Brantham go down 5-1 away to Norwich United

Photo - skipper Simon Mann who made a welcome return to the team after almost 7 weeks out with injury. Simon was the recipient of an over the top tackle at Wivenhoe and despite their people saying it wasn't that bad Simon suffered a hair-line fracture of the ankle and ligament damages! Simon came on during the second half and looked glad just to be back playing football.

RIDGEONS PREMIER DIVISION - SATURDAY FEBRUARY 12th

NORWICH UNITED 5 BRANTHAM ATHLETIC 1

The previous week we had notched up 3 league wins and we travelled to Norwich United looking to build on those results. However, that was not to be, as once the euphoria of those three matches had died down we were hit by a fast running Norwich team, and with some of our players not playing to the capabilities we know they are more than capable of ,it was always going to be a struggle. To be honest if it had not been for goalkeeper Ryan Bedingfield making some great saves we well could have gone down by 9 or 10-1! The only positive was Simon Mann back in the squad after being out injured for almost seven weeks. Manager Tony Hall had to make one change with Adam Bloss falling ill and he was replaced in the back four by Andy French. We started with the first real chance after 5 minutes when a cross from Jono Crouch went just over the bar. Norwich hit back in numbers and took the lead three minutes later. The ball was played high into the Brantham area and defender Andy French, trying to clear the ball, could only help it on the way into the top corner of the goal. Norwich were dictating the pace of the game and they added a second when King was given space to run through and beat Ryan Bedingfield at his near post. Ryan then made two great saves, one almost at point blank range, to deny Claydon and Foster but even he could not do anything when Fox was allowed to run through the middle and beat his marker before hitting home from inside the area. David Grimwood made a good run through on goal only to see his shot deflected for a corner. Norwich made it 4-0 at the restart when King ran through,brushed aside two challenges before hitting home from close range. We started to get back into the game and a sharp shot from Kieran Lawler was not that far wide of the mark. We finally found the back of the net when a good move down the middle saw Ollie Mann play the ball into the area.The ball was then cleared to the edge of the area where Lee Grimwood latched onto it,made up a bit of ground and lined his shot up and put it away in style. Norwich then had Clarke sent off after he had brought Ollie Mann down on the edge of the area, denying Ollie a goalscoring opportunity. From the resultant free kick Ollie saw his effort saved at the second attempt by the keeper.This seemed to pick us up a bit and we started to knock the ball about and play the football we know we are capable of. The ball was played over the top and Ollie Mann latched onto it and sent a shot in towards the top far corner of the goal only to see it hit the top of the stanchion before being cleared, and that just about summed our day up. Just as we were starting to play some good,passing football a Brantham defender played the ball into the path of Cory, who must have thought Christmas had come early. He didn't even have to break stride before bearing down on our goal and despite Ryan coming out to try and narrow the angle the Norwich man hit it home into the near corner. Our thanks again to the few hardy souls who made the journey to watch the game.

Brantham - 1. Ryan Bedingfield. 2.Jono Crouch. 3.Chris French. 4.Jack Sibbons.5.Andy French. 6. Kieran Lawler. 7.Marc Lowe. 8. David Grimwood. 9.Ollie Mann. 10. Lee Grimwood. 11.Sean Gunn. subs (all used) Simon Mann, Keiron Smith Edwards and Shaun Webb.

-----barry felgate----