Witney & District Match Reports - Week 5

By john smyth

By David Evans

Perfect Ten for Junior Shield competitors in opening round

Junior Shield
Ten Witney and District sides advanced to the second round of the largest county
cup competition in Oxfordshire. The Junior Shield returned after a one year
postponement last season, with plenty of local sides advancing into the next round.
Biggest winners were Freeland, who defeated fellow W&D side Kingham All Blacks
12-1. Joe Burgess proved to be in inspired form as his four timer did a significant
amount of damage. Rob Keylock followed closely behind with a hat-trick and there
was also a double for Conor Allmond. Dan Lay did get Kingham on the board at
least, but Freeland scored further goals through Jamie Curtis, Liam Harris and Lewis
White to complete the rout.
Another W&D side winning comfortably at the expense of another W&D team were
Leafield as they romped past Brize Norton. Another four goal hero for the winning
side, Benjamin Barbosa, scored half of Leafield’s goals with the 8-0 win completed
by further goals from Victor Hugo, Gabriel Menezes and a brace for Markus
Carvalho.
There were six goal scorers each for Stonesfield and Enstone as both sides
completed six goal victories against non W&D teams. Stonesfield thumped Union
Street 8-2 thanks to goals from Carry Rice (2), John Umney (2), Mike Phipps, Jack
Barker, Sammy Hart and Nick Higgs.
Enstone kept a clean sheet whilst strolling past Broughton and North Newington 6-0.
Reece Baylis, Nathan Bott, Josh Hunt, Jordan Godfrey, Jamie Gregory and Warwick
Tompkins all scoring one each to get the job done.
Ducklington needed a goal at either end of the ninety minutes to scrape past Blue
Elephant. Lewis Bartlett scored after just 18 seconds to get Duck started early. The
opposition equalised only for Bartlett to grab a second. Just as Duck looked to be
heading into the break ahead, Blue Elephant equalised to restore parity at half time.
Duck dominated the second period but couldn't buy themselves a goal. As extra time
loomed, Ben Stanley bundled the ball home with less than 30 seconds on the clock
to steal the win and put Ducklington in the hat for round two.
Aston recovered from scoring an own goal to upset Premier Division Charlbury.
Lewis Scott scored in the right net for Aston and a Nick Angus double gave the
division two away side a 3-1 victory for their first win of the season.
Chadlington prevailed in a ten goal thriller against Bloxham, eventually winning out
6-4. Gus Boeing, Alfie Peachey, Jacob Hazelwood, Ethan Bennett and Jarvis Morley
(2) got Chadlington over the line.
Wootton are still unbeaten this season after seeing off Gravenhill in the first round.
Jared Smile’s solitary goal was enough to split the sides and send Wootton through.
A depleted Hook Norton side faced off against Chesterton but still managed to
triumph as they defeated the opposition 2-1. Connor Davies and Adam Hemmings’
goals were enough to put Hooky through and keep their cup hopes alive.
The easiest win of the day came for Spartan Rangers who advanced without even
kicking a ball. Steeple Aston forfeited the game prior to kick off to put Spartan into
the draw for round two.
Extra time heartbreak was felt by not one but two W&D sides. Minster Lovell forced
an extra 30 minutes against Longford Park after Jack Scott and Nick Rose’s goals
had made the full time score 2-2 but Longford Park scored the fifth and final goal of
the game to put Minster out.
It was identical circumstances for Carterton FC Rangers who also found their game
going to extra time after a 2-2 draw inside the ninety minutes. Ben Pearce and
Damien Williams goals forcing the game into extra time. But it would be East Oxford
who would score the last goal of the game to prevent penalties and put Rangers out
as well.
Cassington Rangers found themselves on the end of a thrashing. Donnington
winning 10-0 to make it a truly miserable afternoon for the division two side.
Premier Division
Just the one game in the premier Division after Milton and Hailey avoided being
drawn in the opening round of the Junior Shield. Hailey dished out the second
largest league defeat of the day as they dismantled home side Milton to win 9-0.
Travis O Connor, Jordan Cormack, Luke Turner and Joey Aust all scored one each.
Nathan Kimber went one better as he scored two but it would be Freddie
Buckingham who scored the most as he grabbed a hat-trick as Hailey returned to the
summit with an extremely healthy goal difference.
Division One
Bampton scored two late goals to defeat Bletchington and move up to second in
division one. Karl Pritchard scored for Bampton but was cancelled out by Mason
Connelly scoring directly from a corner. Appeals for a strong Bampton penalty were
waved away but it didn't deter them and they finished the stronger of the two sides
after a back and forth encounter. Pritchard grabbed his second and a Chris Laurence
strike secured the points for the home side.
Division Two
RAF Brize Norton Social got back to winning ways with a comfortable win against
Hook Norton Reserves. Both sides had chances to score in the opening ten minutes
but squandered those. Brize then took the lead in the 13th minute thanks to a
scooped finish from Wes Christian after beating the offside trap. Two minutes later
and Brize had doubled their lead when Mark Williams slotted home but any thoughts
of one way traffic were banished when Will Wall despatched a beautiful free kick
from the edge of the box in the 26th minute. Brize quickly dampened Hooky’s sprits
though by scoring just ten seconds after the restart. A mazy run from the left hand
side found Carl Drury in plenty of space in the box and he rolled the ball past the
keeper. 3-1 was the half time score. It was 4-1 shortly into the second half, Phil
Kenyon firing home to extend Brize’s advantage. Hooky had a few more free kicks
but couldn’t recreate the magic of the first half strike whilst Tom Dyer, Coen Sword
and Wes Christian squandered numerous one on one opportunities to put Brize
further ahead. It finished 4-1 leaving Hook Norton Reserves still looking for their first
point of the season.
It was equally comfortable for Combe as they defeated Spartan Rangers Reserves.
Five different goal scorers scored for the home side as Kai Paton, Solomon Maasz,
Charlie Ibbotson, Jake Allinson and Lloyd Thomas all scored one each. Branden
Fenwick scored to give Spartan a consolation goal but that’s all it proved to be in the
5-1 reverse.
Division Three
FC Mills pulled off a partial upset by earning their first point of the season against
league leaders Hailey A. Hailey A were at 100% before the game and facing second
bottom Mills might have expected an easier afternoon. A spirited Mills side were a
match for their table topping opponents. Even though Hailey put three past Mills with
Craig Greenhalgh scoring his sixth and seventh goals of the season and Sean King’s
solitary goal, Mills hit back with Ben Thompson’s own brace and Darren Smith’s goal
which brought the final score to 3-3.
The other two games in the division didn’t take place due to the away sides forfeiting
the fixture. Faringdon Town A are only one point behind Hailey now after
Chadlington Reserves couldn’t raise a side. Milton Reserves are up to third after
Bampton Reserves cancelled their game, giving Milton the walkover victory.
Division Four
Sherborne Harriers are now four wins from four after winning yet another epic
encounter by a single goal. This time, Leafield Reserves were the latest to fall victim
to Corey Cullen’s goal scoring heroics for the current season, with his hat-trick
winning the game for Sherborne. It wasn’t all plain sailing for Sherborne, Charlie Hill
putting the ball into his own net and Brandon Laing scoring for Leafield, but with
Cullen taking his season tally to nine, the Harriers continued their astonishing early
season form with the 3-2 victory to leap to the top of the table.
Freeland Reserves are also still at 100% after comfortably negotiating their way past
Spartan Rangers A. Mev Gundem did score one goal for Spartan but found Freeland
in relentless form as Connor Smith, Spencer Lancaster, Ross Henderson and Sam
Blantz (2) all scored for the 5-1 win. Having played a game less, they find
themselves three points behind the league leaders and with a slightly superior goal
difference. Freeland and Sherborne face each other in two weeks’ time, after next
week’s break for the Fred Ford Cup.
Hatherop and Faringdon Town B ended up cancelling each other out in their 1-1
draw at Hatherop. David Legg scored once again for Hatherop with Nick Loveridge
firing back for Faringdon. The draw leaves Hatherop and Faringdon second and third
respectively in the league.

Where next?

Witney & District Match Reports - Week 6 Saturday 2nd October 2021 Written by David Evans
Witney & District Match Reports - Week 4 Saturday 24th September 2021 Written by David Evans

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