Sunday 3rd December

Easton is really becoming a fortress for us. Both the men's team and the ladies got through difficult League Cup matches in style today. And that made me realise that those two teams are still unbeaten at Easton. I think that is a tribute to the playing surface that really suits our open style of play.

So I searched the records to find that the Ladies have a record there this season of five wins out of five and have scored 22 goals and conceded just one. The men have recorded five wins and a draw and scored 22 goals and conceded 10. That mean between them the two sides have played 11 matches, won 10 and drawn 1 scoring 44 goals and conceding 11.

With that kind of record we really feel we can take on anybody there. The weather overnight was horrendous with heavy gales and rain and it made an early visit to check the pitches necessary, particularly as the Women's opponents were travelling from Bedford.

At 9 a.m neither of the pitches looked playable but the rain had stopped and the weather forecast was for sun. So we started the men's game 15 minutes late by which time the pitch was playable. It had been touch and go but we were certainly glad the effort had been made as we beat Aylsham 6-2 with some excellent football. Aylsham are the only team to achieve a draw against us at Easton this season.

The Ladies also had an excellent 3-0 win over Bedford in their League Cup competition. I really think either one or both of these teams will win at least one trophy this season. Both are in with a shout in three separate competitions.

Tuesday 5th December

So Norwich have been drawn away to non league Tamworth in the third round of the FA Cup. How good would it be to have a decent cup run to keep enthusiasm going? I just hope this doesn't turn out to be a banana skin!!!!

I know this blog is meant to be primarily about football and Hethersett Athletic in particular but I can't avoid mentioning cricket and the debacle that was England this morning as they somehow lost the second Ashes test to Australia.

How you can score 551-6 declared in your first innings and lose the match. I feel England made two fatal mistakes. Firstly they declared far too early. Instead of batting themselves into an unassailable position they gave Australia the time to come back at them. Had we batted on to score 650 or even 700 we would have ensured at least a draw and made it much more difficult for Australia to avoid the follow on. Then we picked Ashley Giles and the simple question is why?

Never known as a match winner, dear old Ash (and I'm sure he's a terribly nice bloke) was obviously included as an all-rounder whereas we know Monty Panasa is not the world's greatest fielder or batsman. What he is, however, is a genuinely dangerous spin bowler - a potential match winner. He had a tremendous series during the summer. So what do we do? As soon as Giles regains his fitness he's back in the team. And what did he achieve in  this match - two wickets for 149 at an average of 74.5 per wicket and scores of 27 not out and 0. Oh and he dropped Rickie Ponting in the first innings and that in itself virtually cost us the possibility of a draw or even victory.

In the two tests Giles has taken three wickets for 262 - that's an average of 87.33 runs conceded per wicket. He has scored 74 runs in four innings at an average of 24.66 - scarcely world class batting.

Then there's this national pride issue. The Australians have it, we don't. They dug deep into their resources in this match whilst we once again just capitulated in typical English fashion. 'Nough said....

Sunday 10th December

I am pleased to be able to start this blog with a thank you to Richard and Gillie Gamble and all their helpers for organising an excellent pre-Christmas club do at the Village Hall last night. I set the questions for the quiz and hopefully there was something for everyone and particularly for the Dr Who fans,

Richard and Gillie did all the hard work with the catering and Mike Molloy chipped in with a fun game at the end and then there was the big Christmas raffle. So once again thanks for all your hard work guys and the evening should make a good profit for club and individual team funds.

Today the men's firsts were at home to top of the table Norman Wanderers and it turned out to be quite a day for us. Last week we were concerned that the match against Aylsham might be in jeopardy due to a waterlogged pitch. Today it was frost that caused a problem. Thankfully early morning sunshine softened everything up a treat and the match was able to kick off on time.

We are certainly making a habit of scoring early goals. A few weeks ago we scored the quickest in the club's history (timed by the referee at 10 seconds). Today it took us all of 2 minutes for Mark Appleton to open the scoring. For the first 15 minutes it looked as if we would run riot with Scotty Woodcock heading against the bar and numerous other chances being created.

Then the shape of the game changed as Norman came back into it with some strong assaults on our goal. Sadly after half-time the match deteriorated. I don't want to say too much about what happened - let's just call some of Norman's tackles robust.

But we held on for three very valuable points that take us into third place. A win next Sunday against Eaton Beehive will see us very much in the title race at Christmas.

The Ladies team didn't have the luxury of good conditions for their match against Brentwood - the only team to beat them this season. This time we made no mistake with a 7-1 victory as the weather deteriorated.

Congratulations to A team player Andy Oliver who made his 150th appearance for the club and well done to the Under-13s who beat Fakenham 6-1 to record their first win of the season.

Wednesday 13th December

A mystery was solved today. After Sunday I calculated we were handily placed third in the league. Today I was informed that according to the Evening News newspaper we are top. It took a while to work out that we have apparently been awarded three points for the Coltishall game which was postponed because they didn't have the requisite insurance.

It's disappointing for the players that they will now not have to play that game but three points are after all three points and it takes us to the top without kicking a ball.

Saturday 16th December

The way things are going, we could win the league title without kicking another ball. I was looking forward to tomorrow's final game of the year as a chance to overturn a defeat at the hands of Eaton Beehive on the opening day of the season.

But it wasn't to be. Since they beat us and raced to the top of the league, Eaton have sunk like a stone and are now second from bottom and we received a phone call saying they couldn't raise a team. Whether that means we will be awarded the points once again without playing is unknown but certainly we were ready and willing to play.

I think the Premier League is a sad and sorry state of affairs this season. Firstly Horsford dropped out of the league and their records were expunged, then Marlborough had three points deducted for playing ineligible players. Then two of our last three games have been postponed through no fault of our own. It does mean, however, that as we take the Christmas/New Year break we are still very much in three competitions.

Sunday 24th December

Well here we are Christmas Eve and of course no games today for the club which gives me the opportunity of getting the web site up to date and to look back on the season so far and what is to come in 2007.

Some people thought I was rather rash to predict a trophy would be coming the club's way this season. But I still feel that will be the case. The Under-11 Girls are top of their league, the Under-15 girls are still in with a chance of the league title, the men's first team are still in with a tilt at three trophies and the women's team also have a chance of a treble. We would have to have a pretty dramatic collapse not to win one of those competitions.

The men's first team have a new strip kindly sponsored by Park Farm Hotel and Hethersett Queen's Head. We are very grateful for this sponsorship. Let's hope we can do ourselves justice when we take on Delaneys in the quarter-finals of the county cup on January 7th. I am hoping to produce both a newsletter and a special programme before that match.

I see that Norwich City go from bad to worse and really I am beginning to question Peter Grant's negative tactics. At Wolves we were leading 2-1 thanks to two goals from Rob Earnshaw. So what did the manager do? Yes he took off Earnshaw and brought on another defender to keep what we had. The plan backfired when Wolves scored four minutes into injury time. I make that a good six points we have conceded with late late goals this season and that is the mark of a bad team.

I seriously question Grant's tactics. Why take off a player on a hat-trick who can bring relief to the defence? It makes no sense. Why disrupt a team that is winning ? As you know I help with the Hethersett First team on Sundays and I hope we wouldn't be so stupid to take off one of our main strikers who has just scored two goals and put us in a winning position. It is the mark of a man struggling to understand what football is all about. Or put another way it's a potty potty thing to do.

Neil Adams made me angry on Radio Norfolk in their weekly phone in when he supported Peter Grant's decision on the grounds that we were trying to protect what we had. But Neil IT BLOODY BACKFIRED. He kept going on about teams like Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United using similar tactics as though this was justification for the move. But Neil THESE ARE WORLD CLASS TEAMS who can do this sort of thing. We aren't good enough - it's as simple as that.

So while you contemplate your Christmas football period just remember for those of us old enough to remember the days when the leagues were referred to as what they were and not fancy names like The Championship which makes them sound more important than they are, we are now close to the bottom of Division Two and, instead of a glorious return to Division One, are now starring Division Three in the face!!! Just think about that one Mr Grant before you employ more negative tactics.

Happy Christmas to you all (Bah Humbug)!!!!!