Hemsby FC 0 Easton 1

After a weather related call off earlier in the season we finally travelled to Hemsby to face a side we last faced in 2011 before their 2 season stay in Division 2. Last time we were here we drew 2-2 after leading 2-0 so we were hoping for a better end to this visit.

As per normal this season changes were the order of the day with Raffa and Hayden returning to the squad replacing Capps and Wheeler with Morley starting in an unacustomed position at right back.

The wind was quite strong but the pitch looked good as Hemsby kicked us off. The early stages were very scrappy with both teams struggling to hold on to the ball for any significant length of time. The first effort of the game turned out to be Hemsby's only shot on target during the 90 minutes with the lively right winger turning Fletch and firing low but finding Chris' right hand to palm the ball away to safety.

After that wake up call we managed to excerpt some good pressure onto the home side with a sequence of corners seeing both posts struck and the home goalkeeper denying Raffa and Brad when through one on one. Hemsby were still threatening on the break but the final ball let them down with a couple of good spells wasted.

The half ended with both teams still looking for a breakthrough and feeling the game could be won in the second half.

HT 0-0

We kicked off the second half into what was now a dwindling wind and started on the front foot. A couple of good balls into the box were headed over/wide before the home side go a foothold back into the game. With 15 minutes to go the tie really started to open up. End to end football saw the Hemsby forward head over in the middle of the goal and Brad saw three 1v1's well saved by the Hemsby GK.

Norm, who had an exceptional day in the middle of the park was winning tackle after tackle and frustration boiled over when the Hembsy number 12 punched Greg in the face when the official turned his back and the only action he took was to book Greg for his protests.

The game entered the last ten minutes and it was now only Easton who looked like they were going to win the game. A lot of pressure was piled on but it was starting to look like groundhog day after last week and as the clock ticked to 90 the home side number 12 clashed with Raffa (This time throwing a headbutt) and we were awarded a free kick out on the left.

The ball was swung in and partially cleared to Raffa who's shot across goal was poked towards goal by Brad and as his shot rattled the post again Pez tapped home the rebound that we thought had won us the game. This was not the case however as the Ref had blown for a penalty due to a foul on Pez as he scored. Despite the linesman suggesting that Pez was offside despite a man and the GK clearly on the line the ref stuck to his guns and it was left for Fletch to step up and score his 2nd goal of the season from the spot.

With only a couple of minutes remaining we managed to retain the ball well to see the clock out for a well earned 3 points.

After the majority of the lads were involved in a car accident on the way to the game I must say i'm incredibly proud of their resilience. Sometimes a gritty and determined win is more satisfying than a comfortable 4 or 5-0 demolition job so all in all this was a very satisfying day. Credit goes to the lads who battled for 90+ minutes for their win and we will take that into our game against Brandon away next week.