Shannocks battle back

Blofield United 3, Sheringham 3

AFTER a very entertaining see-saw game Blofield's manager Paddy Murphy will probably be aggrieved at not securing three points after being 3-0 up. On the other hand the Shannocks' management team of JK and Edge will be pleased with the second-half performance from their players which showed they had character and pride coming back from an almost impossible position.

However, to win the Sterry Cup one must play with more than character and pride. Concentration and organisation on the field are mandatory disciplines, some things that perhaps was lacking in the first 25 minutes of Sheringham'splay.

An excellent display of referring from Mr N Springall and his assistants and with it some half dozen bookings spread between both sides.

So a good point considering and congratulaions went to the management and players on their second-half display when they showed a never-say-die attitude.

This weekend Sheringham host a revitalised Wroxham Reserves (ko 2pm) who beat Cromer Town 2-0 on Saturday to come off the bottom of the table (see page 55).

At Blofield, with almost a full strength side but missing Ben Carver, a patched up flu-ridden Sheringham squad took to the field in search of points after two back-to-back defeats.

A change in formation to 3-5-2 saw the Shannocks have the early play but it was Blofield that took advantage with a long ball over the top to Danny Brown who looked offside but with no flag showing dummied Jackson to coolly blast the Beavers into an undeserved lead.

Blofield took charge and created several chances which Jackson single-handedly staved off.

From another good Beaver build-up, bad concentration in the back line allowed Durrant to take a rebound and the advantage to put Blofield 2-0 up. Sheringham had no answer but pushed forward and a King effort was saved. Minutes later a King pass set up Eastaugh to put the ball in the net but King's cross was deemed to have crossed the bye line.

Blofield won a corner from some pressure play and slack marking allowed Skoyles a free header which found the top left corner.

Sheringham then surprisingly started to pen Blofield in their own half with waves of attacks which brought sterling defending and goalkeeping from Blofield. How Sheringham did not score during this 15-20 minute period is a mystery, but it gave the players some indication of what might be achieved second period.

Sheringham came out for the second half minus Lacey and Banham, Edridge and Holmes their replacements in a reshaped 4-4-2 formation. Holmes took the right side with Timms dropping in at right back and Edridge in the middle of the park.

And it paid dividends as within a minute of the restart King's determination produced a scramble and Eastaugh got the final touch to give the Shannocks hope.

A complete change around saw flows of attacks down the wings to Kristian Gleave and Holmes providing plenty of fodder for King and Fox.

On 50 minutes the Shannocks played their final card and Bevis was brought on to spearhead three up front with Timms being the unlucky player to come off in a new 3-4-3 formation. Andy Gleave, Jordan and Amis were the back three.

Within minutes they were rewarded when a good move saw Holmes advance past Hart and a lethal power shot gave the keeper no chance and a glint of hope of a result.

Blofield heads droped. They changed formation with subs to try to hold on to the three points.

But with about 15 minutes to go a good move involving Holmes and Fox saw his cross land at King who planted the ball into the net for 3-3.

Sheringham went all-out on attack and several chances were saved as Blofield hung on.

The last effort fell to Holmes who smashed the ball from 18 yards and drew an acrobatic save.