NE14hockey Men’s League

Division 4NE

FOR the first league match of the season Harleston Men’s 5ths travelled away to Kings Lynn to play Pelicans 3rds . Due to injury’s late in the week Paul Shelley and Luke Prest were unavailable and so Magpies were limited to only an 11 man squad.

Harleston dominated from the start with solid passing play, creating many chances, and pinning Pelicans into their own half. A number of goal scoring opportunities were missed early on, due to some fantastic saves by the Pelicans keeper, but Harleston kept the tempo high and recognised that with continued pressure a goal would come. After the first goal was scored the flood gates opened and Harleston were scoring goals freely in open play and from set pieces. At half time the score stood at 8-0.

In the second half it was more of the same and Harleston did not let up the pressure. The goals kept coming and the pairing of Rob Goodson and Eddie Thorne controlling midfield always had Harleston on the front foot. Eight of the 10 outfield players found themselves on the score sheet with most notable tallies from Roger Kent, George Moore, and Deben Nelson who scored 6, 5 and 3 goals respectively.

Although beaten early on the Pelicans team never gave up and continued to battle hard until the final whistle.