Hemsby welcomed Blofield Reserves to Waters Lane, with a strong wind and testing pitch making it tough to play on the ground.

Having said that, Hemsby started well against the wind and had the first chance within two minutes when Johnny Howell latched on to a good through ball and rounded the keeper but he put ball the wrong side of the post.

Grant Osben sent over a good cross in the eighth minute that Lewis Stebbings controlled well and as he turned in the area he was brought down and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty.

The usually reliable Reece Hopper stepped up and although his effort was well struck the keeper guessed the right way. He pushed the ball out to Joe Youngs following up and got lucky as his shot crashed against the post.

With their next attack, Blofield should have taken the lead when a striker was played in but he screwed his effort wide.

The deadlock was broken in the 40th minute when a great ball from Howell sent Youngs away down the left. He picked Stebbings out in the middle who made a space for himself and finished with the composure of a striker scoring for the third consecutive match.

Hemsby were lucky to hold on to the lead as a wind-assisted effort saw Rui Goncalves having to make an excellent full length save.

The wind died a bit in the second half and Hemsby went close to extending their lead when Reece Hopper’s shot went narrowly wide.

Blofield then capitalised on a mistake in the midfield and played through to a striker who left Goncalves with no chance and it got worse in the 61st minute when another mistake allowed a player the time to finish.

Hemsby then picked the pace up again and a decent ball from Kyle Simnett was met by Young but his shot was straight at the keeper. With 10 minutes left, Hemsby had to go for broke and a great ball from Chris Matthews was met by Stebbings but he saw his effort crash against the crossbar.

With nine men for the last six minutes due to a couple of players being sinbinned, Hemsby still managed to create further opportunities but were unable to take them and slipped to an undeserved defeat.

Norton Peskett man-of-the-match: Lewis Stebbings. Hemsby are at home to South Walsham tomorrow.