Braintree Town Vs Norwich City match report.
Braintree Town: Hamann, Case, Habergham, Isaac, Paine,
Massey, Mulley, Davis, Marks, Walker, Hawkins
Norwich City: Ruddy, Johnson, Martin, Turner, Howson,
Lafferty, Hooper, Hoolahan, Bennett, Olsson, Surman
Braintree kicked off their home pre-season campaign in a
changed white strip, unfamiliar to Cressing Road, with Norwich’s away strip yet
to arrive in time for the fixture. A strong side was fielded by the Canaries,
who ran out 6-1 winners on the night. Both sides made the most of the squads at
their disposal, making mass changes in the second half with Alan Devonshire
introducing some trialists in the fold against the Championship opposition.
Wes Hoolahan won free-kick just outside the 18 yard box,
which was fired straight into the arms of Nick Hamann by Bradley Johnson early
on. At the other end, Chez isaac’s free kick was deflected over for a corner,
which he delivered near post to the head of Alan Massey. A stooping Massey
could not test the keeper, turning the ball over for a goal kick.
The next Norwich attack was to lead to the opener, as
Hoolahan was played in from the right just in front of goal. Looking like he
was going to shoot, Hoolahan coolly found Andrew Surman to his left
unchallenged, who had enough time to open his body and slot the ball into
Hamann’s bottom left corner.
Sean Marks came close to equalising just two minutes later
for the Iron, receiving a ball deep inside the Canaries’ half. Marks beat the
keeper with his right footed effort, but could not beat the post as his shot
bounced off the woodwork and out to safety.
On the 26th minute Kyle Lafferty extended the
lead for the away side with a fine free-kick from 25yards out. Lafferty curled
the ball around the Iron wall, sending Hamann scrambling across goal, but
unable to meet the shot which found the side netting.
Some great build up play from Norwich led to a cross in from
the right by Elliott Bennett. A towering Kyle Lafferty directed his header from
inside the Iron box onto the crossbar, leaving the trailing by just the two
goals going into the second half.
Norwich City second half: Dunn, Whittaker, Bennett, Turner,
Garrido, Redmond, Howson, Johnson, Murphy, Van Wolfswinkel, Grabban
With mass changes at half time from Canaries manager Neil
Adams, second half introduction Ricky Van Wolfswinkel needed just one touch to
open his account, passing the ball into an empty net with Hamann committed out
of his box from the off.
Nathan Redmond added another ten minutes later with a
thunderous strike from outside the Iron box. Just past the hour mark, Norwich
added a fifth through Bradley Johnson after making another two substitutions.
Norwich’s fresh legs began to run away with the tie, with the home side
introducing only Jordan Cox and Michael Bakare until this point.
Jordan Cox was played through from the left hand side, and
looked likely to open the scoring for the Iron but appeared to be held back by
the covering Norwich defender. However, the referee waved away appeals to leave
the home side searching again with Norwich introducing an eleventh change
minutes later.
But the Iron wasn’t to search for their opener for too much
longer when Sean Marks found the net with a header. An Isaac free-kick delivery
across goal was headed back to Marks, who glanced across goal to guide the ball
past Dunn to the delight of the home support.
Norwich added a sixth minutes from the end, with the Iron
now a much changed side also as Devonshire took the opportunity to take a look
at what was on offer for the season ahead. Josh Murphy whipped in a ball from
the left, reaching Van Wolfswinkel at the back post who added a tap in to his
tally for the night.
A decent game by both sides pleased a good turnout at
Cressing road, with the strong Norfolk following taking a 6-1 win on the night.
Match report by Chris Pargin
