The squad
With only one group of five teams - Shrublands, Hemsby Hornets, Caister Roma and the home side, Martham, and matches of 16 minutes, we were in for a long day.
Kicking the day off
All the players were guaranteed plenty of action as we had no subs with us against teams that we had no prior knowledge of.
We started off slowly against Shrublands and had to thank Evie in goal for a marvelous save as the defence were breached almost immediately.
Shrublands hanging in there
From then on Heigham had the game under control with new signing Joe finding his way in the squad assisted by plenty of verbal instruction from captain Frankie. Two off-the-line saves from Shrublands kept the score equal until a cross from Felix was deflected into their net. Three points to Heigham.
Next up were Hemsby Hornets who looked handy but had soon been pegged back from a rocket from the boot of Ted. He later admitted it was a cross but a great goal none-the-less. Felix soon added another to this and Arthur opened his scoring card with two more.
Joe getting acquainted with the formation
Sam was joined in defence by Joe and helped Heigham keep a clean sheet for a 4 - 0 victory. Another three points.
The next opponents, Caister Roma put up more of a fight but an early strike from Arthur was the only goal of the match. A small scare in the first half, when Evie was almost knocked unconscious and Frankie cleared off the line, passed with only slightly increased heart rates from the adults.
Orange teams are always a threat!
Heigham, now top of the table with nine points, had one more game against the home team and their rowdy band of parents and supporters. The sun was now shining and the temperature had risen. The team had just finished the previous game and had to go straight out for another.
Plenty of corners against Caister Roma
This was tougher clash with Martham pretty determined to get something back from the game as they had lost one of their previous games and were in danger of not making the final. So many close misses from Heigham highlighted the need to get our accuracy sorted out for next season.
The Matham defence were particularly strong and the attackers very quick off the mark. A 0 - 0 was a reasonable result, although the Heigham side did well to keep the stamina up.
Great day in goal for Evie
We had to hang on for well over an hour to find out our opponents in the final - first and second in the table would play and Heigham had again won the group (the same thing has happened at all three tournaments so far this year).
As we suspected - it was Martham again but this time the Heigham players had had a good rest and a second burger.
We made a change to the successful formation which could have been a mistake on the part of the coaching staff. Felix dropped back into left defence and Sam went up-field. Frankie swapped from midfield with Joe and Arthur took the centre spot with Ted on the right wing.
Frankie just saved off the line
Again we clashed fairly evenly although Arthur was brought down twice as he made a dash for goal. Neither free kick found the net. The Martham side were getting physical and frustrated (this was their tournament after all) and made break forward. A moment of bad communication from the Heigham defence saw the only goal against us go in.
At half time the players decided to swap back into their previous positions. In the second half Arthur hit the post twice, Ted and Felix had the ball almost on the line on more than one occasion. A shot from Sam almost ruined the Martham goalie's chances of having children, although he was able to carry on.
With their trophies - Felix had to dash to a birthday party
None of the numerous attempts would go in and the final whistle came too soon. So, runners-up, but definitely the more skilled side playing good, clean football. All the players shook hands at the end despite the disappointment and the Martham mums came over to congratulate them also.
A great day out and another trophy for the players.
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