U16 Boys V Spalding

Sunday 15^th November

On a sunny autumn morning the U16 boys travelled to Spalding to take part in the national U16 plate competition. Dereham started slowly and within the first 5 minutes, most of the players had slipped over due to the leaves on the pitch.

An early defensive lapse saw Spalding take an early lead and scored another 4 before Dereham got to grips with the occasion. After 25 minutes the team began to work together and started to play some outstanding hockey, keeping the Spalding team at bay for the last 10 minutes of the first half.

In the second half, Dereham started strongly and after a nail biting 10 minutes Will Cross scored. The Dereham boys continued to attack and had several shots on goal. However, Spalding (a bigger and older side) scored another 2 goals before we were awarded a penalty flick. James Lavers stepped up to the spot and converted the flick in to the left hand side of the net making it look easy, and bringing the score to 7-2. Despite several more attempts to score, the final score remained at 7-2.   

The team battled hard and despite being 4 key players down (is this lack of commitment?) held Spalding to a draw in the second half.

Man of the match was awarded to the captain; Matthew Turner.

Team: Barney, Freddie, Jack, James, Matt T, Mini, Oli H, Peanut, Ryan, Seb, Will B, Will C and Will D.