Posted by Clive R
on September 13, 2009, 7:51 pm
U13 Match Report – Colts’ Fightback
13th September 2009
Oxford City Colts 3 Leamington Hibs 3
A never-say-die attitude reaped rewards for the Colts, which saw them fight back from 3-1 down late on in the game, to take a share of the spoils.
A gloriously sunny day greeted Colts’ first home game in the Midland Junior Premier Football League. It was the return fixture from last week’s away defeat at Leamington Hibs, which saw Colts defeated by two goals without reply.
Forced to re-shuffle his team due to a number of injuries, manager Roger Cherry made a number of changes from last week’s team.
Colts almost made a disastrous start, when in the 1st minute a Leamington attacker had a clear sight of goal and only a great save from Tristan Chamberlin prevented an early setback.
However, the warning bells were not heeded and in the 10th minute, after a corner was not cleared, Leamington went into an early lead.
Things went from bad to worse two minutes later as Leamington doubled their lead after some neat football and poor defending.
Roger made a couple of changes soon after this and it seemed to have the desired effect.
The first real chance for the Colts came in the 15th minute which saw Jack Plazynski head narrowly over. Tristan then pulled off another good save to keep Colts in the game.
Elliott Harper had shown some nice touches and was proving a handful for defenders. It was from all his own work which saw a snap-shot go narrowly wide of the Leamington post.
For the remainder of the half, both sides showed plenty of effort, but without any real return.
H/T: Oxford City Colts 0 Leamington Hibs 2
Roger knew he had his work cut-out at half time and decided to make a number of tactical changes, one of which saw Declan Peart move up to central midfield, to add some pace and drive, in the middle of the park.
It seemed to have the desired impact!
After a mazy run by Jack Plazynski, he slid the ball inside to Elliott Harper, who made no mistake, to get Colts back into the game. With 25 mins left to play there seemed enough time for Colts to try and get something from the game.
However, just as they thought they had a chance of getting back into the game, Leamington scored within a minute to restore their two-goal cushion.
Credit must go to the Colts who at this point never let their heads drop and for the next 20 minuts continued to press forward. Leamington were also not content just to sit back and came looking for a fourth goal to put the game beyond doubt.
With five minutes to go it looked to be all over, as time was running out, but after a fine run by Elliott Harper he returned the compliment from earlier and passed to Jack Plazynski to reduce the arrears.
This obviously gave the boys hope and with just two minutes remaining a free-kick was won, wide out on the right touch-line. Jamie Davies delivered the ball into the box, it was not cleared properly and made its way to the far post, where Grady Cherry swiveled and smashed in the equalizer at the near-post.
This was greeted with great jubilation from the boys.
The whistle went soon after and Colts had gained their first point of the season.
It obviously felt better than a draw after being behind for so long of the game. Let’s hope this is the start of a winning run for the boys.
Credit must go to both sides who played the match in a fantastic spirit without the hint of any trouble.
Many thanks to Andy Tidswell for running the line. Also to Sue and Leona for the after-match food.
Attendance: 67 (26 away fans)
Team: T Chamberlin, L Williams, T Walker, M Swadling, D Peart, A Knox, M Tidswell, J Roberson, E Harper, J Plazynski, G Cherry. Subs, A Martin, J Davies, H Bone, J Percy.
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