Beccles 0 - 2 North Norfolk 2s (08/03/25)

Beccles were a bit short on players this week, but managed to field a team of 10 with some late step ups to make the match playable. In the first half, Beccles worked very hard, but the gaps were noticeable in attack. Everyone was running a lot, which in the lovely sunshine felt like hard work. There was a lot of back and forth between the teams and it seemed to be a fairly even match. North Norfolk had more chances in attack than Beccles but were stopped by the Beccles defence and Danie who volunteered to go in goal this week. Defenders were turning over the ball and managing to find midfielders or forwards to counter attack, but Beccles didn’t have the numbers to get many goal scoring opportunities. That said, Tarnya, Gemma, Emma and Hannah D did work well together and communicate well in getting the ball up the pitch and all put some good runs in. At half time the score remained 0-0.

In the second half, the fatigue of Beccles started to show a little and North Norfolk seemed to have more control over the game. Defenders Lesley, Sara, Mandy, Hannah R and Marie were tested frequently, but kept fighting and disrupting the attacking plays. North Norfolk did manage to score shortly into the second half but it wasn’t easy for them. Beccles had a couple of chances to equalise with Marie getting the ball up the pitch to the attackers, but these attempts were prevented by the North Norfolk defence and goalie.

Unfortunately, after a few warnings to both teams about stick tackles, Marie was given a green card and a 2-minute penalty. North Norfolk managed to capitalise on the 2-payer advantage and take the final score to 2-0. It was a good match though with a lot of good moments for Beccles, and another day with an 11+ player squad we could have maybe taken the win.