Posted by ChrisB on November 24, 2007, 7:38 pm
A small group of 28 hardy souls braved the elements and shunned the attraction of Christmas shopping to see Nomads’ first home league match since August Bank Holiday Monday, and witnessed a competitive match that had plenty of action and six goals.
Nomads started strongly and Lance Shaw’s mazy run in the early minutes gave him a chance to put the home side ahead, but his shot was just wide. Nomads deservedly took the lead with twelve minutes gone, however, when Lee Rendell intercepted a misplaced pass around half-way and raced into the box. His shot was beaten out by ex-City keeper Chris Brain but only as far as Ben Moses who finished coolly.
Clanfield raised their game and Nomads had to be thankful to Gareth Tucker for a great point-blank save from a Clanfield forward after the ball had run loose in the six-yard box following a corner. Tucker was given no chance by the visitors’ No. 10 on 19 minutes, though, as he had time to pick his spot when he got on the end of an accurate cross at the far post.
Nomads edged ahead again within a minute, though, as a cross into the Clanfield box was cleared straight to a totally unmarked Moses whose shot took a deflection and beat Brain’s dive.
On 25 minutes Lance Shaw battled for the ball in midfield, and after some neat touches he released Jetmir Kamberi whose low cross was met at the far post by Corey Forbes and he made no mistake from close in.
Clanfield’s No.9 (Sean McKeon?) had the ball in the net on thirty minutes, but an offside flag ruled the goal out, while at the other end Danny Castro raced into the Clanfield area only to have his heel clipped by a defender. The referee, however, was not convinced that anything untoward had occurred, and he was similarly unsympathetic five minutes later when Lee Hewlett looked to have been the victim of a suspicious challenge as he moved in on goal.
Clanfield continued to press on the break and Nos 6 and 3 both brought smart saves from Tucker.
Nomads came close to a fourth goal on 40 minutes when a Clanfield defender was very harshly adjudged to have passed back to Brain when the keeper played the ball with his hands. Castro rolled the ball to Moses whose shot was blocked bravely by Brain as he raced off his line, and Moses fired the rebound over the bar. And as the ball was transferred quickly to the other end Darren Quegan’s timely header back to Tucker broke up a promising attack.
HALF-TIME: NOMADS 3-1 CLANFIELD
Joel Meade, who had picked up an injury ten minutes before the break was replaced at half-time by Jack Griffiths, and Meade’s loss, and greater urgency from Clanfield, saw the balance of power gradually pass to the visitors.
Ben Moses headed a long, bouncing ball from Castro just past the post; Brain did well to hold a well-struck free-kick from Rendell with Moses and Shaw in close attendance; and a short corner routine between Castro and Hewlett produced a good cross that Moses’ head was within a hairsbreadth of diverting past Brain.
But Clanfield were winning more and more in midfield and were looking the more dangerous. A great run by McKeon on 72 minutes, with the defence hoping for an offside flag that didn’t materialise, produced a strong shot that Tucker smothered well, but a minute later after an almost identical run the Clanfield striker went down in the area and then got up to tuck the spot-kick just beyond Tucker’s right hand and into the net.
With eight minutes remaining Ben Moses was left prone as he went past the last defender, but again play was waved on by the referee. After eventual lengthy treatment Moses left the field and Nomads played on with ten men as they tried to protect Lewis Colwell, the other named substitute, who was not fully fit. The ploy might have worked had Kamberi and Rendell not both been yellow carded in the same incident near the Clanfield goal-line a few minutes later, leading to Rendell being dismissed for his second offence. There was now no option but to get Colwell onto the pitch as quickly as possible to try to hold on to the three points.
Within two minutes, however, Clanfield had scored again. Gareth Tucker did well to get his fists to a well-flighted corner-kick while under considerable pressure from a large number of red shirts. The ball was picked up on the edge of the penalty area by McKeon and his hard, low shot evaded the many bodies packing the area to give the visitors a share of the points.
Seven minutes extra were played and Castro, Griffiths and Moses tried hard to engineer positions from which they might re-establish a lead, but a packed defence protected Brain from any serious trouble. The action continued even after the whistle, though, as the referee red-carded Lance Shaw for, presumably, an ill-advised comment.
FULL-TIME: OXFORD CITY NOMADS 3-3 CLANFIELD
City Nomads: Tucker, Quegan, Rendell, Sackey, Meade (Griffiths 45), Hewlett, Kamberi, Castro, Moses (Colwell 86), Shaw, Forbes.
Nomads won the first half, and Clanfield the second – which reflects the way the two sides played. Both teams worked hard and the result was a reasonable outcome given what had happened over the ninety minutes.
It will be interesting to see how Nomads fare on Tuesday evening in the twice-rearranged Floodlit Cup match with Abingdon Town.
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