Hempnall FC

Hempnall went into this fixture knowing that doing the double over Poringland would significantly enhance their chances of staying in this Division, and with the first team also increasing their pool of players, Matt and Nick had the luxury of standing on the sidelines rather than being in the thick of the action (where both would rather be, were it not for their advancing years and ageing joints).

The squad looked quite strong, and in recent times has benefited from the return to the club of the skilful and influential Ryan Haynes, plus the signing of Mateus Tekiela, who has added graft, skill and enthusiasm to the front line.

Shaun Kelly had a first outing at centre back, to add mobility to that area, and it worked out well, his interceptions and general speed were key.

The re-shaped defence did take time to settle, and for the first 20 minutes, despite Hempnall taking a 1-0 advantage through Tekiela, Poringland looked generally stronger, and despite the combative defence and excellence of the ever improving Jordan Batterham, it was only a matter of time before Poringland came back into it, and they did through a good finish to a move Hempnall couldn't contain.

We thought, on the sidelines, that Hempnall may, as in other weeks, succumb to the pressure, but the added influence of Haynes has had a marked effect on confidence levels, and his ability to play the killer pass has helped the likes of Leeder and Hempnall's answer to Wayne Rooney, Mateus Tekiela, to run behind the defence knowing they have a chance to of receiving a good ball.

To cap a strong move, ending in a corner, the ever running and competing Batterham popped up to net Hempnall's second when the corner wasn't cleared by Poringland.

The half time discussion revolved around 'more of the same', and in the second half, Hempnall looked better still and the ever reliable Leeder slotted through a sea of legs from the edge of the box to lift the spirits of the BRF still further.

Could this be Hempnall's second victory of the season?

We certainly hoped so, but Poringland did come back to net their second, and again, we wondered whether the defeats suffered this season would sap the confidence levels, but no, Hempnall came back even stronger, and a thunderous shot from Haynes was tipped over the bar in spectacular fashion by the Poringland keeper.

It was no surprise that Hempnall netted a fourth through Craske. What was surprising was the fact that he scored from 40 yards – it was clearly meant to be, catching the keeper off his line and bouncing the ball over him and into the back of the net, but his shot evaded the photographer's lens, who clearly thought 'who in their right mind would shoot from there?', at the time was having a chat with the BRF to miss the shot, only managing to photograph the ball entering the centre of the net; he was sufficiently awake, though, to record the almost disbelieving glee of the Hempnall players congratulating their hero of the minute.

There were a number of very decent performances, those that caught my eye were from Batterham, Harvey, Kelly and Cook, with Haynes adding class and steadiness to the midfield.

It is difficult to name a MOM, so let's leave it as 'the team'.

Onwards and upwards.