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Norwich City Academy Under-18’s travelled to Holland at the weekend to take part in the Rijnpoort International Tournament hosted by Velo Wateringen close to Den Haag. With four professionals in the squad in the form of Korey Smith, Dario Dumic, David Stephens and Sam Habergham, Ricky Martin was hopeful of achieving a good final placing over the weekend. It was a tough programme with five sixty-minute matches over a forty-eight hour period in a single group. Having travelled on Thursday, City used Friday to acclimatise and train in preparation for the first match of the tournament against Dutch Premier League side ADO Den Haag. ADO looked like tough opposition to start the competition and so it proved. City started strongly and Kenny reeves had one good chance but ADO soon took control of the game and made things difficult for the Canaries. On twenty minutes the Dutch side took the lead and although Reeves had another chance for Norwich it was a deserved lead that ADO took into the break. More bad news followed as Dario Dumic was replaced by Richard Brindley for the second-half after picking up a knock. Norwich picked up their game for the second-half although it needed a good save from Jed Steer to keep them in it. Tyree Clarke was beginning to cause problems on the right and from his cross chances fell to Ryan Oakley and Johnbull Osemwegie. Five minutes from the end Norwich finally got their reward as George Francomb finished at the far post from a free-kick. However the Canaries were not awake at the re-start and any thoughts of a point were quickly brushed away as ADO broke and scored the winner immediately afterwards. |
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On then to Saturday, with City looking for full points in two games against local sides in the form of Quick Den Haag and hosts Velo Wateringen. Prior to the first game City were put through their paces with a warm up routine from Academy sports scientist Peter Sharp. |
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The match against Quick began well for City. After only two minutes George Francomb volleyed a back-post header from David Stephens into the net to put Norwich one up. Only six minutes later Patrick Drmola made in two as he finished easily past the keeper from 20 yards. It wasn’t all one way traffic however and the amateurs pulled goal back on twenty three minutes as a free-kick was glanced on at the near post, a poor goal for Norwich to concede. In the second-half Patrick Drmola made it 3-1 soon after the restart after good work from Kenny Reeves down the right. Reeves himself was put through alone on goal to finish for the 4-1 final score. |
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Only ninety minutes later City were playing again, this time against hosts Velo Wateringen. Here again the Canaries got off to a good start with Patrick Drmola putting Norwich 1-0 up after five minutes from a corner. City didn’t score again until early in the second half with Kenny Reeves on target after good work from Ryan Oakley. A few minutes later and it was 3-0 with Reeves turning in a shot from Oakley on the line. |
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After the two matches the travelling party retired to the clubhouse to catch up on news of events at Carrow Road and enjoy a barbeque put on for visiting teams. The regular text messages from Norwich failed to spoil the taste of the barbeque for most members of the party although all were in shock as the final score came in – some for more than one reason ….. On to Sunday, and two important games against good opposition for the Canaries. City needed two victories against the Irish Development Squad and FC Nordsjaelland from Denmark to stand any chance of winning the tournament. The match against the Irish was always going to be a hard-fought one. A typically tough encounter ensued with both sides keen to keep their tournament hopes in tact. Ricky Martin moved Korey Smith up into an attacking midfield role just behind a single forward for the game in an attempt to spring a surprise on the Irish side who had been staying in the same hotel as the Canaries during their stay. The move initially looked to have worked with Kenny Reeves having what looked like a good goal ruled out for offside in the fifth minute. City continued to have a fair share of the play but it was the Irish who went ahead on 23 minutes. Norwich applied pressure at a corner but the ball broke for the Irish on the counter-attack and an attempt to play for offside failed as the Canaries fell behind. The second-half saw Norwich up the tempo, with Korey Smith playing an influential role. Indeed it was the midfielder who put the Canaries level with a header from a corner on 45 minutes. And so the match ended, 1-1 a fair result between two committed teams. |
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Before the last match against Nordsjaelland Norwich needed a cricket score to overtake the Irish on goal difference for second place in the tournament behind ADO Den Haag. It wasn’t to be, but Norwich were happy with a 3-1 victory through goals from Patrick Drmola, Josh Dawkin and Tyree Clarke to finish the tournament in third spot. |
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| A weary City party made their way home on Sunday night satisfied after a hard weekend’s work. Rick Martin will also have learnt a lot about his new charges as they head towards their first Academy League game in two weeks time. | ||||||||||||||||||
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Jed Steer, George Francomb, Sam Habergham, Johnbull Osemwegie, Dario Dumic, David Stephens, Tyree Clarke, Korey Smith, Kenny Reeves, Patrick Drmola, Josh Dawkin, Richard Brindley, Sam Grieveson, Ryan Oakley, Alex Stephens, Matthew Ball, George Wilson. Staff Ricky Martin (Academy Manager), Matthew Wright (Coach), Damien Bowyer (Physio), Peter Sharp (Sports Scientist). |
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Report and Photos from Paul Standley. |
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