Midweek Cup Round-Up

April has finally arrived, the clocks have changed and brighter evenings are here at last, but no one told the weather and once again the league has had to remain as fluid as ever to arrange and then rearrange fixtures. Eventually though, Witney and District has provided some midweek action, with the Jack Busby semi-finals, and the first round of the Senior, Junior and Supplementary cups underway for some, but not all, thanks again to the weather.

Jack Busby Semi-Finals, Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th April

In the first week of April, Carterton and Moreton played hosts as the Jack Busby Semi-Finals finally took place having been rained off the week before.

Defending champions Hailey Reserves faced off against a Witney Royals Reserves side one division below them. In fact, Hailey and Royals have faced off in the last three seasons of the Jack Busby cup, and there was a familiar name on the scoresheet to win the game.
Hailey started brightest and were ahead inside eight minutes, Garry Mitchell beating the offside trap to race through, lob the keeper and wheel away in celebration as the ball bounced into the empty net. Royals were playing the better football from that point on, now they had a foothold in the game. Jack Rideout in the Hailey net was called into action on three occasions to keep Hailey ahead, but he could do nothing about Royals’ equaliser. A soft clearance from the Hailey box fell to Nathan Harris just outside and his spinning half volley flew into the bottom corner to bring the boys in blue level.
Into the second half and the game took a slower pace, the ball staying in midfield more and the tackles flying in. The yellow cards came out for the men in green but there were no real chances to talk about. That until the 81st minute. A corner for Hailey wasn’t properly collected by the Royals keeper, a tangle of legs and bodies tried to get the ball which eventually fell to Moh Semlali who prodded home from inside six yards. Incidentally, Semlali has scored in each of the last three years against Royals in the cup and Moh had broken Royals’ hearts once again as the final whistle sounded to give Hailey a 2-1 victory.

On the Wednesday, Division Three’s Chadlington Reserves faced off against Milton Reserves of Division Two at Moreton Rangers. Similar to the Hailey game, one team made a much brighter start, Milton racing out the traps to test the Chad keeper a couple of times before George Ford gave them the lead in the 10th minute, volleying in after a perfect Lewis Dady cross. Another ten minutes of sustained Milton possession followed but a second goal didn’t arrive. Finally, Chad got into the game, a last ditch tackle from Milton preventing one promising attack to keep Milton ahead. The momentum had shifted however and after a barrage of corners, Chadlington equalised in the 34th minute thanks to an own goal and it remained level until half-time.
Into the second half and Chadlington maintained their momentum. Dan Hooton was busy making his own highlight reel as save after save was made, much to the delight of the Milton support.
However, there was nothing Hooton could do to prevent Chad taking the lead. Yet another corner for Chadlington and this time George Slatter’s audacious overhead kick flew into the net to give them the lead. Time wore on, the pitch got worse, the legs got heavier. The game became more end to end but in the 65th minute Chad secured the win. Slatter managed to turn one defender and then raced past another to put himself in on goal, he calmly slotted past Hooton in the Milton goal and Chad were two goals ahead. Milton pressed hard to get back into it, George Ford narrowly missing his chance to halve the deficit as his dinked shot lobbed not only the keeper but the crossbar too.

Chadlington held on for the win. They will face Hailey Reserves in the final on Wednesday 26th April.

Senior Cup

Seven of the eight first round fixtures were completed in the Senior Cup first round, only the mouth watering clash between Stonesfield and Hailey failed to materialise because of the weather.

On Tuesday night, high-flying RAF Brize Norton beat fellow Division One opposition in Hatherop, 4-0. Maahir Alam, Zac Vale, Mark Williams and Dave Wanless all scored one each for the home team.

Division One leaders Carterton upset Premier Division Milton on Wednesday night. Liam Felstead and Tom Salter’s goal from the bench gave Carterton a 2-0 win. Ryan Oliver saw red for Milton to add to their disappointment on the night.

Tower Hill ran riot against Aston as they moved into the last eight. They were 5-0 up at half-time, on their way to a 6-1 win. Lewis Bartlett scored twice with further goals from Tim Banks, James Scott, Ben Taylor and Jake Hall. Lewis Scott replied from the spot for Aston.

Minster Lovell and Charlbury needed penalties to separate them, with Charlbury going through after a tense round of spot kicks. David Jenkins and Craig McCallum’s goals were cancelled out by Chris Hiron’s brace for Minster but Charlbury held their nerve during the deciding penalties, advancing 7-6.

Hanborough survived a scare against Heyford Athletic. Heyford are one of the form teams currently, sitting third in Division One and managed to score on their visit to Roosevelt Road. But Hanborough advanced to their fourth quarter final of the season by hitting back to score twice in a 2-1 win.

Spartan Rangers and Enstone advanced courtesy of walkover wins.

Junior Cup

Just the four games played, and one walkover victory, in the Junior Cup first round.

Kingham and Brize faced off for the second time in five days following their league draw at the weekend. It was a much more one sided affair this time however, with Kingham storming to an 8-1 victory. Mitchell Faulkner led the way with a hat-trick, Sean Collins also grabbed two in a handsome victory. Jason Hirschfield fired one back for Brize but Dylan Ellis, Lewis Pretorius and Lucas De Souza all added one each to put Kingham in the hat for the next round.

Eynsham and Leafield played out a five goal thriller on Wednesday night. The slippery conditions leading to plenty of fouls and crunching tackles during the opening twenty minutes. Shortly after, Eynsham broke the deadlock, Jack Knight beating the offside trap to slot home to give Eynsham the lead. It looked certain that Eynsham would lead at the break but Rafael Caponi’s mazy run took him past four defenders and he fired high and hard into the net on the brink of half-time to restore parity. It took just 35 seconds of the second half for Eynsham to retake the lead. Peter Edwards producing a carbon copy of Caponi’s mazy run to dance into the Leafield box and then calmly slot home to spark Eynsham celebrations. The game only served to get more physical as the conditions got slippery under foot. In the end no less than seven yellow cards got dished out as tackles flew in and tensions started to boil. Ben Oates then made things more comfortable for Eynsham as his fine finish gave Eynsham some breathing space but with ten minutes to go, Caponi’s 35 yard free kick slipped out the hands of the keeper and fell into the net. The Leafield onslaught continued as they searched for an equaliser but Malek Choi should have made it more comfortable, inexplicably firing wide when clean through on goal. A final Leafield shot was blocked away for a corner and the final corner was frantically cleared away to the sound of the final whistle and Eynsham moved into the last eight after a 3-2 win.

Two games had to be decided on penalties.

Only one league place separated bottom of Division One Combe and top of Division Two Cassington Rangers as they met at Combe on Wednesday night. Combe led at half-time, Ryan Stockford’s goal giving Combe a deserved lead. A second goal followed from Ciaran Northwood for Combe but Cassington hit back through Nathan Prestidge and Ross Lewington. No team could find a winner and penalties were required. Cassington advanced 5-4 to knock out the current holders and ensure that there would be new champions this year.

Bampton and Siege met at Bampton but it wasn’t much of an away day for Siege given that they play at Bampton as well. Both teams played well but could not be separated on their shared turf. Jonny Dover’s brace cancelled out by Jake Pritchard and James Haley’s goals for Bampton. In the end penalties were required and Siege advanced into the quarter finals courtesy of a 6-5 win.

Faringdon Town Development were already through after Hatherop Reserves folded. The remaining three ties will be played another time.

Supplementary Cup

The Supplementary Cup was hardest hit as only two fixtures survived the persistent rainfall.

Daniel Jeffrey and Alex Murrell scored one each to give Aston Reserves a 2-0 win over Spartan Rangers Reserves.

Carterton Town scored twice late on to beat Sherborne Harriers 3-0. A very wet game, where the rain didn’t stop throughout, Carterton went in at half time leading 1-0. Tyler Webster was tested a couple of times in the Carterton goal but Town always looked the more threatening, but found keeper Ian Hepworth in his usual fine form, with three excellent saves to keep Harriers in the game. But two goals in the final five minutes added some shine to the victory. Town’s scorers were Will Brothwell, Joe Pyne and Luke Smith as they moved into the last eight.