Trophy joy for Hethersett

HETHERSETT Athletic men's Saturday team captured a trophy and put themselves in the promotion driving seat with two vital wins in a four-day period.

Firstly they took on Castle Acre Swifts at Aldiss Park, Dereham, in the final of the Crown Fire South and Central Norfolk Pease League Cup Final.

Hethersett made it third time lucky as they banished memories of two cup final defeats the previous season to win 2-1, but they did it the hard way.

Hethersett looked sluggish in the first half and were fortunate to go in at the break only one goal down. A stern half-time talk from manager Karla Andrews seemed to do the trick as Hethersett showed renewed energy and commitment after the break. Matt Steward moved into midfield from the back four and put in a man of the match performance as Hethersett went forward in search of the equaliser.

They had to wait until the 70th minute with a typically ridiculously well executed volley from 25 yards from top scorer Danny Gray. That was the catalyst for Hethersett to push forward in search of the winner. They forced a series of corners and on 84 minutes Gray's pinpoint centre was met by Steward who sent a powerful header into the top of the net.

Three days later Hethersett faced a vital league match at Gressenhall Reserves and made light work of their task with a 6-0 victory with Gray on target twice and other goals coming from Steward, Adam Waters, Paul Norman and Gary Davis. Despite the victory Hethersett stay in third place with Bradenham Wanderers Reserves winning to make sure of the title. Second place is now between Hethersett and Castle Acre. Athletic are a point behind Castle Acre but with a game in hand and, due to their superior goal difference, four points from their remaining two home games against Sporle and Northwold will give them promotion.

HETHERSETT ATHLETIC GIRLS U17 added the Norfolk and Suffolk Girls U17 League Cup to their league title.

The semi-finals and final were played at Kirkley on the same evening. In the semi-finals Hethersett beat Swindell Girls 3-0 with hot shot Hannah Waters scoring twice and the other coming from an own goal. A single goal from Hannah was enough to beat Bungay in the final and take her tally for the season to a club record 82.

HETHERSETT ATHLETIC LADIES HEARTS are champions of the Norfolk League Second Division. They needed just a point from their game at Hockering to take the title at their first attempt and won 3-0 thanks to goals from Hannah Waters, Lauren Matthews and Charlie Swann.

HETHERSETT ATHLETIC LADIES will be bidding to win the Eastern Region Women's League Cup for the third season in a row when they travel to Soham FC to take on Billericay in the final on Sunday.

Their hopes of winning the trophy were given a boost on Sunday as they put a number of highly disappointing league results behind them to record a 2-1 home win over Haringey thanks to a brace of goals from Emma Mulley.

HETHERSETT U14 GIRLS beat Red Rose 6-2 with hat-tricks from Ella Stephenson and Sophie Rock.

HETHERSETT ATHLETIC U13 had a full side out against Attleborough. Attleborough took the lead and Hethersett struggled until shortly before the break when player of the month Jack Walker fed Robert Warminger on the right and he slotted home from a tight angle. Hethersett created another couple of chances but the first half ended 1-1. After the break both sides applied pressure without reward. Late on in the half, Josh Denny reverted from defence to midfield to feed Warminger again on the right to lob the keeper with a trademark goal. Attleborough surged forward late on but could not break through Hethersett's defence. Lemmon, Parker, Butcher, Ryan, Cowan, Mehtab, Read, Wyatt, Frazer, Easter and Bishop also deserve credit for their contribution for this hard earned victory securing Hethersett's third place finish in the league.