Posted by DavidB on April 28, 2007, 8:30 pm, in reply to "City 2-3 Thatcham Town: A View From The Terraces" --Previous Message--
Chris, again a great report. You can put your pen and paper away for a few weeks and enjoy your summer. Thank for all the excellent reports throughout the season
:
:
:
: 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.
:
: 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.
: 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.
:
: 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.
: 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!!
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