Posted by bsls on October 2, 2007, 9:53 am, in reply to "substitutions" --Previous Message--
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: On saturday i noticed (as well as the rest of
: the crowd) that when the changes were made
: ,one of the players got in a bit of a strop
: .. Now it could be that he was just unhappy
: with his own or the teams performance and it
: was out of sheer frustration ,but as the
: performance improved 100% it eventually
: proved that justin was spot on in ringing
: the changes ...
:
: --Previous Message--
: A good crowd including a very healthy number
: of visitors from the Somerset coast was at
: Court Place Farm this afternoon to see
: City’s biggest game for several years.
: Plenty of blue and white scarves in evidence
: pitchside and the cup-fever had even
: stretched to the players with Jon Gardner
: sporting an eye-catching blue ‘Mohican’.
: The visitors set off at a high pace with
: Ashan Holgate and Dean Grubb showing early
: signs of intelligent running and deft
: passing and it wasn’t long before front man
: Gareth Hopkins was testing the defence and
: bringing a timely tackle from Stuart
: Cattell.
: Weston went close when Hopkins headed wide
: after a dangerous cross from Grubb who had
: been picked out, not for the first time,
: with a great cross-field pass from Taylor.
: City’s first chance on target came after 12
: minutes when James Faulkner got in a header
: but Ryan Northmore gathered it cleanly, but
: two minutes later City went oh-so-close to
: taking the lead. Jon Gardner’s run took him
: into the heart of the Weston defence and,
: just when it looked that the ball would run
: behind, he played it back to Mark Jones at
: the far who took a moment to control the
: ball before seeing his shot take the merest
: of touches from the diving Northmore and
: cannon off the post.
: Weston were stirred by the near miss and the
: next ten minutes saw more good work from
: Holgate; two free-kicks from dangerous
: positions by Ryan Harley – both dealt with
: well by the City defence; and a good run and
: shot – just wide – from Hopkins when put in
: by a long throw from Wilson.
: Back came City. A Faulkner cross was just
: cut out by Northmore; a Gardner free-kick,
: after McSporran had been hauled down, was
: marginally high; and then a neat pass from
: McSporran got Gardner in behind the defence
: but his low shot from an angle hit the side
: netting.
: Almost immediately play switched to the
: other end and Hopkins played in Holgate
: whose shot beat Gareth Tucker low down by
: his left-hand post to give the Seagulls the
: lead on 30 minutes.
: Almost from the restart Weston won the ball
: in midfield and, faced with a retreating
: defence, William Clark struck a powerful
: shot past Tucker’s dive to double the lead.
: Far from knocking the stuffing out of the
: hosts, the second goal had City digging
: deeper and they showed considerable
: enterprise in the last part of the half.
: James Faulkner, in particular, was proving a
: thorn in the Blue Square team’s side and
: worked good positions for himself to get
: three shots on target in the final ten
: minutes: but Northmore was equal to them
: all.
:
: HALF-TIME: City 0-2 W-s-M
:
: An early goal would have been just what was
: needed to put the Blues back in the game,
: and it seemed as though that was what they
: might have, when what looked like a
: hand-of-God moment from the central defender
: took a Jones cross away from McSporran’s
: head, but Mr Forrester saw nothing to
: concern him, and the danger was cleared.
: And as the home players and supporters were
: bemoaning the lost ‘chance’ Weston broke
: quickly on the City left through McConnell,
: and his cross beyond the far post was neatly
: lifted over Tucker and into the net by
: Clark for their third on 49 minutes. Game
: over?
: Grubb and Harley both had on-target shots
: stopped by Tucker, and Holgate turned and
: fired fractionally wide before the City
: management gambled on a triple-substitution
: with 35 minutes remaining.
: Five minutes later and Ikechi Anya showed
: why he is such an exciting player when he
: turned two defenders inside-out in working
: his way along the goal-line before laying
: off an inch-perfect pass to George Redknap
: who finished calmly, low and hard, to
: Northmore’s right. Ah well, a consolation
: goal at least?
: Weston again caused trouble through the
: Grubb-Holgate combination with the latter’s
: shot pushed behind for a corner; and then
: Tucker had to be quick off his line to
: smother at the feet of Holgate.
: Back to the other end – City players seemed
: to have got their second wind now – and a
: flick through by Alex Stewart fell between
: two defenders who hesitated just long enough
: for Anya to lift the bouncing ball over
: the head of Northmore and beneath the bar.
: Only one goal in it now and players and
: spectators suddenly alive to the possibility
: of more to come from a resurgent City.
: Two minutes later and that man Holgate was
: again at the heart of a dangerous attack as
: he set up Harley close in who saw his firmly
: struck effort well parried by Tucker. The
: defence cleared high and long and Alex
: Stewart rose above the defence to flick the
: ball on for Redknap to hit a stinging shot
: that Northmore could only knock down to the
: unmarked Andy Gunn by the penalty spot but
: his first-time drive cleared the bar with 72
: minutes gone. It only took another three
: minutes, though, for him to make amends for
: the miss. Taylor was, again, pulled up for
: a foul on Stewart, and Steve Davis swung a
: great left-footed free-kick into the area
: from wide on the City right, and Gunn rose
: above a crowd of players to head a
: remarkable equaliser for the City. City
: fans elated now and, for the first time, a
: hush descended on the Somerset contingent
: behind Tucker’s goal: a shock on the cards?
: But this vintage cup-tie still had more to
: offer and the long-held idea that a team is
: at its most vulnerable just after it has
: scored was driven home to the City and
: Weston fans alike just a minute later as
: Grubb took on the City defence and fired a
: clean shot beyond the diving Tucker and into
: the far corner of the net.
: After such end-to-end fare legs were tiring
: and neither side could fashion any more
: really clear-cut chances, although a flicked
: header from Redknap from anther Davis
: free-kick was not far from producing a trip
: down the motorway on Monday, and after five
: added minutes the visitors’ supporters
: breathed a sigh of relief and the home fans
: were left to wonder about the penalty
: incident and another couple of great
: opportunities.
: But then cup matches are always full of
: ‘what-ifs?’, aren't they?
:
: FULL-TIME: Oxford City 3-4
: Weston-super-Mare
:
: City : Tucker, Saulsbury, Davis, Gunn,
: Pond (Malone 55) , Cattell, Gardner,
: Redknap, McSporran (Anya 55) , Faulkner
: (Stewart 55) , Jones.
: W-s-M : Northmore, Willshire, McConnell,
: Clark, Wilson, Robertson, Harley (McGregor
: 74) , Taylor (Rand 78) , Hopkins, Holgate,
: Grubb.
:
: Most City supporters would agree this was
: one of the most exciting games at CPF for
: quite some time. It showed in all its
: twists and turns just why the FA Cup is such
: a tremendous competition, and the City
: players can all be justifiably pleased with
: the parts they played in the spectacle.
: I hope they’ve got some energy left for the
: more down-to-earth, but just as important,
: fare next Tuesday night: a league visit from
: Thatcham Town. And perhaps some of the
: not-so-regulars who enjoyed this game will
: have enjoyed what they saw enough to pay a
: visit again soon.
: Best wishes to Weston in the next round ...
: they played an equal part in a great
: afternoon’s football.
:
:
:
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