Posted by Rijs on April 28, 2007, 9:57 pm, in reply to "Re: City 2-3 Thatcham Town: A View From The Terraces" I'd agree with a lot of the highs and lows already mentioned. For me, the season has ended well despite the Cup Final and today's defeat, because we have got a team that plays well together with a good spirit and a nice blend of youth and experience. I've never seen quite so many promising teenagers in the ranks at one time at City, and if we can keep the likes of Davis, Bell, Lewis, and Janes for a few more seasons while they mature City could be a force in this league. Those just a little older, like Malone, Rendell, Takriti and Lane have really matured this season and are good to watch. I've been really impressed by Gavin recently. Meanwhile we've had such consistent performances from Adam Durrant (four matches this week) and Mark Jones (Mr Duracell), and such good-humoured effort (despite the lack of goals) from Anthony Alleyne; and let's not forget how many good saves Carl Wilkins has pulled off...There's been a lot that's good this year. Of course, a season is long and all have their bad patches too. Ours has gone in five spells: first the solid start under Andy Lyne, then a dodgy spell in the midst of which he stepped down--still a mystery to me--and Mike Ford came in to assist Justin; then a brief recovery mid-season before our longest bad patch, from late January to mid-March; and then our more encouraging final six weeks. It's interesting to look at the league table for the Andover match which turned out to be our worst day, three months and 18 matches ago. At that stage City were 11th amongst Burnham, Marlow, Andover and Uxbridge, all of whom got in the play-off chase, as well as Brook House who went into free fall in the last six weeks. From that position City could have launched a charge as Burnham did (they were level with us on points), but instead confidence was knocked by that match and we went on to lose three home matches on the trot by rather large margins. When Wilkins and later Takriti returned, the defence tightened and we began to pick up points again and grow in confidence. I suppose it shows you shouldn't write anyone off too soon--at that stage Didcot looked a good bet for the play-offs but who fancied Burnham? I'd love to see Justin give his reflections on the season once the dust has settled. He has admitted a scoring problem, but 62 goals isn't all that bad: Paulton only got a couple more, but their defence was the key. Generally, though, if you're going to leak a few goals as most teams at this level do, you need to score quite a lot to do well, so his priority will surely be finding a good striker this summer. If only we could have signed Billy Beechers it woould have transformed the second half of our season--but soccer is full of if onlies--if only John Mitchell had been able to regain fitness and form, if only Carl and Omar and Jonah hadn't missed so much of the season between them, if only Ray had been a bit more disciplined and had stayed with us. Still, we have much to be grateful for in an entertaining season and much to look forward to from August, albeit in a different division lacking in derby matches for us. The key will be keeping most of the present squad together and with the same spirit we've shown recently. --Previous Message--
Yes, Chris, many thanks for all your reports and the interesting flashbacks into City's past.
: 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
:
: --Previous Message--
:
:
:
: 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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