Hempnall FC

Hempnall met third in the table Tacolneston in their final game of a mid table season. After something of a drubbing, (at least in score) the week before, we were looking for an improvement to end the season on a high. 

Again injured keeper Swatman took the reins on the line, and Hempnall showed their mettle and from the off, gave as good as they got. 

Stand in keeper Macauley Ryan was looking confident and on a couple of occasions, his speed off the line kept the opposition at bay. 

We were treated to an end to end football, though we were limited to half chances in the first half, and we went into half time at 0-0. 

The second half started with Hempnall displaying their now customary ‘switch off’ and almost let Tacolneston in within the first minute. From there though, they bucked up their ideas, and forced the issue, winning a significant amount of the play and forcing a couple of corners which amounted to nothing.

With Womack working as hard as ever, using the old chestnut ‘covered every blade of grass’, that’s exactly what he did and with Etherington also causing trouble with his mazy runs, the Tacolneston defence couldn’t rest.

Tacolneston managed to score two goals without reply, largely because Hempnall didn’t clear and made a couple of errors.

They were unlucky though; Blake had an effort cleared off the line, Cattermole should arguably have done a little better with his chance near the end, and Etherington too was unlucky on a few occasions.

Hempnall were desperately disappointed to lose this game and could easily have taken at least a point which would have been a better reflection of an even game. 

There were a number of decent performances today, and several players were in line but my MOM was Stephen Blake. 

Once again an excellent refereeing performance, this time from Mr. Catchpole.