forward Matt 'foam hands' Oakley.

With 2 minutes to go our plan had nearly paid off, when Matty stripped their midfielder of the ball, turned and sprinted 90 yards before playing a one-two with himself, chesting the ball and volleying from 40 yards out, narrowly over the bar, shaving the angle!!

That would have been the best goal the club had ever scored and possible one of the greatest moments the club has ever had if it had of dipped under the post !!

We later found out that the bus we parked was more like a 1973 Dolphin travel open top bus rather than a impenetrable double decker, but a bus none the less!!

Final score

Hempnall Res 0 East Harling 3

The team performance and the discipline showed, made this 3-0 loss seem more like a win than any other result in the 2 years I've been in charge.

Impressive performances by every single player, Jonesy who stepped in a centre half, was awesome. Alex Chapman who is clearly one of the best young talents in Anglian Comb; Jimmy Dale, Marni Howard, Quinny, Baz, Lukey, Billy, Alex Robins, Hedgie, Tommy L, DQ, Jordy B all played superbly well!!

MOM awards

3rd - The Res lads

2nd - the A Teamers

1st - Alex Chapman

Onward and upwards!!