Posted by ChrisB on April 28, 2007, 7:59 pm HALF-TIME: CITY 1-2 THATCHAM City kicked off for the season’s final forty five minutes of football and looked the brighter of the two teams for much of the half. They went close to equalising early on when Liam Malone’s shot had Strudley scrambling along his line to concede a corner which Mark Jones pulled back to Gavin Lane on the edge of the box, whose shot was just off target; and a deep corner-kick by Barry Elmore at the other end was headed just too high by Ricky Allaway. FULL-TIME: OXFORD CITY 2-3 THATCHAM TOWN City: Wilkins, Durrant (Capt.), Takriti, Lane, Avery, Griffin (Ford 27), Jones (Janes 77), Malone, Stewart (Alleyne 64), Chakaodza, Bell. Thatcham Town: Strudley, Mortimer, Taplin, Cook, Allaway, Rea, Elmore (McLay 57), Suarez, Green J., Green M. (Moore 61), Nurse. So as the dust settles on City’s 125th Anniversary season the inquests will begin.
Thatcham Town came to CPF needing a win to stand any chance of making the play-offs, pressed hard from the outset and scored a vital early goal to steady their nerves. The ball was put behind from a Thatcham attack and Elmore’s accurate corner dropped in the six-yard box causing all sorts of problems for the defenders. Both Mark Avery and Jim Griffin, still shaky after a hard fall a minute earlier, got a boot to the ball, but the touch that finally mattered was that of Paul Taplin who bundled the ball home from close range to give the visitors the lead with just five minutes gone.
City rallied and two minutes later Mark Bell made a good run into the box, was fouled, but regained his feet and his composure and netted via the post. To City’s consternation Mr Wheeler ignored the advantage and blew for the penalty just as the ball rolled home! There were more complaints from the home players than from Thatcham’s defenders, but, when the moans subsided, Alex Stewart placed the ball on the spot and then crashed home a very no-nonsense kick.
Thatcham settled again and were generally having more of the play. A cross from the left was sliced just past his own post by Gavin Lane and then, on 14 minutes, a City clearance was intercepted on the half-way line and as the ball was pushed forward it seemed as though Mario Nurse was the only player to react and he had plenty of time by the corner flag to deliver a well-flighted cross into the area. Carl Wilkins jumped to catch the ball and was possibly impeded by Jamie Green who, arriving late, headed home.
Play switched to the other end where City had a series of corners, but without putting Paul Strudley under any real pressure, and then Kevin Chakaodza broke free but a timely tackle produced nothing more than another corner.
In the last fifteen minutes of the half Thatcham came nearer than City to adding to their score. Jamie Green was denied a clear chance by a fine tackle from Gavin Lane; Marc Green showed good skills to create an excellent chance for himself in the box but finished poorly; Jamie Green was foiled by an odd bounce as he teed up his shot; and Sam Rea headed straight at Carl Wilkins from close range.
After 65 minutes another City corner was cleared initially but promptly returned by Omar Takriti and, with the Thatcham defence waiting for an offside flag that never materialised, Mark Bell reacted the fastest to fire the bouncing ball neatly past Strudley to level the scores.
The visitors reacted by making two substitutions, whilst City swapped Alex Stewart for Anthony Alleyne who went very close to getting on the end of a through ball from Mark Jones.
Jamie Green almost edged Thatcham in front again when a flicked header from a free-kick only went just wide of the mark with City’s defenders rooted to the spot, but Sean Cook finally rekindled their play-off hopes when he rode a couple of tackles before finishing well with a low right-footed shot across Wilkins and into the net with just over fifteen minutes left.
Mark Janes replaced Mark Jones for City and used his pace to good effect on the right, but it was Anthony Alleyne who came closest to notching a third for the home side when a strong run took him into a scoring position only to be stopped by the combined efforts of two defenders and the keeper.
With ten minutes left substitute Moore might have settled matters for Thatcham but scuffed his shot, but the visitors kept City at bay one way or another while the clocked ticked on and they left the pitch at the end to loud applause from the good number of travelling supporters knowing they had done all they could, and that results elsewhere would decide their fate ... a single point outside the play-offs as it transpired.
Was it a good season? (Not too bad ... mid-table after promotion has to be applauded.)
What were the high spots? (The 3-1 win at Bashley; and the great performances from the young players coming through.)
... and low points? (The 0-4 home loss to 10-man Andover. Ray Spence’s red-card at Bishops Cleeve.)
Will next year bring promotion or relegation? (Who knows!!?)
Everyone will have his or her different thoughts and answers to these questions, and I suppose one of the few certainties is that, come what may, most of us will be back again in mid-August full of optimism for the new season!
In the meantime, a restful summer to you all!!
Message Thread:
« Back to thread