Appleton scores 5 as Bell Inn hit top form.

The Bell Inn travelled to St Faiths yesterday morning and put in one of their best performances of the season to win 7-1.

St Faiths, the only side to defeat the table toppers in the league this season, were looking to be the first side to ever do the double or even win on aggregate against the Bell Inn since Brown and Anderson took over the club 18 months ago.

Despite winning 6-2 earlier in the season, they failed.

With top scorer Simpson missing from the previous game, Appleton came into the starting 11 to start up front with Payne-Wilkins. The only other change saw J.Butler come into the side ahead of Ward.

It didn’t take long for the former centre back/now striker Appleton to get off the mark, firing home into the bottom corner after just 3 minutes after a great through ball from the impressive C.Butler.

The morning didn’t start so well for his brother Jamie though, who suffered an elbow to the face after 15 minutes and had to come off pouring with blood.

Route one football made the second goal, as a long kick from goalkeeper Howell found it’s way through to Payne-Wilkins, who made no mistake when one on one.

Despite complete domination, St Faiths won a penalty but their striker attempted a Joe Pattison-like dinky chip down the middle of the goal. Howell stood still and caught it with ease.

Minutes later a buller header from a corner was tipped over the bar well by Howell.

However, the Bell Inn cleared the corner as Pattison ran the length of the pitch, passed to C.Butler who set up Appleton for his second.

It was at this point when Moore decided he was simply too hungover to take any further part in the game and dragged himself off, making way for Ashman. Moore was instantly handed the linesmans flag.

St Faiths pulled a goal back but Bell Inn responded well as Appleton completed his hat-trick in first half injury time with another composed finished.

HT – St Faiths 1 v 4 Bell Inn.

With a broke J.Butler and a sick Moore off, the Bell Inn were praying the 11 players on the field stayed fit as Brown and Anderson simply could not be bothered to get changed.

A strong Ashman run down the right wing resulted in him squaring the ball to Appleton who again fired home, making the score 5-1 after just 60 minutes.

Huge celebrations from Brown and Bean were in place every time Appleton scored as the managers were delighted that their tactic to convert the centre back into a striker had worked wonders.

J.Butler, who was starting to feel slightly better, even commented on how fun it was on the bench and asked to be there more often in the future.

Pattison was having a glorious time in his new position of right back. He dinked the ball over the St Faiths forward and shouted ‘see ya’ at him on a few occasions.

Brown then told him he is coming off after he has had one more touch of the ball, in which he must attempt a ‘flip flap’. He did, but failed.

10 minutes later, Appleton did it again for his fifth goal of the match. This time after good work from Payne-Wilkins, who was also at his best throughout the 90 minutes.

With 8 minutes left on the clock, the Bell Inn felt it was time to take Appleton off as he was simply embarrassing the opposition. He came off to a standing ovation, from 4 people.

There was still time for one more goal as A.Brown volleyed home from close range from a C.Butler cross.

FT – St Faiths 1 v 7 Bell Inn

(Appleton 5, Payne-Wilkins, A.Brown)

PLAYER RATINGS

Anthony Howell – 7 – Saved a penalty and got an assist.

Joe Pattison – 7 – Another very solid performance.

Marc Garrod – 8 – So calm on the ball.

Danny Bland – 8 – More erratic than Garrod but pace keeps him out of trouble.

Danny Moore – 6 – Absolutely hammered.

Jamie Butler – 6 – Didn’t play for long. Nose in pieces.

Jack Tarrant – 7 – Nice easy morning stroll.

Adam Brown – 7 – Didn’t have to break sweat.

Calvin Butler – 9 – Lots of assists. Best performance of the season.

Luke Appleton – 9 – JOINT MAN OF MATCH – 5 goals. Enough said.

Jesse Payne Wilkins – 9 – JOINT MAN OF MATCH – One goal, but was superb all game.

SUBS

Liam Ward – 6 – Almost scored his first goal of the season.

Reece Ashman – 7 – Back from injury and hoping to hit full form after Christmas.

MANAGERS

Tom Brown – 10 – Gave Appleton a new position.

Neil Anderson – 10 – Didn’t name himself in the squad.

NO SHOWS

Robbie Stone – 0 – Woke up at 9am after 1 hours sleep, attempted to get dressed and ready but simply couldn’t handle it.

James McCloy – 1 – Did text the management at 8.30am to say he had been sick. Made 2 out of our 15 games this season despite being named in EVERY squad.

To be top of the league we have just been promoted into, at Christmas, is a great achievement.

We have 8 games left and we know 8 wins will win us the title and automatic promotion to the Premier Division. Maybe less than that will do the job.

The commitment and adaptability so far this season from MOST of the players has been superb so we thank you all for that.

Others not so great but personally I don’t really mind as it means I get to play sometimes.

Everyone enjoy Christmas and see you next year.

Kind regards.

Tom ‘LA9 inventor’ Brown.

So close yet so far for Bell Inn

The Bell Inn travelled to Sprowston to take on the Premier Division outfit in the League Cup 1st round.

Sprowston Rovers, who manager Brown used to play for many years ago, have developed into a somewhat better side since then and were on good form coming into the game on the back of a 1-0 win over Doghouse the week before.

The Bell Inn were unbeaten in a while too with their last loss coming at the hands of AFC Wanderers in the County Cup.

With a few players absent and a couple of others picking up injuries for feeder club Mulbarton Wanderers the previous day, the Bell Inn had a squad of just 12 as Brown decided he was too cold to get changed and stuck to managing.

This left the other half of the Bell Inn management team, Neil Anderson, as the only substitute for the Bell Inn.

In the starting 11, we had 4 hungover players, two majorily hungover (mentioning no names) and a very shocked Jesse Payne-Wilkins, who was playing in his preferred position of striker for the first time since 2008.

Sprowston started the best and had complete control of the game for the first 20 minutes, forcing some decent saves from Ant Howell along with some solid defending from the back four.

The Bell Inn were limited to counter attacks and the first goal of the game came from one of these, as Dale Simpson weaved through the home sides defence and won a penalty.

Newly-formed right back Joe Pattison was given the responsibility with usual penatly taker Josh Farrow injured, and cooly slotted home sending the keeper the wrong way.

It was a huge risk by the management giving Pattison the penalty as his last one was in last season’s County Cup Quarter Finals. With the score at 1-1, Pattison attempted a dinky chip which was caught with ease by the goalkeeper.

The Bell Inn now had a bit of belief about themselves and matched Sprowston for the rest of the half.

Players for both sides were getting booked all over the place, sometimes for very debatable things, but a good atmosphere between the teams made sure the game stayed under control.

HT – Sprowston Rovers 0 v 1 Bell Inn

More of the same was asked for by Brown and Anderson and the team didn’t disappoint.

Solid defending, easily the best we have seen from the side this season, kept Sprowston at bay as the Bell Inn pushed forward to try and make it two.

This finally happened after 65 minutes, after a quality through ball from Payne-Wilkins found top scorer Simpson, who casually placed the ball under the keeper and made the score 2-0.

Pattison then went close with a 50 yard run from right back, with Calvin Butler and Payne-Wilkins also nearly getting on the score sheet.

Anderson came on for Ward to see out the game, or that is what we thought.

With 8 minutes remaining, Sprowston got a deserved goal back as the Bell Inn looked to hang on for their lives with the clock ticking.

Unfortuntely, a soft penalty was awarded with just 2 minutes left and the Sprowston captain made no mistake to put the scores level.

With the game about to go into extra time, Adam Brown picked up his second booking and was sent off for the first time in this career.

Final Score – Sprowston 2 v 2 Bell Inn

(Pattison, Simpson)

A good draw for the Bell Inn against a decent Sprowston side. The defending was superb, front to back, as everyone worked their socks off.

The game did go to extra time, we did lose 7-2 in the end, but we won’t mention that.

PLAYER RATINGS

Ant Howell – 7 – Very solid first 90 minutes.

Joe Pattison – 9 – MAN OF MATCH – I have personally turned his kid into one of Norfolk’s best right backs.

Marc Garrod – 8 – Crucial interceptions, headers, tackles.

Danny Bland – 8 – Same as Garrod. Make a good pairing.

Danny Moore – 8 – Dodgy first 10 minutes but regained composure and had probably his best Bell Inn game to date.

Liam Ward – 7 – Worked hard up and down the wings, played the simple ball.

Jack Tarrant – 7 – His usual self but still drunk. Was caught on camera pole dancing in the warm up.

Adam Brown – 7 – Skipper for the day, linked up well with the strikers, harsh red card.

Calvin Butler – 7 – Made countless of chances when going forward.

Jesse Payne-Wilkins – 8 – Best position is up front. Will keep his place.

Dale Simpson – 9 – Sprowston couldn’t deal with him at times.

SUBS

Neil Anderson – 1 – Came on at 2-0 up, came off at 7-2 down.

Tom Brown – 2 – Didn’t even get changed but still did a better job than Anderson.

FANS

Phil Garrard – 8 – Thanks for providing the cheese biscuits but would not run the line.

Michelle Raven (aka Dale Simpson) – 9 – Was heard screaming at Dale countless times and also gave Brown some useful insight on how bad one of his defenders is. Will be assisting Brown and Anderson next week as their Assistant Manager.

Next week the Bell Inn face St Faiths, the only side to beat them in the league so far this season.

With just 9 games to go this season, every game is now massive and after some close studying, 7 wins SHOULD win us the title.

Next week will see the return of a few players as the Bell Inn look to go into the Christmas break top of the league.

Kind regards,

Tom ‘who needs Donovan in defence when you have Pattison’ Brown.

Bell Inn 6 v 1 Unicorns

The Bell Inn carried on their good run of form with a fairly comfortable win at home to Unicorns.

With many players away, injured and working this weekend, the table-toppers were low on numbers which meant rare starts for Player Manager’s Tom Brown and Neil Anderson.

Anthony Howell, our new goalkeeper, turned up at 8am to put the nets up all by himself which was very nice of him. He is so tall he doesn’t even need a ladder. This impressed a lot of the players.

Most of the squad was sober this week and were on time which was pleasing to see.

The Bell Inn started brightly on a very soggy pitch and took the lead through goal machine Jack Tarrant after a neat through ball from Anderson.

Shortly after it was 2-0 after a precise Brown corner found the head of make-shift right back Joe Pattison to head home.

The exact thing happened 5 minutes later but Pattison was ruled to have shoved the player and the goal was ruled out. To be honest, he probably did.

Brown was unlucky not to score as his 30 yard free kick was tipped wide and Anderson hit the side netting after a dazzling (lucky) run down the left.

Dale Simpson made it 3-0 as an Anderson through ball set him free. Simpson, who usually just punts the ball as hard as he can, decided to be more delicate this time and rounded the keeper to tap home.

Jamie Butler and Marc Garrod weren’t being troubled in defence as the Bell Inn tried to keep the ball on the floor and play some decent football.

Luke Appleton made it 4 with his 2nd goal in as many weeks as Brown faked a shot from a free kick and put Appleton through on goal to power home.

Half Time  – Bell Inn 4 v 0 Unicorns

Anderson brought himself off at half time as he was simply outplaying the Unicorns right back and it was getting a bit embarrassing. On came Ashman. Who instantly missed a sitter from 8 yards.

The second half became a bit sloppy, mainly due to the state of the pitch but the Bell Inn still managed two more goals.

The first, a trademark Brown finish when put through one on one with the keeper.

The second, a trademark Simpson ricochet run which he powered home at the near post.

As usual, the Bell Inn felt they had to let the opposition score and that they did with just 10 minutes remaining.

Final Score – Bell Inn 6 v 1 Unicorns

(Dale Simpson 2, Tom Brown, Luke Appleton, Joe Pattison, Jack Tarrant)

PLAYER RATINGS

Anthony Howell – 8 – Probably his best game for the Bell Inn so far.

Joe Pattison – 8 – Didn’t put a foot wrong in his new position at right back.

Marc Garrod – 8 – His usual solid self.

Jamie Butler – 8 – Looked as white as a sheep come full time.

Luke Appleton – 7 – Wish he would play every week.

Liam Ward – 7 – Few dodgy mis kicks but linked up well going forward and did the defensive work required.

Jack Tarrant – 8 – Absolute goal machine at the moment.

Josh Farrow – 8 – Dangerous through balls to the strikers.

Neil Anderson – 10 – MOM – Despite still being our worst player, played the best he ever has in his life.

Tom Brown – 7 – Scored.

Dale Simpson – 9 – Really don’t understand how the ball sticks to his feet all the time.

SUBS

Reece Ashman – 7 – Missed a few chances but played well.

Ben Fisher – 6 – 15 minute cameo role, almost set up a goal.

Impressive first half display which did slack a bit in the second but that happens when you are cruising.

Pleased how we had so many players unavailable this week but can still put out a very good team.

Even more impressively, 5 of the 6 goals were either scored or set up by the managing duo. How embarrassing for the opposition.

11 games gone, 9 to go. Top of the league. Getting closer to the Premier Divison every week.

Next week we travel to Sprowston Rovers, my first club, for the League Cup.

Should be a hard game as they beat Doghouse 1-0 today but with a fully fit and available squad, we can beat anyone. Even Tottenham.

Kind Regards.

Tom ‘2 games in senior football, 2 goals. Back to Crown and Fire Div 3 on Saturday’ Brown.