Hemsby had a tough away fixture for their first game back after the Christmas break, playing against a young and very fit Swaffham Town Reserves.

Looking to break a bad run of defeats, Hemsby were unable to field their strongest side with players missing through work and injuries but welcomed Callum McColgan to the club and were grateful to AC Mill Lane for their part in the transfer.

The first 15 minutes was pretty much end to end with both defences not having too much to deal with. The closest either side came was when a Swaffham player was given a free header but he failed to test Rui Goncalves as he headed over from close range.

The deadlock was broken in controversial circumstances when a Swaffham player was fouled in the penalty area, but the ball fell kindly to a team mate and he had a clear sight of goal but put his effort past the post. The referee then awarded the penalty which was converted.

This led to a 10 minute spell where passes were misplaced or short and the home side had a couple of further chances with Goncalves making a fantastic save right in the corner of post and bar.

Hemsby’s first real chance came in the 26th minute when an excellent free-kick by Jonathon Peirce was met by Reece Hopper, but his header just cleared the bar.

Some very slack play gave Swaffham two further goals before Hemsby managed to pull one back just before half-time. An excellent ball from Hopper sent Joe Youngs clear of the defence and as the keeper came sliding out of his area, the Hemsby player calmly slotted the ball past him and into the empty net.

Hemsby started the second half well and put quite a lot of pressure on the home defence but without creating clear chances and then got caught out as a ball over the top saw a striker break free and finish well.

This knocked the stuffing out of Hemsby and they conceded two further soft goals that really should never have been given away. A final score of 6-1 was not the way Hemsby wanted to start the new year.

Four of the six goals were totally preventable and as a team they need to get this out of their system and put all the efforts into righting the wrongs in the upcoming games.

Fish and Grill Man of the Match was Joe Youngs.

Hemsby have another tough game at leaders Buxton tomorrow.