Posted by Rob Martin on March 2, 2008, 5:07 pm
Florence Park 4 - Oxford City Colts 2
This was always going to be a tough match for Oxford with Florence Park sitting one place and 3 points ahead of them in the league and playing at home on a cold and blustery day.
It was Oxford who kicked off and quickly went on the attack with a long ball forward by Tyler Walker finding Grady Cherry running into the Florence Park area, however the shot was just over the bar and the perfect start was not to be. Oxford’s attack was quickly followed by a Florence Park counter attack and with Oxford being forced to play very deep in their own area they failed to clear the ball and on 2 minutes a neatly taken shot found the bottom corner and put Florence Park 1-0 up. Oxford were not down beat and from the kick-off immediately counter attacked and Grady Cherry with only the goal keeper to beat side footed the ball into the net to make it 1-1 on 3 minutes.
The game now started to settle into a pattern that saw Florence Park attacking with some good quality passing in mid-field and forcing Oxford to play deep in their own area with a lone Daniel Denis up front. The score could have been 2-1 to Florence Park when a shot was narrowly cleared over the bar by Luke Holt for a corner. Oxford were being forced to counter attack when they could but were unable to break through the Florence Park defense. On 15 minutes Florence Park did made it 2-1 when Oxford failed to clear from a very crowded 6 yard area. On 17 minutes Oxford’s manager Roger Cherry tried changing the shape of the team with Brian Muinami coming on for Grady Cherry and after 22 minutes Wayne Beechers came on for Liam Williams. However it was Florence Park who were getting most of the ball and on 26 minutes the extra possession and a poor clearance by Oxford was to see Florence Park go ahead 3-1 with an excellent taken shot from just inside the Oxford penalty area. From the kick off Oxford pushed forward to try and narrow the lead just before half time the extra pressure resulted in a well taken shot from Bradley Rowbotham to make it 3-2 at the break.
Florence Park started the second half and immediately pushed Oxford into a defensive formation, however this left them exposed to counter attack and with Wayne Beechers running at the Florence Park defense it could have been 3-3 if the shot had not been forced wide at the last minute. Neither side appeared able to dominate the game and it became a tight mid-field battle with counter attacks by both sides almost breaking through. The breakthrough finally came for Florence Park 10 minutes into the half when a couple of well executed passes found a striker unmarked in the Oxford area and a well taken shot made it 4-2 to Florence Park. Oxford were now forced to play more of an attacking game and this nearly cost them a few minutes later when a Florence Park shot was just over the bar. On 15 minutes Oxford pushed forward and when Joe Roberson looked to be through on the Florence Park goal only to be pushed off the ball a penalty looked certain but was not given. The appeals from the sidelines counted for nothing and at 4-2 down with only 15 minutes to go it didn’t look like it was going to be Oxfords’ day.
This missed opportunity to narrow the gap saw Oxford play some better attacking football and they almost broke through the Florence Park defense on a couple of occasions but the final shots were just not hitting the target. With about 10 minutes to a play a free-kick by Bradley Rowbotham was saved by the Florence Park keeper and a few minutes later a neat one-two between Wayne Beechers and Grady Cherry almost paid off but the shot was blocked and put out for a corner. The final few minutes saw Oxford and Florence Park counter attacking but neither side being able to break through. At the final whistle it was 4-2 to Littlemore and Oxford could only look back on what might have been. It was a very evenly matched game with Oxford stronger towards the end. Wee done lads and keep up the excellent football!
Team: J Russell (first half), R Horwood (second half), A Martin, H Comley, L Williams, Mitchell, L Holt, G Cherry, T Walker, C Wood, B Rowbotham, D Denis,
Substitutes: C Adams, B Muinami, J Roberson, W Beechers
Man of the Match: First half: A Martin, Second half: W Beechers
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