Hethersett Athletic

But hold on a minute. It was our day. It was a glorious day and one that we all thoroughly enjoyed. The players celebrated a season of great success and by the end of the day the 5-0 scoreline began to seem irrelevant. We had played in a Carrow Road Final.

Admittedly it wasn't pleasant losing by such a large margin, but within a few minutes of the final whistle everyone involved with the club were realising that we had reached the final of the premier Norfolk Sunday cup and walked away with the championship of Division 1B of the Norwich Sunday League.

So it was a time to celebrate and not bemoan a day when Lady Luck left us.

The day started when the players met at Hethersett Queen's Head to board a coach to Carrow Road. It took us through the agonies of conceding five goals and failing to score for the first time this season and ended with a celebration meal at the Queen's Head and more than a "few jars" in Norwich.

Ironically the previous day had brought bright sunshine to Carrow Road as Norwich City demolished Walsall. Hethersett's defeat was no demolition, however. At times we played the better football, we seemed to have as many chances as Fenman, but in the end experienced heads won through against a very youthful Hethersett side.

Athletic made their task virtually impossible by conceding two goals in the first eight minutes. It gave them an uphill task and a team as experienced as Fenman were just not going to cave in.

Fenman had a "seen this, been here before, worn the T-shirt" attitude to the game thanks to four previous cup victories. Three ahead at half-time, Hethersett struggled to make an impact and two further goals after the break sealed their fate.

On another day sharp-shooter Ben Thompson would have had four goals. Time after time he broke through the Fenman defence only to see shots roll across goal, get cleared off the line or come back off a post. He even saw a penalty saved by Danny Cook.

There were other chances as well - Lee Barrett went close and Matt Steward saw a 25 yard drive turned round a post by Cook and then watched a header scrambled off the line.

Despite the scoreline Hethersett were upbeat at the end. They had enjoyed the day, enjoyed the experience and were vowing that next time we will be back for the cup and not a day out.

In the words of the Terminator "We'll be back."