Norwich United 2 Kirkley and Pakefield 1

Norwich United faced the division’s early pacesetters Kirkley and Pakefield at Plantation Park on Tuesday 22nd, following penalty success in the FA Vase at Godmanchester Rovers the preceding Saturday, which earned the Planters a tie in the next round away at Thetford Town. Kirkley came into the match with four wins from four in the league, whilst Planters could also boast of an unbeaten start to the league campaign with seven points from a possible nine at kick off.

Planters manager Steve Eastaugh made two personnel changes from the previous match at Godmanchester and also showed his side's flexibility by switching to a 4-2-3-1 formation. Harry Barker made a welcome return at right back, allowing Jordan Forbes to shift to a more attacking position on the right wing. Haydn Davis also returned to the starting line up, offering an attacking outlet from the left side.

The game started brightly with both sides looking to attack with urgency, Natty Stewart had an early effort on target saved, following a nice lay off from Jack Hurrell, while Forbes and Barker were causing all sorts of problems for Kirkley down the Planters right with one particularly dangerous cross bouncing off the visitors’ bar in the tenth minute. Natty Stewart was then brought down on the half way line by a dangerous lunge from Lewy Flower on 16 minutes, for which the Kirkley captain was rightly sent off and to be fair to the away side, neither Flower nor the Royals disputed this particular decision.

Another good run by Stewart was abruptly ended on the right just before the half hour mark by a Kirkley foul which led to a booking. Despite largely dominating the latter stages of the half and delivering an abundance of dangerous balls into the opposition box, Norwich United were unable to break the deadlock in the first half, as the ten men of Kirkley and Pakefield set up in two rigid banks of four and held firm defensively despite their numerical disadvantage.

HALF TIME – NORWICH UNITED 0 – 0 KIRKLEY AND PAKEFIELD

In the second half, Norwich United continued to control possession and on 55 minutes took the lead with more good work down the right flank. Harry Barker played a one two with the lively Jordan Forbes before delivering a well weighted forward pass to Jack Hurrell who hit a well-placed effort from the right side of the box, bouncing low into the far corner of the net to make it 1-0 to the Planters.

Norwich United continued to look dangerous as the half wore on but Kirkley having gone behind were looking to break forwards more, as and when they could. Shortly after the hour mark, a coming together between Mac Gee and a Kirkley attacker led to a penalty, following loud appeals and two Kirkley players running half the length of the pitch to remonstrate with the referee. Cameron Russell scored the penalty for the Royals sending Andy Wilton the wrong way to score emphatically and level the tie on 65 minutes.

The Planters did not allow their heads to drop and continued to put Kirkley’s ten men under sustained pressure as the Planters boss began to shuffle the pack introducing creative midfeilder Louis Henman-Mason to the midfield. Norwich United restored their lead through left sided defender Mac Gee, who smashed home into the top corner to make it 2-1 to the Planters, following a dangerous in-swinging corner, which was spilled by the Kirkley keeper.

Kehan Whitby and league debutant Alex Earl were introduced late on to continue to stretch the Kirkley backline as the Suffolk side searched for an equaliser. With just less than ten minutes to go Kirkley were reduced to finishing the match with nine men as the scorer of their penalty Cameron Russell was sin binned. The Planters were therefore able to seal the three points and a hard earned 2-1 victory with relative comfort.

Reporter’s Man of the Match: Jordan Forbes