Norton Vets were invited to Yelverton to take on their old boys for the Ronnie Moll memorial shield as part of their 70 years celebrations in what was to be the clubs friendly of pre season.

On a baking hot mid summers day it was more beer garden weather than football so we were thankful for a squad of 15 including the returning Barry Tipple and new signing Lee Wilkins which allowed us to make regular substitutions the very 15 minutes.

Yelverton hosted former Norton Player Glen Watts and proved to be a handful throughout.

It was the home side that started the better of the two side forcing a couple of early chances, one of which came back off the post and another coming back off the bar before before blazed over the bar.

Yelverton were rewarded for the early dominance and forced a series of corners, of which the third was headed home from 6 yards by Watts.

Norton dealt with the blow positively and finally started to knock the ball around with Carl Cooper winning plenty of challenges in midfield and James Johnstones nifty footwork seeing him a thorn in the side for Yelverton.

Norton though were up to now too guilty of trying to force the issue and longer balls were not sticking to feet or were over hit.

As the half wore on though Nortons possession grew but instead of pulling the trigger we were trying to play the killer final pass and chances were waster. Up to now the best chance was when Hacon peeled of and flashed his shot across the face of goal.

On the stroke of half time though and Norton were deservedly level as Nigel Davis Smith steered inside the far post after being found by Hacon, for what was the last kick of the first half.

The second half started with Norton continuing were they left off from the first as we started knocking the ball around with more zip and purpose and were were soon in front as Chris Burton played a ball down the left channel to Nigel DS and spotting the keeper off his line he produced a fantastic finish lofting a shot high over and into the far corner of the net.

Norton were at this in total control and Nigel was at it again as just after the hour mark his dancing feet saw him weave past several tackles before he was felled in the box. Nigel stepped up to fire down the middle to give Norton a two goal cushion.

Yelvertons response was to throw another player up front and resort to longer balls and this with Norton relaxing perhaps a little too much led to a seige on the Morton goal with several chances being created, however they found stopper Barry Crossan in top form as he produced at least 5 point blank saves with the fellow defence on hand to clear the loose balls.

With 5 minutes left Yelverton finally breached Crossan and perhaps deservedly scored a second goal again through Watts to make for an interesting finale but Norton saw the game out perhaps more attacking than defending to win the shield.

Overall a decent performance from all especially given the heat.

Barry C - 9 - Some super saves, Barry at his best.
Scott Y - 8 - Solid performance, played more minutes than most.
Paul R - 8 - Another great performance, with very few mistakes.
Stan G - 8 - Very dependable, some good clearances.
Chris B - 7 - Showed good fitness and a willingness to push forward, ball just kept running away from him though
Lee W - 8 - Super debut, very confident on the ball, great new signing.
Stuart T - 7 - Showed good energy levels, and always looked to play the game properly with his passing.
Steve W - 7 - got stuck in this week which was good to see, more defence work was good.
Richard H - 7 - Kept running and battling, someway off his usual aerial performance of winning every header.
Carl C - 8 - Excellent in the middle of the park, always in the thick of things.
Richard M - 8 - He really wanted to win this one, and his determination shone through in his play and encouraging team mates.
Barry T - 9 - A fine return to the team, should surprisingly good fitness and quality given his time out.
Nigel DS - 9 - Only played a couple of games in the last year and returns with a superb hatrick. Man of the Match.
James J - 7 - Good running and covered a lot of ground, but got caught on the ball or couldn't find the killer pass
Aaron H - 7 - Tried to make things happen, but his final pass wasn't quite there, but did help set-up Norton's second goal.between hat-trick hero Nigel or keeper Crossan for keeping the lead in tact.

The next friendly is tbc but is likely to be at home against Martham on August 6th.m

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