Wymondham and Hethersett area notes

HETHERSETT GIRLS U17 also got their season off to a fine start with a crushing 9-0 win at home to Freethorpe with Hannah Waters hitting a hat-trick. Charlotte Swann added a brace and other goals came from Lauren Matthews, Sam Brookes, Megan Todd and Megan Cletheroe. Hethersett found it tough going early on and took 32 minutes to open the scoring. An avalanche of goals saw them 5-0 up by half-time. They continued to play good football after the break and added four more goals.

HETHERSETT ATHLETIC GIRLS U14 went down 3-1 at Blofield with their goal from Sophie Rock. Hethersett had most of the early possession but were unable to turn this into goals and Blofield broke away to net. Hethersett went close on several occasions but it was Blofield who extended their lead before Sophie Rock pulled a goal back for Hethersett before the break. Rock hit the bar and Blofield added a third despite the tireless running of the Hethersett girls.

HETHERSETT ATHLETIC U11 were outplayed and outclassed by a very good Wymondham side who were very well organised. Hethersett were second best to every ball and struggled to play their passing game. The Wymondham defence and midfielders were very strong in the air and stopped Hethersett from settling down into their normal stride. Hethersett were 2-0 down at half-time and conceded a further four goals during the second half. Hethersett hit a post on two occasions and with a little bit of luck would have scored a couple of goals. Despite the heavy 6-0 defeat, Bradley Tillett, Harry Jones and Tyler White put in good performances. Hethersett will learn from this and will improve in what is proving to be a very tough A league.

HETHERSETT ATHLETIC U13 visited Horsford and came away with a fine 10-3 win. Hethersett took control with two goals in the first five minutes from Jack Walker and Aaron Mehtab. Strikers Robert Warminger and Tom Wyatt gave Hethersett a 4-1 half time lead. Walker, Warminger and Wyatt increased the visitors' advantage after the break with two further goals from Horsford. Six minutes from time Hethersett's keeper Matthew Butcher reverted to left midfield and scored two good goals to cap another fine keeper/goal scoring performance. Just before full time Rob Warminger completed his hat-trick but was disappointed that he had not converted other chances. This was a superb Hethersett performance with James Lemmon, Josh Denny, Max Bishop, Macaully Ryan, Harrison Silvester, Ethan Poole and Jacob Frazer playing very well. Horsford also deserve great credit for their super attitude.

HETHERSETT ATHLETIC U14 recorded their best-ever result with a 13-1 win at home to Mattishall with Will Foster scoring six to take his tally to 11 after just two league games. Oliver Kearney scored twice and other goals came from Luke Maddox, Nick Rathjen, James Burton, Nick Middleton and Harrison Cheal-Ferris.

HETHERSETT ATHLETIC U16 started the game against Mulbarton with 10 men but managed to take an early lead through Darren Ford before giving away two goals from long balls. Hethersett fought back and equalised through Darren Ford. Ford then had to go off injured and Hethersett were down to nine players and conceded a third goal from another long ball. The first half was played in good spirit but after the break the Mulbarton players became increasingly aggressive.

WYMONDHAM TOWN UNITED travelled to Mattishall and in an evenly-contested half played some neat attacking football. The defence looked untroubled for long periods and the teams overall play was rewarded when Chris worked his way clear on the left following a good throw-in from Sam and his lofted cross shot found the back of the net. James made a couple of great one-on- one saves to keep his side in front whilst Luke, Nathan, Bradley, Daniel and Matthew all had opportunities to extend WTU's lead following good crosses from Tom W, however just before the interval Mattishall equalised from a corner which the boys were unable to clear to safety. In the second half whilst possession remained equal Mattishall capitalised on some errors in the Wymondham side and quickly gained a 5-1 advantage. To their credit, the Wymondham continued to challenge and give 100 per cent and none more so than Michael and Tom F who both gave very good performances. Michael however gained the PoM award for his tenacious tackling and energetic display.

ATTLEBOROUGH U14 launched their season at home with a fine display of football when faced with Cromer. The visitors took the lead early doors and held on to the score despite being dominated by Boro. In the second half Boro started their scoring run and managed to notch up a 3-1 lead courtesy of James Haylock, Curtis Bolton and Rob Sweet who received a superb ball from skipper Jack Binks. But in the dying minutes Boro switched off and allowed Cromer to hit back and rapidly equalise. Final score: 3-3. MoM: Matty Spencer and new keeper Ben Moore worthy of a mention. This was an encouraging and positive performance from a team that looked flat last season.

ATTLEBOROUGH U10 opened their league campaign with the toughest possible starts, welcoming both of last season's divisional league champions East Dereham and Old Catton to Gaymers. As last season, the match against Dereham was extremely close with both defences having the strength and skill to dominate. The few chances that were created could not be converted the match ended 0-0. Against Old Catton last season's double winners Boro enjoyed the bulk of possession and pressed hard however the Catton defence could not be pierced. Final score 0-0. The day's play highlighted the step up in the standard of opposition they will face each week and their undoubted ability to more than compete. However, to win games at this level the finishing will need to be improved.

ATTLEBOROUGH DEVELOPMENT U10 featuring Liam, Callum, Diego, Martino, Jakob, Michael, Sheldon and Hoggy played a friendly match against a Thetford Bulldogs side. The sides were evenly matched with both teams looking to build confidence and understanding throughout the four quarters of play. Boro's fitness began to show and surging runs from Sheldon, Callum and Martino led to pressure on the Thetford goal and three good goals being scored the pick of which was a three-man dribble and shot from Callum. An enjoyable match played in good spirit well done to all involved.

MORLEY YOUTH U8 played away last week against Cringleford, who immediately went on the attack, but Morley caught Cringleford out with some great footwork by Andrew Lancaster. It was an even game but pressure from Morley paid off, with further superb football from Andrew Lancaster. Two fantastic saves from Toby Bunn kept Cringleford at bay. A great one-two between Finley Goodrum and Andrew Lancaster followed, allowing Finley to show how good he is. Some terrific defending from Ryan Fowle-Taffe kept Morley in the game. Cringleford came back with several well- worked shots. A great performance by both teams. Morley MoM: Andrew Lancaster. Cringleford MoM: Ryan Fowle-Taffe.

MORLEY YOUTH U10 played away to Shipdham Falcons in a league match and won 2-1. Morley made a quick start, with Luke Custance holding very well in defence, allowing Max Tofts to get some great touches on the ball. Liam Cossey took a throw-in and Robbie Boulter turned and shot to score the first goal of the match. The Falcons had several shots on goal, with one being headed away by the Morley keeper Ewan Downes, before the Falcons were able to score their only goal. In the second half Morley had further shots on goal, but were just unable to convert until Jordan Cracknell blasted the ball into the net from long range to secure a win for Morley. MoM: Jordan Cracknell for one fine goal and some great football.

MULBARTON WANDERERS U16B gave full credit to Hethersett for contributing to a well-contested match although they could only field 10 men. Mulbarton's hero was Adam W, who scored a hat-trick and was on the top of his game. Hethersett opened the scoring, but the Wanderers quickly replied to even up the score. Ben G went close many times but could not quite finish but towards the end of the half Ben B provided a cross from which Adam finished superbly to take the lead. In the second half Hethersett evened up the score when their forward went past Mulbarton's defender and finished well. The game was quite even at this point, then courtesy of Adam, Mulbarton took the lead. Chances were then created, Tooky and Ben B both went close. All the players worked and performed well to earn the victory. Final score: Mulbarton 3-2 winners. MoM: Adam W.

WYMONDHAM LIZARDS U12 travelled to Lakenheath with five regulars unavailable or ill. The full-size pitch meant that the open space available was unfamiliar to Wymondham players. High though-balls meant the boys from both teams had to cover a lot of ground to defend, but one such through ball from Wymondham found Kyle who took a long shot out at the larger-than-normal goals to make the score 1-0. Lakenheath worked similarly and produced two goals. Wymondham had two more breaks through which resulted in Kyle netting two further goals to complete his hat-trick. Just as the Lizards thought they might finish the half ahead, Lakenheath capitalised on a break and a goalmouth scramble in the space of two minutes to finish 4-3 up. The second half started much the same and the boys didn't drop their efforts to pull the game back. Kyle had a shot saved and Alex was on hand to slot the ball home to equalise once more. After this, the pace of the game started to tell as the boys defence was tried more frequently which resulted in additional goals to Lakenheath. Wymondham battled very hard with some players having their first full 60 minutes of a game. There were some good challenges from Wymondham players and more solid tackles all around. Brad worked particularly hard in defence and Ryan committed to stopping the ball when others might have shied away.

All in all, an encouraging performance by the team. The game ended Wymondham Lizards 4, Lakenheath 7. MoM: Ryan.

WYMONDHAM U11 played Hethersett at home on Sunday in their third league match of the season. From the opening minutes the Wymondham side put together a barrage of attacks putting the Hethersett defence on the back foot. The opening goal came from Ben Carding with a volley past the Hethersett goalie five minutes in. Wymondham continued to apply the pressure midfielder Joe Greenslade scored Wymondham's second running nearly the length of the pitch through the Hethersett back row beating the goalie to score. Hethersett were getting limited opportunities the very strong Wymondham back row Casey Barrett, John Moore, Rob Smith and Lewis Chalcraft are looking stronger with every game and very quickly defused any of the Hethersett attacks at goal. Towards the end of the first half they did manage to get a ball through the defence which was cleared from the line by defender John Moore sliding along the line to reach the ball. The Wymondham pressure continued into the second half with a Matthew Rennie cross to Joe Greenslade allowed him to knock in Wymondham's third. Wymondham's fourth soon followed when midfielder Joe Mills fed the ball to Alex Raggett who was in position to score. The next two Wymondham goals came from Ben Carding. The Wymondham players are starting to find their feet and get used to their positions in an 11-a-side team. This was their best performance so far and they appear to be getting stronger with each match.

WYMONDHAM TOWN U9 played Dereham Wanderers White U9 who started brightly and created some good opportunities but failed to take any. Then Henry Metcalf scored a lovely individual goal to put Town 1-0 up. Two great strikes from Jacob Bush and a scrambled effort from Sonny Clarke gave us a comfortable 4-0 half-time lead.

In the second half Rebecca Greenslade and Curtis Bell were introduced and both worked hard with Rebecca defending solidly and Curtis battling away for the benefit of the team. Sonny and Henry both added two more goals each in the second half to complete their hat-tricks and this was soon followed by Jacob's well-deserved third as well. Special mentions must go to Charlie Gavin, who played in goal due to Town not having a goalkeeper available and was impeccable in everything he did, making some good saves, Luke Hunt who unselfishly played in a defensive midfield role and continually broke down Dereham attacks and started many up, and Jamie Blanchflower who defended well all game. Opp MoM: Sonny Clarke. White's MoM: Charlie Gavin.

WYMONDHAM TOWN UNITED U9 began their first season with two combination league fixtures against Taverham, the home side and Scole. On a very dry pitch they took on Taverham in the first match. Both sides began well but Wymondham opened the scoring when Lewis broke through and finished neatly after good work from Christy and Becca on the right. Wymondham continued to press and nearly scored again after a good effort by Bradley up front. Taverham then closed the half with a good move but Jack B thwarted their attempt for an equaliser with a great saving tackle. The second half continued well for Wymondham with subs Jack C and Ollie combining well on the right and with Jack B and Christy dominant at the back, Lucas in goal was rarely called into action. The second goal came when William broke down the right and found Lewis with a lovely through ball which the skipper coolly converted with his left foot. Despite being denied a handling penalty, Wymondham were still pressing for the third. Ollie was finding plenty of space up front and was unlucky not to score. However, the third arrived when the tireless Lewis finished clinically to earn his hat-trick. Final score was a thoroughly deserved 3-0 win to Wymondham. MoM: Lewis, Captain Marvel. Against a very talented and well-organised Scole team were Wymondham Town United U9's next opponents. After a rather unexpectedly slow start both teams then began to find their rhythm. Good work by Christy on the right led to a good turn and shot by Lewis which went just wide. Scole were finding their way into our half with increasing regularity but Lucas and Becca were steadfast at the back. However, Lewis, Christy and Jack C were having to battle away in midfield in what was now becoming an absorbing contest. Scole looked like taking the lead at the end of the half but Lewis blocked the striker's attempt with a perfectly-timed tackle. The second half was eagerly awaited and Wymondham struck first when the ball broke to Lewis who again finished brilliantly after good work from William. With Scole pushing for an equaliser Lucas repeatedly broke down their efforts to frustrate them. This led to some quick breaks from Wymondham creating a couple of chances for Bradley who just failed to convert. Lewis, Christy and William in midfield were being forced to help Becca and the outstanding Lucas in defence and with seconds left Scole thought they had equalised but Jack B in goal pushed the shot onto the post and behind for a corner, with Wymondham hanging on for a magnificent 1-0 victory. Congratulations to all the squad for a tremendous team effort. MoM: Lucas, a rock at the back.