We expected fireworks and we got them! The first team hammered in 6 in the county cup against El Sol who became the third team from the Yarmouth area to be beaten by us in this year's competition.

They were possibly the poorest opposition we have met this season, but we still struggled for considerably periods of time to make our superiority count. In fact we must have had 40 attempts on goal before really cutting loose in the last quarter of the game.

In the first half the ball just wouldn't go in and we missed so many chances that we began to wonder whether we would pay the price. Then we scored twice in two minutes to build up what looked to be a comfortable lead. But of course we like doing things the hard way and we let the opposition come back with a goal either side of half-time to make it 2-2.

When they went 2-0 down El Sol changed their tactics to play a much more attacking and open game and for a while it looked as if it would work. But once again our superior speed and fitness paid dividends with Mark Appleton hitting a hat-trick to make a nonsense of his claims that he cannot score at Easton and Scott Woodcock hit a brace.

We are now just two wins away from a return to a Carrow Road final. I know Ross and the boys would desperately like to make up for the disappointment in our last final. But there is still two rounds to go and we need to avoid drawing Acle or Delaneys in the next round.

I wish Norwich City manager Peter Grant would come and see us play. I think he might learn a thing or two. We play open, attacking football where the players are given licence to push forward. The link play is excellent and we don't simply lump high balls aimlessly up to forwards. Sadly I think league players are over coached in systems. They lose all their ability thanks to "rules" and formations. Give the players freedom and they play so much better.

Now I'm not suggesting that Hethersett Athletic could beat Norwich City - far from it. What I am saying is that on Saturday at Carrow Road against Sunderland I was thoroughly bored by a Norwich display that saw two shots all afternoon and they scored with their only effort on target. I cannot see how a team can only have two shots all afternoon. It really is beyond me. On Sunday Hethersett must have had over 40 attempts at goal. The football was bright, entertaining and enjoyable - and free!!!

The women also did the club proud by making the long journey to Stevenage to win 3-1 in the League Cup and there were some good cup performances from the youth teams as well. Special mention to the girls Under-11s who played their first ever league match and drew 0-0 at Dereham.

On Friday managed to put the latest club newsletter together and it should have been distributed to teams over the weekend.

Friday November 10th

So I said we needed to avoid drawing Delaneys in the next round of the county cup and who did we draw - yes Delaneys. They are the holders of the cup and I know fancy their chances again this year with an even stronger side. Well we also fancy our chances and if we have a full squad available and free of injury, there is no reason we shouldn't win. This time we have home advantage and we haven't been beaten at Easton this season. We will have to work out a way to get through their tough defence and also tighten up ourselves at the back. At least we have until January to plan.

Saturday November 11th

It's happened again. Would somebody please tell me what kind of kick morons get out of breaking our goalposts? Overnight they pulled them out of the ground and ripped off the stanchions which are nowhere to be seen. This is the third time this season we have had this happen and very soon the goals are going to be irreparable.  I don't know what the answer is. We leave the goalposts up as a village amenity and taking them down would be a major hassle. But it looks as if that is exactly what we will have to do.

There was additional frustration in the fact that the people who paint the lines had painted over the leaves going across the pitch. So when we raked them up the lines disappeared. It soon became obvious that the pitch would not be playable on Sunday and so we got the men's reserves match switched to Easton College. We are very grateful for the college allowing us to play on their pitch at such short notice.

I was very disappointed at the turn out from the football club to help clean out the changing rooms. We have criticised this facility in the past but now feel we have no grounds to to this because we were given the opportunity to help make things more pleasant and failed. I only hope more club members turn up next week for part two of the clear up. I hate this syndrome where people say "it's not my job to do that". Taken to its limit it would mean nobody did any voluntary work for the good of the community!

Sunday November 12th

It was another good day for the firsts. Rackheath has always been a difficult place for us and The William always seem to raise their game against us. Now they have changed their name to the Prince of Denmark, but we didn't expect that to make any difference at all. Their position at the bottom of the league is probably a false one and we know that in order to mount a serious title challenge we need to take maximum points from the next three games against Prince of William, Poringland and Cotishall.

So a win today was vital and we started like a whirlwind with three goals in the first 12 minutes. I have to say this was the best spell of football I've seen from the guys in many seasons. They just ripped through the defence. Stevie Beck scored after five minutes, Scott Woodcock tore through after 10 minutes and Martyn Carver made it three with a far post header after 12 minutes.

We just couldn't keep up that pace and domination and so it proved. The Prince tightened up their defence and made a number of strong tackles in midfield, one of which laid out James Rice for some considerable time. By half-time they were back in it with two goals -one of which owed a considerable amount to the swirling wind and the other which was quite obviously offside (everyone agreed). We couldn't complain, however, as it was our linesman who failed to give it.

We went up a gear in the first five minutes of the second half and "Bert" Curtis made it 4-2 only for the home side to come back once again to make it 4-3. At that point we looked capable of being beaten, but once again we finished strongly and Bert and Scott scored again to make it 6-3 and three well earned points. It was the second week running we had hit six and this time it was without top scorer Mark Appleton.

On a personal note it was a good weekend for me on the football front. On Saturday Matt played for Wymondham Town against Long Stratton and they won 4-0, Norwich won 1-0 at West Brom and are once again on the edge of the play-off places (I don't know how with the players they have) and of course Hethersett's march up the Norwich Sunday League Premier Division goes on.

Monday November 13th

Another mixed bag with the club results. The Reserves got well beaten 7-0 by Wymondham Rangers and the Men's A went down 3-2 to Wymondham Rangers Res.

The Ladies had a good 1-0 win at Easton, however, against close rivals Brantham Athletic. Their only goal came from Nicola Stolworthy who had quite a week. Earlier in the week she scored one of Norfolk's goals in their 4-3 win over Hertfordshire and was named player-of-the-match. Jodie Allard also played in that match. The win keeps our ladies top of the league although there are some very difficult matches coming up.

Congratulations to Chris Marshall who scored twice for the Under-16s in their 2-2 draw with Salhouse. Chris' first completed his 100 goals for the club. Chris won the golden boot for being club top scorer in two seasons - 2003/2004 and 2004/2005. The Under-11s won 2-0 against Fakenham, the Under-15s drew 1-1 with Salhouse and the Under 9A team drew 0-0 at Old Catton. The other teams in action all lost.

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Luton Town Football Club manager Mike Newell has got himself in hot water yet again for comments made to the Media. A few months ago Newell was quite right to hit out at possible bungs and corruptness in the game and the ever increasing power that agents have. This time, however, he has made a right prat of himself by verbally attacking a woman linesman and stating that women shouldn't be involved in officiating at football matches. This is quite patently nonsense. A good woman linesman or referee is as good as a man and, like in all walks of life, there are competent and incompetent men and competent and incompetent women. I see absolutely no reason why women should not officiate in soccer providing they have the right qualifications. And Newell was remarking on one alleged mistake he thought this woman linesman had made in giving a corner that led to a goal. As I always say in these situation even if the award of the corner was wrong there was nothing stopping Luton's defence from dealing with the situation!

Eldest son Chris played for Sussex this week in their friendly against Kent. The match ended in a 2-2 draw and Chris played all the second half and has been included in the squad for a cup match against Kent next week.

Sunday November 19th

A very good weekend for Hethersett Athletic and a very bad day for Norwich City.

Our club played 13 games over the two day period, winning nine and drawing one of them and that makes it the most successful weekend for many many months.

The first team scored what possibly could have been the fastest goal in the club's history. I timed Lee Barrett's opener against Poringland at about 15 seconds, but the referee reckoned it was closer to 10!

For the third week running we built up a solid lead, only to almost throw it away. Like the previous week we raced into a 3-0 first half lead only to allow the opposition to get back to 3-2 and for much of the second half Poringland looked quite capable of equalising and it took a tremendous goalline clearance from Luke Appleton and an injury time goal from brother Mark to ensure we took the points.

Depending on the result of the match between Quebec and Delaneys we could have moved up as high as second in the league. At worst we will be third and the foundations are beginning to be set down for a serious title challenge, although we cannot afford any more slip-ups. Football is a very fragile game. At the present time we are still in with a chance of winning three trophies (league, league cup and county cup). A few bad results and we could be out of all three, a few good ones and the treble could be a real possibility.

The problem at the moment is not being able to field a settled team. We are having to make three or four changes every week. Thankfully we have good quality players throughout the side, but at times I think we have been riding our luck and this is possibly why we have conceded seven goals in the last three matches. Thankfully we have scored an impressive 16! It is also interesting to note that in the league no fewer than 12 different players have scored.

The Women's team are also through to the quarter-finals of their county cup which covers both Norfolk and Suffolk. They beat UEA 5-0 on Sunday. Jodie Allard and Nicola Stolworthy are in the Norfolk squad to play Bedfordshire on 30th November, so well done to them. In fact only three clubs are represented in the county squad.

The Under-16s hit six against Hellesdon, the Under-15s beat Wymondham United 4-0 and there were good wins for the Under-15 girls, under-11 girls, under-11s and Under-10s. So well done everyone.

On Saturday I took part in the second session to improve the conditions in the pavilion on the Memorial Playing Field. This time we painted the walls and the place is looking much better for its spruce up.

Tomorrow evening we have a committee meeting when we will be finalising a shirt sponsorship deal for the Men's First team with Park Farm Hotel and the Queen's Head. We are looking to get this signed and sealed before our County Cup match against Delaneys.

Tuesday November 21st

Plenty was sorted out at the committee meeting and these continue to be exciting times for the club, The sponsorship deal with Park Farm and the Queen's Head is signed and sealed and all we have to do now is get the new strip.

The club is still very keen to bring Saturday football to Hethersett. We have been considering this for a number of years and it is a natural extension for us. The problem is we have some very good adult players at the club and many would be prepared to play for us on a Saturday but only if we can provide a suitably high standard of football. So we are going to sound out the Anglian Combination to see whether as a community charter team they would consider a formal application.

Saturday football would certainly take the club forward. I think Sunday soccer is still viewed as the poor cousin, with players (not necessarily ours) often the worse for wear after Saturday night!

I made a rather rash statement at the meeting that I was confident we would get at least one trophy this season. I didn't elaborate by which team or what trophy and as somebody pointed out I could always supply one myself. I do feel that we have plenty of opportunity to win some silverware.

Which brings me to a possible "soccer twinning" with Little Common in Sussex. My eldest son Chris plays for their first team and we are looking at some kind of exchange. Our adult men's teams and Under-16s have already expressed interest. It would be nice to have some kind of exchange around Easter with a trophy for the most successful club (and no this wasn't what I meant by winning a trophy either).

By general agreement the men's first team scored the fastest goal in the club's history on Sunday. The referee insisted it was 10 seconds, so we will go with that. Nobody at the club can remember a faster one.

Plans are well advanced for the social, quiz and buffet evening at the Village Hall on December 9th. I will be supplying the questions for the quiz and it will be a nice way to ease into the Christmas period.

We also have a new blogster joining the ranks. The Under-11s are bursting into print in the near future.

Friday November 24th

I was enjoying a meal at Park Farm, who are one of the club's main sponsors. It was my second visit there of the day but that's another story! A phone call informed me that the match against Coltishall on Sunday has been called off because of an insurance problem for the opposition.

It's a shame because we have hit form at the right time and last week's win hoisted us up to second place in the league. I do hope we are awarded the points as we were willing and able to play the match and shouldn't be made to suffer through no fault of our own. This latest adds to the confusion of the league this season with one of the teams dropping out and another being deducted three points for playing ineligible players.

Last seasons two matches against Coltishall stand out in my memory. The relationship between the two sides was excellent in both games. The match at Coltishall was played on the worst surface I have ever seen. Heavy rain turned it into a mud heap. When our player-manager Ross Potter suffered a gashed head, our physio, who just happens to also be his mother, took him off to get it stitched.

I took over "the sponge" and had to run onto the pitch a few times and just couldn't keep my footing! I really don't know how they played football on it and the final scoreline of 5-5 showed what a farce it was. A week later I had to ref the return fixture when the match official failed to turn up and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There were bags of good humour flying around and the only hassle I got came from our own manager and my own son who constantly told me "you don't know what you're doing" a phrase I'm sure he picked up at Carrow Road!

Saturday November 25th

Visits to Carrow Road are enough to put you off football for life. Today we somehow managed to concede yet another injury time goal to draw 1-1 with Hull. It was another appalling game (we have come to expect nothing else) between two pretty dreadful sides. An article in the Eastern Daily Press newspaper suggested that certain players (and it made it obvious who they were) were putting in virtually no effort and should be shown the exit. How true this is. You watch truly committed teams and they fight for every ball. We have a bunch of uncommitted journeymen, going through the motions. I remember way back in the seventies the then Norwich manager Ron Saunders, who was an extremely hard taskmaster, once said he didn't want any players at the club who weren't proud to pull on the yellow shirt. How times have changed.

Sunday November 26th

Early club results for the weekend have been very positive. The men's reserves eased their relegation concerns with a 6-3 win over the bottom club AFC Rompers (I really don't know where they got that name. It conjures up images of two year olds playing football in nappies). The ladies travelled to King's Lynn and came away with an impressive 4-0 win which keeps them on top of their league with over half their league games played.

Monday November 27th

And the Men's A team are right back in the promotion hunt after winning 3-1. Today I finished off the December newsletter ready for production tomorrow and distribution over the weekend. If you are reading this you can view a colour copy by following the newsletter links from the front page.

For the first time in quite a while I might give Norwich's match against Leicester a miss tomorrow night following a farcical attack on the fans by the new manager Peter Grant. Grant has accused us all of being quiet on Saturday in the debacle against Hull and stated that the players gave commitment and passion but we didn't. Exactly what planet are you residing on Mr Grant? If you call what we saw on Saturday as passion, I hate to think what you would describe genuine enthusiasm as.

Yesterday I watched Manchester Utd and Chelsea. Yes these players are overpaid, yes they are over valued but By God did they get stuck in. Sadly the same can't be said for any of the Canary displays this season. So come on Peter Grant, before you have a go at our fans think about what is going on at Carrow Road. Stop players going through the motions. When you took over from Nutty Nigel nobody expected you to turn a very average team into a good one overnight. What we did expect was you to instil some fight in them. So far you have failed and if you turn the fans against you I can't see you lasting all that long.

Wednesday November 29th

A different day, a different display. Would the real Norwich City please stand up. Last night against Leicester there was a massive improvement. The players looked as if they wanted to in and it was an enjoyable match. Yes I did go along - it was a last minute decision, however, and I could just have easily have stayed at home. But I was glad I did go. Problem is we are so inconsistent that within a week we could be back to our old ways.

I am very grateful to Kelvin of Sunfen Ltd for the excellent job they have made of printing our latest Hethersett Athletic club newsletter which will be distributed to teams at the weekend. The newsletter is now in full colour and over the coming months will be distributed to sponsors and available to the public in the village. It is a big step forward in our ability to promote the club.

Congratulations also to Jemma Smythe, Hazel Shepherd, Nicola Stolworthy and Jodie Allard who are all in the Norfolk squad to play Bedfordshire tomorrow.

Thursday November 30th

Congratulation to women's team players Jemma Smythe, Hazel Shepherd, Logan Shepherd, Nicola Stolworthy and Jodie Allard who were all included in the Norfolk squad that played Bedfordshire. Unfortunately Norfolk went down 2-1 but Jemma was named player of the match.