Norwich Report - 2nd Half

By: Tony Butcher
Date: 17/12/2000

One thing about Zhang Enhua. There was much discussion beforehand on how the tannoy announcer would pronounce his name. Would it be "On, who-are" or "Ennui", or "En who". None of those - "Hoo Har". Sounds like a surprised Al Pacino.

Grimsby Town 2 Norwich City 0
16 Dec 2000, Nationwide League Division 1

Coyne managed to flap the ball towards a huge space on the right of his goal, about 15 yards out. Norwich's useless left wing back, Llewellyn, who was standing on the edge of the area, trotted forward and set himself perfectly to slice the ball into the back of the Pontoon. Which is what he did. Should have scored, didn't, so what.

Hey guess what happened next? Nothing as far as Town is concerned. Donovan kept collapsing whenever anyone looked at him, Nielsen ran around in circles, Coldicott kept passing to Norwich players, the ball seemed constantly at Butterfield's right boot. Unfailingly he chipped the ball up the touchline to a Norwich player. One particularly atrocious pass came after he received the ball in acres of space, looked up, looked up again, and carefully curled the ball to Fleming, with no Town player within 15 yards.

After 20 minutes of the half Town got into the Norwich penalty area with an incisive move down the right. The ball was laid back to Coldicott by Nielsen, and our bullet headed trier volleyed the ball way past the 'keeper's right hand post. It fizzed past the 18 yard line and nearly went out for a throw in. More Norwich crosses and pressure, but no saves for Coyne to make. The central defenders were impassable, with Groves being particularly stoic.

After 70 minutes Town made a double substitution. R Smith replaced Zhang (ovation - deserved) and Coldicott was replaced by D Smith. This resulted in Campbell moving to the right wing, with D Smith playing on the left as Fostervold's minder. Campbell then started to cause Norwich some flutters with some direct and quick surges down the right. One of his surges resulted in a cross to the near post which Nielsen threw himself at as a Norwich defender booted it away. Another saw him beat three players, getting to the edge of the penalty area, where he fell under a double challenge. Campbell falls well, but not well enough to get a penalty.

After this I'm struggling to find anything to mention. Well, in terms of the ball anyway. In the last 10 minutes the game got very crotchety. Fostervold and a Norwich defender were booked after a touch of shoving and fists. A Norwich defender stood on Donovan when the fey wingman was on the ground. Everyone saw it, but as it was Donovan no-one bothered to make a fuss. After all, it was only Donovan and it was only what 90% of the crowd felt like doing to him. Anything else? Norwich continued to whack the ball into the area, which resulted in scrambles and desperate challenges. But there were no saves for Coyne to make, and no shots found their way through.

Three minutes of extra time were flashed up on the board and after 2 of them Town scored a second. A Norwich cross was cleared out towards the centre left. Willems (I think) knocked the ball high and forward. Nielsen chased after the ball as it bounced about 10 yards inside the Norwich half, on the centre right. The Norwich defender ran in a huge arc, pulling and tugging Nielsen as our Silver-buckled Bobby Shaftoe outpaced him. Another attempt at rugby tackling Nielsen failed and the Norwich defender fell over, leaving Nielsen with just the 'keeper to beat. NIELSEN, near the edge of the penalty area, to the right, curled a right footed shot around the 'keeper and into the net off the inside of the post. Game very over. Only the referee decided to play another couple of minutes of added time, making 5 in total.

Not a great game, but a curiously exciting one at times, being more like a cup tie as Town defended desperately as Norwich lumped the ball in. The central defenders were excellent (all three of them), with Groves simply superb. A faultless display from the faltering totem. Unfortunately, the wings were barren areas offensively, and frighteningly weak defensively. The 5 foreigners was organisationally problematic as there were far too many times when players were in completely the wrong areas of the pitch, leaving gaping gaps. Nielsen was the only one of the forward players to threaten, showing some aggression and some flashes of great skill when ploughing (effectively) a lone furrow up front. Near the end he endeared himself to the crowd by chasing back 40 yards to stop a counter attack after he had lost the ball.

Well three points is three points, no matter how you get them. Two memorable goals. Especially the first one.

Nicko's man of the match - Paul Groves, no doubts.

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