Trials & Tribulations of life in the 6-a-side: The Story of Norfolk and Chance

Blog 5

Ole, ole ole ole, ole, ole! We have our first victory! NAC, who some said didn’t have a chance, have racked up their first win, triumphing 3-1 over Godsport Wonders, who were sitting in 3rd in the league!

We went into the game after a 3-3 draw last week in the CRY cup, a game I couldn’t play in due to my other team commitments, but that confidence was carried over to the league. We started the game in the normal fashion, strong and creating chances but one mistake and we were punished. 1-0 to Godsport.

However we were back in the game within a couple of minutes. A long ball forward from Jimmy, flicked on by Steve and Jay was there to smash it home at the near post. You can’t beat a bit of route one! Goal 2 came from what seemed to be a lost ball which Jay chased and kept in on the touchline, skinned one of their guys and then squared across the box for Justin to tap in. Game on!

We had a couple of other chances, which brought their manager out of his trackies and onto the pitch to try and save the game. We continued to frustrate them though and got our third goal through the tricky Jay, who had already trained for an hour before this game.

Our stand in defender Ian came in again and provided a real solid presence in defence. Steve seemed really up for the game and I was feeling confident. Other results ahead of us also went our way, with the team above us not playing so therefore forfeiting the game. We are now one point off second bottom and 7 points off 3rd place.

We can do it!

Phil

We want you!

Hi!


Lots to tell!


So The world cup is so close! As is Glastonbury!...and we're in the middle of preparations!


The point of this post is to plea! We're looking for your ideas as we are going to make an enormous flag and we would love your imput - throw your ideas our way and your idea can be up in the sky during these two monumental occassions!

So your ideas would be massively welcome, you can send them to us in numerous ways; you can email me: pete@johnnycasio.co.uk tweet us: twitter.com/johnnycasio or on facebook: www.facebook.com/johnny.casio and we look forward to hearing from you in a big way!

Wouldn't it be awesome to see your idea on infront of the pyramid stage? Or in Cape Town amongst the World Cup festivities?!

Secondly, we're getting excited at the potential opportunity of the first award for the Johnny Casio team. We have been nominated for a VISCOM BRIAN AWARD - part of the Birmingham Istitue of Art and Design end of year show. It would be great if we could win the highly credible award and the big night awards doo is next week (Tuesday) so we'll let you know how we get on!

Thats all from me, Get in touch with your flag ideas and we can't wait to receive them!

Bring on the World Cup!

Pete

Trials & Tribulations of Life in the 6 a-side - The story of Norfolk and Chance

4th Blog

Well, they say it is tough at the top and even tougher at the bottom. We can’t vouch for the first one, but certainly can for the second. Another performance this week that promised much and delivered little.

We went into the game against “The Tanks” who we felt were a beatable side. They have had indifferent form up to now, including a 20-0 beating in the cup two weeks ago. Last week they fared better, with a 4-2 victory. However they came at us and snuck 2 first half goals in past our stand in keeper Aaron.

Into the second half we continued to dominate the possession, but are still sorely missing that killer instinct in front of goal. We lacked any real conviction, pace and movement and so paid the price and lost another goal, to go down 3-0 at the final whistle.

We are now really desperate for that goalscorer. It would completely transform our team. But for now, we must soldier on. I have been here before and know that it can be done, you just have to stick at it. Hopefully I can write you something more positive next week!

Phil

Trial and Tribulations of life in the 6-a-side: The Story of Norfolk and Chance

The 3rd blog

So, after a one week break whilst our beloved referees have their monthly meeting, League Edstreme returned on Thursday 20th May. After our last performance, a battling 1-0 defeat in the CRY cup with 5 players, I have to admit I felt positive.

We faced the usual selection dilemma of a lack of players, with exams and injuries decimating the squad. That left us with a bare 5, so a ringer, named Jack, was called in at the last minute.

NAC got off to the usual positive start, decent possession and a couple of early chances, but, as has been the story of our season so far, we had no-one there to put them away. As a result, we went 1-0 down with the oppo’s first attack on goal. We did however fight back almost immediately, when a great chance fell to aforementioned ringer Jack, which he tucked away confidently. That made him joint top scorer, with yours truly!

The second half was as even as the first, until a certain Phil George attempted the pass that Jimmy always tells him not to – the one across goal. It was intercepted and, as I’m sure you can guess, tucked away.

We threw everything at them in the closing stages, including the kitchen sink, but to no avail. As it was, the game ended 2-1 and NAC suffer another disappointing defeat. All we need is a finisher and we would rocket up the league. I wonder if Michael Owen fancies a game.

Until next week

Phil

Trials and tribulations of life in the 6 a-side - the story of Norfolk and Chance

Blog – Week 2 – CRY Cup 2nd Group Game

The word “hero” is an overused term in our beautiful game. Too many of our overpaid Premier League players are often put on the same level as soldiers and surgeons. But, down at 6-a-side level, where we actually pay to play football, you could argue we are deserving of that accolade.

And so it was proved in our second group game of the CRY cup. We had lost our opening game 9-0 to a Premier Division side and faced equally tough opposition in the second one. To add to our already steep mountain, we could only muster 5 players. However we got stuck in, battled for every ball and won every header. For the first half, we kept the score at 0-0.

We went into the second half in confident mood. Still the chances for the opposition came and went and they got more and more frustrated. However they did get the breakthrough after around 8 minutes of the second half, when a long range pile driver beat Jimmy in goal.

We kept battling though and Ru had a couple of gilt edged chances when through one-on-one with the goalkeeper which he really should have taken. In the end though, we lost 1-0. A marked improvement and something we can hopefully carry over into the league, especially after our 1-1 draw last week.

Here’s hoping!

Phil

Trials and tribulations of life in the 6 a-side - the story of Norfolk and Chance

The Epic 1st Blog

Hello one and all and welcome along to my first ever blog! My name is Phil George and my good friends at Johnny Casio Design have asked me to write this after he designed me a quite fantastic team badge (see above). I will be keeping you all up-to-date with the trials and tribulations of my 6 a side football team NAC (stands for Norfolk and Chance – say it quickly to understand it!) over the coming months.

NAC play in a league my mate Sean runs called League Edstreme (www.leagueedstreme.webs.com), based in Portsmouth, set-up in memory of his younger brother Ed who he unfortunately lost at a very young age. He has set the league up to raise awareness of CRY (www.c-r-y.org.uk) who have helped him and his family greatly over the past couple of years.

The league has come a long way, from playing with 8 teams in a sports hall to 2 outdoor all weather pitches with 2 divisions totalling 16 teams. As a result, he asked me to become “President” of the first division (he is an avid follower of NHL!). So as well as playing, I help with the organising.

We had the first CRY Cup competition a couple of months ago, raising £1,100 for CRY and another one is planned for this season. To be able to help with the running of this non profit league is truly an honour and all the while we are raising lots of money for charity.

So now you have the background, I will update you all in the coming weeks as to the progress of the newly formed NAC. Like any new team we are currently trying to gel and fortunately, as we are at the lower end of the footballing pyramid, we aren’t subject to the pressures of the Premier League! However this doesn’t mean we won’t be trying. Contrary to our team name, we have belief!

We are 4 games into this season and are currently 8th (of 8 L) in the first division. So, as the famous tune goes, the only way is up, baby! The season resumes a week Thursday (CRY cup games tonight) when I will update you on the adventures of Phil, Ru, Steve, Col, Jim, Justin, Paul & Jay.

You think it’s all over…..it is now.

Phil

The trials and tribulations of life in the 6-a-side - The Story of Norfolk and Chance

So ladies and gents it gives us a real pleasure to introduce to you a feature on our blog that we will be running every week. We have searched high and low for the perfect team of likely lads that we can feature on our Blog. We found 'Norfolk and Chance'.

Looking for some help with a team logo, we took it upon ourselves to design the team a logo. We came up with two final designs, the first you can see below is one that we plucked up from thin air...

However, this one below is the logo the team went for as it suited what they were looking very specifically for, best.

It is a real pleasure to be working with the team who have agreed to provide us with regular blogs about the teams progress and how they get on battling through 'League Edstreme'.

Watch this space for our very own team captain Phil George and his own unique insight into the behind happenings of the league and various cups!