Junior football reports

Waveney took control and deservedly took the lead onfive minutes which left Magpies a little bewildered. However a Waveney striker can consider himself rather lucky when from a centre he punched the ball into the net and the ref allowed this foul to go uncarded. This gave Magpies a kick-start and on 17 minutes in one of their rare attacks a defender stopped a goal being scored with his hands and again the referee showed great tolerance by allowing this to go.But Mawford stood up and coolly scored from the spot to give Magpies an equaliser much against the run of play. Just before half time Hopwood had to be subbed due to an injury and this allowed Watts to make his first team debut. The second half started and within 30 seconds and Waveney took the lead when a striker ran through when clearly offside. However this spurred Magpies on and with Chong and Jarvis winning the midfield Magpies began to take the game to Waveney. Five minutes in Sidaway Magpies defender had to leave the game due to an injury leaving Magpies with 10 men. Mawford passed to Chong who shot from 25 yards but the ball hit the bar. With Watts gave Waveney’s defence a lot of problems with his speed and close control and from one of his runs into the box he squared the ball to Chong for an easy tap-in. Papwoth and Steed began to dominate the Waveney forwards and with Salmon and Mccomas ably supporting them they managed to hold the busy Waveney forwards. Hargreaves the Magpies keeper made several key saves. The goal of the game came as Chong who collected the ball just inside his half, left several Waveney players behind him and he ran down the right-hand channel into the box and squared to Watts who tucked the ball away to give Magpies the lead. Five minutes from the end Hargreaves launched a goal kick deep into the Waveney half for Watts to outrun the Waveney defence and score his second and Magpies’ fourth. Waveney kept plugging away and in the seventh minute of injury time scrambled their third goal. This was a really good win for Magpies considering they played half the game with 10 men.

Caister Reserves went to Thorpe St Andrews as leaders of the form table having had a run of six games unbeaten including five victories. We didn’t really know what to expect as we had not played 6th-placed St Andrews Reserves yet. What we found was a compact outfit who defended well but had little threat going forward. Caister lined up with a 4-4-2 formation to suit the wide pitch with Johnson and Docherty playing on the wings. A Sam Johnson freekick skimmed the bar and the best chance of the half fell to Gaz Ward who rounded the advancing keeper but struck his shot too early and a covering defender blocked it. In the second half Caister were more penetrative and caused St Andrews more problems. Ward, Barrett, Johnson and Docherty were looking dangerous but it was Robson on 50 minutes that controlled a Barrett cross inside the box before side footing Caister into a well deserved lead. A reshuffle in midfield saw Barrett move to left wing, Docherty to centre midfield, this coupled with the introduction of Mansfield only improved the passing football of the young Caister side. Despite further chances Caister couldn’t find further goals and the 0-1 scoreline eventually flattered the home side as the Caister keeper Gennings walked off without having to make one save. This was a good win given that St Andrews have only lost once before this at home all season. MoM: Macca at left back.

Next week no game. Training Tuesday 7.50pm at Caister High School.

CAISTER VETS next match is on Sunday away to Martham. This is a 2.30pm KO. Meet at the Caister field at 1.15 or Martham at 1.45. Squad: A Peace, M Mccreadie, L Haylett, J Crowe, W Hunter, D Sims, N Bowman, M Andrews, M Wells, R Fruin, P Jacobs, A Clark, P Cjazkowski, G Smith, C Goffin, A Gooda

CATFIELD knowing the pain of a Norfolk Junior Cup semi-final exit were determined not to lose out a second time, against HBU in the Wiltshire Cup. Even though the Cats were still minus players they were able to field a strong squad. The game started evenly but it was the Cats that drew first blood when Warren scored from the spot after Chad was brought down inside the first 15 minutes. A few minutes later Chad and Jonas combined and Chad put a excellent ball through for Frogg who gave the Cats a deserved 2-0 lead. Torsie then kept HBU in the game with two fine saves, the first from Pongo and another from Warren. After another chance had gone missing, for the first time in the game the Cats were caught napping and HBU pulled one back with a excellent finish. The second half was all Cats and the woodwork kept HBU in the game. However the HBU defence was being pulled all over the place and had no answer for two excellent finishes, one from Jonas and another from Chad. With Pongo playing deep on the right, the threat of Norman was kept at bay which gave Eddy the space to roam forward which he did to good effect. On the rare occasion that HBU did threaten they found the Cats’ defence in fine form marshalled by Spencer and Goody. The woodwork then came to HBU’s defence again when Jonas went through from a good ball from R Knell. Two subs were then used and Huggy and Craig replaced Frog and Rick. The Cats continued to dominate and were unlucky to concede a second. However a second penalty gave the Cats back their three-goal lead. Then Tavares came on, brushed the HBU defence aside and cooly slotted home after another good build-up from Jonas, Huggy and Chad. A well-deserved 6-2 victory that could have easily been more. This week Bohemains at home (Ormesby) 2.30pm ko any problems call Selfy 07831 228007 or Bev 07917 711596.

NORTON ATHLETIC’s winless run extended to six matches after a 3-2 defeat by title favourites Town Hall. In a pulsating game at Norton, the league leaders marched into a 3-0 lead at half time before a late rally saw Norton get close. Once more injuries and call-offs resulted in changes with Scott Yarham, Steve Nicol and Andy Shilling all coming into the rearguard. Norton started the game well and early on Green was bearing down on goal only for his final touch to let him down but it was the visitors who soon stamped their authority on the game, forcing several corners.

Norton were defending well as a unit until midway through the half when Town Hall scored three unanswered goals. Crossan pulled of a fabulous diving save to prevent the Town Hall captain from scoring but from a similar distance the lead was 1-0 as Norton could not get close enough to block the ball. The second goal came on the break from a Norton corner. A third goal arrived shortly afterwards and Town Hall were looking like winning by a big margin as they looked to build their goal difference.

The aim for Norton was to try and win the second half and this started with Adam Orme replacing Danny Hoadley. Norton huffed and puffed but were not creating too many clear chances until around the 70th minutes when Richard Hudson got on the end of a cross but could only steer the ball into the side-netting with the goal gaping.

We finally found the net through Andy Green who clipped the ball home after seeing an earlier effort strike the post.

With the game nearing its conclusion a Hall defender then handled on the line. Tom Hudson scuffed the spot kick but the ball squirmed under the keeper and crossed the line for 3-2. The Read Bros MoM: Barry Crossan who was overworked in the first half.

Line-Up: B Crossan, S Yarham, A Shilling, C Cooper, S Nicol, A Boggis, R Hudson, T Hudson, R Spinks, D Hoadley (A Orme), A Green.

This week we take on the other team left in the title race as we entertain Hearts of Oak. Please note the earlier 1.15pm kick-off and the Reserves are also playing afterwards as they take on Mutford & Wrentham Reserves with a 3.30pm ko.

On Sunday the Veterans are on their travels to Spexhall Vets 2 ko).

Tickets are still on sale for the race night on April 14 but be quick as the horses are selling fast. Contact your team manager or Scott Yarham.

STALHAM TOWN RESERVES played Thorpe Village Reserves looking to build on last week’s great win against the league leaders. Our last meeting was a close encounter when we came back from two goals down to win. We created a chance as David Willis played Ross Charlton in, but his effort went over, soon after he raced into the area with only the keeper to beat, he rounded him only to be felled and to our utter dismay the referee waved play on instead of awarding a stonewall penalty. This decision coupled with the numerous other strange ones started to make us feel it wasn’t going to be our day and to make matters worse they took the lead when a good ball caught us out and their striker finished well. We tried to get our game going and started to show some glimpses of what we are all about, when a great build-up started by Jamie Hopwood at the back saw him play a neat pass to Scott Charlton and following a good one/two with Scott Bishop he then played the ball out to Jamie Duffield on the left, who sent over a glorious cross that saw Ollie Bell racing in at the far post, but he was just unable to make contact. Just before half time, Jamie Duffield received the ball outside their area, turned sharply and hit a shot that the keeper held well and we went in 1-0 down. We were by far the better side for the second half and the defence ensured that Jordan had a very easy 45 minutes and he never made another save. The game was still very scrappy and the time wasting got more intense, but we sensed that we would get back into the game and sure enough Scott Charlton played a neat ball for Ollie Eastwood who hit a speculative effort from at least 35 yards and with a bit of assistance from a defender’s head the ball flew over the keeper for a deserved and justified equaliser. Jamie Duffield had more time than he realised, when a miskick from the keeper fell to him 25 yards out and with a bit more composure he could have given us the lead. We did however, get our just rewards in the 88th minute, when a pinpoint corner from Jack Peters was met brilliantly by Matt Haystead and he powered his header past the helpless keeper for 2-1. This has to go down as a game to forget for the purists, but at this stage of the season a win is a win, no matter how ugly it is and considering the manner it was played in and credit to the players for keeping their composure. The Marie Meale Photography Man of the Match was the defensive rock and matchwinner, Matt Haystead.