Posted by Rob Martin on February 17, 2008, 3:02 pm, in reply to "u11s oxford city colts"
Oxford City Colts U11 Match Report
17th Feb 2008
Littlemore 2 - Oxford City Colts 5
With Littlemore having only secured 9 points from 18 games prior to today it was Oxford City who were the clear favourites going into the game. With this in mind coach Roger Cherry tried a new formation with top goal scorer Bradley Rowbotham playing in defence and Grady Cherry and Brian Muinami on the bench for the first half.
Littlemore kicked off but neither side seemed able to settle quickly, the Colts were clearly getting used to the new formation and Littlemore looked nervous of conceding an early goal. The early deadlock was nearly broken on 5 minutes when a through ball from Littlemore split the Oxford defence to put Littlemore through on goal, however the the pressure from a rapidly closing Rowbotham was enough to force the shot wide. This early defensive error was repeated on 8 minutes when a cross from the left wing found a Littlemore striker unmarked in the area and this time he made sure with a low shot into the corner, securing an early lead for Littlemore.
Oxford came out strong from the kick off with the ball finding Wayne Beechers on the left wing and his shot beating the Littlemore keeper on 9 minutes to level the score at 1-1. Following the equaliser Oxfords’ heads were up and they started to dominate a very crowded midfield, on 13 minutes they could have taken the lead but Tyler’s shot fell just wide of the post. The continuous pressure from Oxford saw another shot from Curtis Adams go wide on 15 minutes. The team’s frustration was now starting to show with several rushed shots and passes not finding their intended targets. A free kick on 25 minutes from just outside the area also went wide of the Littlemore post. The stalemate was broken a minute later by a wonderful looping shot from Wayne Beechers which beat the Littlemore keeper and found the top corner to make it 2-1. Littlemore responded strongly with their number 18 breaking down the left wing but unable to keep his shot on target. At the break Oxford led 2-1.
At half time Grady Cherry and Brian Muinami came on and both played up front. The extra height and strength was too much for Littlemore and after 2 minutes Brian ran onto a through ball and slotted it home with a clinical first touch, 3-1 to Oxford. He could have doubled his goal tally a minute later when another through ball almost put him in on goal. Oxford were now settling into more of a rhythm and Grady Cherry could have had two goals in the space of 5 minutes, one just over the bar and the second saved by the Littlemore keeper.
As the half progressed Oxford continued to dominate play but frustration was starting to show again with a number of passes not finding their intended target and several shots wide of the Littlemore post. The Littlemore keeper was seeing a lot of the ball and made several excellent saves to keep his teams chances alive. With about 15 minutes to play Littlemore counter attacked but Reese was quickly off his line to make the save. A second counter attack minutes later saw Littlemore through on goal but the offside decision favoured Oxford and the score remained 3-1. With only 10 minutes to play Grady Cherry picked up a through ball and neatly made it 4-1 to Oxford, the offside flag had gone up briefly but the referee overruled the decision and the goal counted. A couple of minutes later Harvey Comely picked the ball up from a free kick, out manoeuvred the Littlemore defence and with only the goalie to beat he made it 5-1 to Oxford. It could have been 6-1 a minute later it is wasn’t for another excellent save by the Littlemore keeper.
With only a minute to play Littlemore played the ball into a very crowed Oxford six yard box and Oxford’s failure to clear the ball was to cost them at the end, a late consolation goal for Littlemore and the final result was Littlemore 2 Oxford City Colts 5.
Team: R Horwood, L Williams, H Comely, A Martin, M White, T Walker, C Wood, C Adams, B Rowbotham, W Beechers, D Dennis. Subs G Cherry, B Muinami.
Man of the Match: 1st half W Beechers, 2nd half B Muinami
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