Scole fall to narrow defeat at unbeaten League Leaders

Scole made the long journey west to face the unbeaten league leaders Heacham. The west Norfolk side have a meteoric rise with successive promotion and are a club looking to go up again looking for floodlights to be installed at their Station Rd ground. So it was Anglian Comb Premier Division first v third in a tie that was watched by an impressive home crowd of over 150 people.
Scole started well and dominated the opening exchanges with Ben Norton-Hugman heading just over from a corner and Alex Blakely also just over with an audacious lob from distance that had the home keeper Sam Pishorn beaten hands down. It was the home side who scored first though against the run of play with a long ball from the back headed on and centre forward ConnorYoung getting there first to finish past Sam Palmer. This rocked Scole and the physical nature of Heacham along with the hostile verbals from the home bench and crowd meant lone official Frank Lough had his work cut out controlling the 2 technical areas as well as on the pitch. Amazing really that this top of the table clash wasn't appointed assistants when other Premier games were covered! Talented Heacham centre midfielder Freddie Collison was cautioned early and was lucky not to receive further attention from Lough after another couple lusty challenges! It was the same player who was involved in an accidental clash of heads with Scole skipper Ben Norton-Hugman who had to be replaced by Alex Gardiner on 25 minutes. The home side were gaining an advantage now and their long ball up to strong left forward Jon Flanagan was causing Scole problems and pushing them backwards. Young got his second of the day when under pressure, 2 Scole defenders both went for then didn't go for a cross field ball and this hesitation allowed the striker in on goal. The only other action of note from the first half was the aforementioned Collison having to go off after breaking his nose after a collision with Scole striker Jake Mcdowall.
Things couldn't have been worse for the away side at half-time? Their skipper was off with a head injury, big centre half Marc Pearce had to be replaced with a foot injury and influential midfielder Ash Baxter was struggling with illness. Dave Coleman came on for Pearce and Kieran Manning replaced Mcdowall as the team changed formation and tactics for the second half. This change paid dividends and Scole looked much more at ease and the pace of Manning & Coleman along with the guile of Rob Turner put the the home defence on the back foot. It was Turner who pulled a goal back with a header from close range after Pishorn couldn't gather. Manning then hit the bar from a header and it was all Scole again. The long ball came to Heacham's rescue again though when it found Flanagan on the turn and his direct running caught the Scole defence out and he buried Heacham's third of the day. If they thought the game was over though they had to think again. Scole had the bit between their teeth and the home defence and Keeper were looking rockier by the minute. Manning reduced the deficit with a toe-poke after Pishorn dropped the ball from a deep cross and Scole went looking for the equaliser. Alas they run out of time and the home side breathed a huge sigh of relief at the final whistle knowing a draw would have been a much fairer result.
This bodes well for the quarter final cup clash between these 2 sides at the same venue in just over a months time with both sides confident they can get a result.
A brave second half performance from Scole but Man of the Match today was returning defender Lawrence Brown in his first game for 5 weeks but looking like he has never been away.