Witney & District Match Reports - Week 16

By Ant Barlow

Written by David Evans

The Night ‘Mair’ before Christmas for Milton in heavy defeat!

Premier Division
Jay Mair found the net five times as Hook Norton thrashed Milton 7-0 in the last weekend of fixtures before Christmas. Mair’s five-star performance took his season tally to 19 goals in all competitions as he helped Hooky jump two league places to fifth. Adam Hemmings and James Ingham joined Mair in the goal scoring stakes to complete a resounding victory with Mair taking home the man of the match award for obvious reasons.

Enstone stopped their recent slump in form with a comfortable 3-0 home win against Spartan Rangers. Following two defeats which arrested their assault on the top of the table, they managed to get back to winning ways thanks to a Nathan Bott strike and a Warwick Tompkins double, the three points taking them back to third in the table.

Division One
The top two in Division 1 met as Freeland hosted Minster. The visitors dominated the opening period, and twice went close with Chris Bowles out jumping the home defence at corners and once hitting the bar and then narrowly heading over.

Freeland then took the lead completely against the run of play. Joey Burgess run into the box was upended by a Minster defender and it was an easy decision for Jason Hunt to award the spot kick. Rob Keylock made no mistake from the spot. But Minster's dominance was rewarded just before the interval. Leading scorer Ben Daniels firing home.

The home side were much the stronger 2nd half and dominated the game for long periods, finally retaking the lead, when Burgess took advantage of a defensive mistake and was able to slot home into an empty net from the edge of the box. The same player took his total to 8 for the season, when cutting in from the right, he hit a shot from the edge of the box, which squirmed under the body of Tomas Mazur. Minster applied plenty of pressure in the closing stages, but Freeland were able to comfortably able to hold on to gain revenge for their away defeat earlier in the season and pinch top spot in the process.

The fight, desire and competitiveness shown in the game between Chadlington and Kingham completely defied the title of 'last game before Christmas'. Only the number of players hitting the deck through cramp and injury showed the effects of a long first half of the season.

Kingham had the slope in the first half, mixing things up between aerial assaults and keeping the ball on the deck. Jack Roberts showed his skill to cut in from the left and fire past Luke Bayliss' outstretched hand for the opening goal.

Chadlington were level fifteen minutes later, a goalmouth scramble from a long throw saw Tom Dodds tip the ball onto the bar, Kingham clear it off the line and the looping ball was superbly put away by a Lee Woodward overhead kick.
Switched round for the second half and with substitutions made by both teams, Chadlington began enjoying more possession. Their second goal had a touch of fortune as Rocky Burton's cross from the left touchline floated agonisingly over Dodds' head and into the bottom corner.

Chadlington threw everything into protecting their lead, Aaron Bennett last ditch tackle stopping one effort and Guy Walker's block from Yusuf Okunade kept their lead in tact.

But Guy Walker and Toby Walker clashed and missed the ball altogether for one challenge, which left Jack Roberts in on goal who calmly slotted the ball home to bring the away side level.

Injuries and multiple substitutions saw injury time creep up into the four minute mark and from one more trademark Toby Walker long throw, with 20 seconds left on the clock, Kieron Barass had the misfortune to head the ball backwards, over his own goalkeeper and into the back of the net to spark Chadlington celebrations.

Witney Royals are up to third after a huge win against Bletchington. Four different goal scorers combined to give Royals their fourth win of the season. Ryan Harris and Dan Townsend scored one each, Richard Murphy scored a brace which was equalled by Corey Donohue who took his tally to ten goals in his last five games. Tom Williams scored a scant consolation for Bletchington in the 6-1 reverse.

Division Two
Aaron Robins scored a hat-trick as he helped Aston move into the top half of the table after a 5-0 win against Hook Norton Reserves. Ollie Hawkins scored the other two for Aston’s fifth win of the season.

Division Three
Just the one game in Division Three but a seven goal thriller was played out by Wootton Reserves and Eynsham. Michael Steers scored a brace for Wootton but was cancelled out by Ben Oates double for Eynsham. Simon Stokes scored Wooton’s third but goals from Stephen Chappel and Andy Stratford ensured that Eynsham won by the odd goal in seven for back to back victories in the league.

Divison Four
A goal frenzy in Division Four as the four fixtures brought a grand total of 27 goals!
Leading the way in number of goals scored on the day were league leaders Hatherop Reserves. They scored eight without reply against Carterton Town as they moved past the fifty goal mark for league goals scored this season. David Legg helped himself to four goals as he moved to fifteen goals for the season. Billy Taylor, Henry Titcombe, Jason Cobb and Craig Whitbread all scored one each in the 8-0 win. A nod to Carterton keeper Darren Light who prevented the score line being bigger with a string of saves throughout the ninety minutes.

Witney Royals goal tally is up to 49 after a 7-0 thumping of Kingham Reserves. Ollie Nolan stole the plaudits with a hat-trick and further goals from Luca Balmer, Rob DeBanks, Aaron Court and Josh Taylor scored one each as Royals strolled to three points and jumped into third place in the process.

Another 7-0 win, this time for Stonesfield Reserves, as they hosted Aston Reserves at Stonesfield. Stonesfield were inside the bottom two before kick off but managed to jump one league place and gain a positive goal difference with a clinical performance against mid-table Aston. Ben Franklin and Ethan Holloway scored one each, Kieron Grant scored twice with Luke Burns scoring a hat-trick in a resounding win for the home team.

Leafield Reserves took advantage of Aston’s slip to leapfrog them into fifth place, with a 4-1 win over bottom side Spartan Rangers A. Matt Foley grabbed the only goal of the game for Spartan but they were swiftly swept aside by Leafield as Chris Godfrey and Harry Edwards both scored doubles for Leafield’s sixth win of the year.

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