Week 16 Match Reports

Fred Ford Cup

Frankie De La Cruz was the hero, in more ways than one, as Third Division Deer Park Rangers stunned Premier Division Hanborough to advance into the third round of the Fred Ford Cup in a game full of penalty drama! Rangers have been flying this season whilst Hanborough have struggled with consistency and Deer Park led at half-time thanks to Cullen Angus’ goal. Rangers were seemingly gliding to victory as Sam Wright grabbed a second for the home team but a 2-0 lead is often the most dangerous and Hanborough burst into life at that point. A spot kick was calmly slotted away by Boro to halve the deficit and just as it appeared that Rangers would cling on a second penalty award, in the dying seconds, gave Boro the chance to equalise, which they duly did. The sides couldn’t be separated during extra time and so penalties were required. The shootout moved into sudden death, which required Rangers keeper De La Cruz to slot home his own penalty. Returning to the goal line for his normal keeper duties saw him save two of the Hanborough spot kicks, the final save securing an 8-7 win as his team mates burst from the halfway line to surround him in celebration for an incredible victory.

Holders Enstone bounced back from last weekend’s Shield disappointment to set up a last 16 tie with Witney Royals. With both teams missing several players (Yarnton had 45 on a Christmas booze up in Birmingham and Enstone had 9 unavailable through injury) With the game being switched to Yarnton from Tackley, Enstone started brightly and took a deserved early lead on 9 minutes when Dan Bott headed home from close range off a Rhys Warner-Carter cross. Enstone dominated the game for large periods in the first half and doubled the lead on 28 minutes when Nathan Bott scored a free kick from 30 yards into the top corner with the keeper having no chance. They took their foot off the gas a little and were made to pay in the 39th minute following a goal mouth scramble and clash of bodies, a 7th penalty of the season was awarded against Enstone Ethan Penny calmly scored from the spot and Yarnton were back in it from nowhere.
The second half started and within 45 seconds Enstone had restored the 2-goal margin, Nathan Bott heading home from a free kick. To their credit Yarnton never gave up and looked more threatening and kept the game alive until the last few minutes. Rhys Warner-Carter added a 4th on the break on 86 minutes before going off injured. The Referee soon blew for full time, giving Enstone a positive end to the year which has been successful as a whole.

Aaron Robins scored the only goal of the game as Aston advanced at the expense of the in-form Ducklington. Robins’ strike earning Aston a trip to Division Two Wootton in the New Year.

Junior Shield

Seven of the eight quarter final places in the Junior Shield will be filled by Witney and District teams as the third round was finally completed this weekend. All three ties had suffered at least one postponement due to the poor weather of late but brighter outlook over the weekend allowed the ties to reach a conclusion at last.

Stonesfield beat Milton under Wychwood in the all Witney and District encounter. Goals from Jacob Oliver and Will Barker put Stonesfield into the last eight.

Charlbury dominated against a Musketeer side from the Banbury and Lord Jersey league. It finished 4-1 in the end as Charlbury advanced to face Ducklington in the quarter finals. Sam Lewis’ brace was backed up by goals from Jack Eley and James Robertson for a comfortable win.

Hailey were the only side to fall at this hurdle, stopping them from trying to reach a third final in a row. Tom Gregory grabbed the consolation goal in a 5-1 defeat to another Banbury side, Hardwick Sports.

Junior Shield Quarter Final Draw
Tower Hill vs Stonesfield
Charlbury vs Ducklington
Hardwick Sports vs Bampton
Chadlington vs Heyford

Premier Division

Hook Norton beat Carterton to move themselves back within three points of top spot heading into the Christmas break. Jay Mair continued his assault on the top of the goal scoring charts as he bagged his 15th goal of the season. Max Harris also scored one for Hooky but Carterton hit back thanks to goals from Adam Lee and Noven Labor. Ben Haynes proved to be the difference maker, his double saw Hooky over the line in a 4-2 win.

Division One

In the battle at the bottom, Hailey Reserves earned just their second league win of the season to put some daylight between them and their opponents on the day, bottom side Spartan Rangers. Just a point separated the sides at the start of the day and Stephen Wright scored for Spartan to give them hopes of their first win of the season but Hailey struck back with goals from Moh Semlali and Seb White to move Hailey four points clear and within a win of climbing out of the bottom two.

Eynsham continue to linger in that last place of safety at the halfway stage after suffering a 6-1 thrashing at the hands of Chadlington. Top scorer Alfie Peachey scored two on the day to take his tally to fourteen for the season to go top of the goal scoring charts. He was bettered on the day by team mate Ethan Bennett who scored a hat-trick and despite Luke Hamill scoring twice for Eynsham, there was still time for Josh Betts to grab a sixth for Chadlington, the victory pushing them up into third place.

Witney Royals fell to fourth after suffering defeat at the hands of Brize Norton. Daniel Milner and Kyle Grimmett scored for Royals but Joe Hatt’s brace plus further goals from Tobi Hickman and Matthew Webster earned Brize their fifth win of the season.

Combe dropped points as they and Hanborough Reserves cancelled each other out in a 0-0 stalemate which keeps the sides second and seventh respectively.

Combe’s draw means that Tower Hill’s lead at the top of the league is back to three points after they narrowly defeated Cassington Rangers. Tom Costley’s wonderful free kick was needed to separate the sides but it was enough for a 1-0 win that extends their advantage heading into the Christmas period.

Division Two

Wootton had to forfeit their game against Moreton Rangers to lose their 100% record and by the end of the day they’d fallen out of the top two as CHQ United earned the three points needed to bypass them in the league. Four different goal scorers combined to help them see off FC Mills in a six-goal encounter. Troy Weaven, Andrew Easton, Alex Anderson and Ben Saunders all scored one each for the home side. James Morgan and Stu Cutt’s goals for Mills made for a good contest but it wasn’t enough for any of the points.

It was also all change at the bottom of the league as four of the bottom five faced off against each other.

10th placed Leafield hosted 11th placed Bourton Rovers with the home side looking for a third victory which would put a large amount of daylight between them and the rest of the sides at the bottom. Charles Figueredo and Michael Barbaresco had Leafield well in the contest but they didn’t account for Kyle Wootten turning in a man of the match performance as his hat-trick secured all three points to send Bourton above Leafield.

The bottom two also faced off as bottom side Kingham visited second bottom Milton Reserves. Kingham, still looking for their first win on the pitch this season, scored through Damian Corbin and Mitchell Faulkner but Milton had plans of their own and ended up putting five past the Kingham defence. Josh Herbert, Mitchell Constable (2), George Ford and Jake Newland helped Milton to just their second win of the season and elevated themselves out of the bottom two and ahead of Chadlington Reserves and Leafield.

Faringdon Development beat Witney Royals Reserves by the odd goal in five to keep within touching distance of the top two. Pete Marsden and Alexander Twigg scored for Royals but Faringdon went one better thanks to Andy Makepeace, Mason Thomas and Andrew Goodchild.

Division Three

With Deer Park Rangers in successful Fred Ford action there was an opportunity for the chasing pack to close the gap on the runaway leaders of Division Three.

Duly obliging were Carterton Town who put together a stunning performance to earn their fifth win in six games as they thrashed Stonesfield Reserves 5-1 at Monahan Way. Will Brothwell, Guy Meredith, Luke Smith, Ben Pullen and Travis Cozier all combined to give Carterton their seventh win of the season, a victory that put them second in the league. Stonesfield’s consolation came via Jayden Chapple.

Following close behind are Aston Reserves, behind Carterton on goal difference only, after they squeezed past Bampton Town Reserves. Matt Foley and Tom Merchant scored one each in the 2-0 win as Aston moved into third, four points behind Deer Park at the top.

Carterton and Aston benefitted at the expense of Heyford Athletic Reserves who fell to a shock defeat to second bottom Eynsham Reserves. Heyford’s George Campo scored for Heyford but a well taken Ben Norris brace gave Eynsham just their third win of the season, allowing them to jump two league places in the process. Heyford drop to fourth.

Kingham Reserves registered the biggest win of the day as they ran riot at home against Spartan Rangers Reserves. A 12-1 victory did wonders for the Kingham goal difference and dented Spartan’s significantly enough to allow them to fall below Eynsham in the table. The thrashing wasn’t immediately on the cards. Kingham did score first thanks to Josh Silvester’s flick but Spartan were level four minutes later as Lenny Haydon’s tenacity saw him squirm into the box and fire off a smart shot at the near post. Parity remained for less than two minutes as Silvester grabbed goal number two for him and his team as he headed home from six yards, left unmarked at a corner. It was soon three, Lewis Tout’s well-timed run put him in at the back post and he just about managed to sort his feet out to nudge the ball past the keeper and into the net. Kingham had two more on the cards before half-time. Ellis Godin’s pace up front was a constant menace and he finally got the goal his efforts merited as he raced through the offside trap, onto a loose ball, and slotted home calmly. Next up was Dale Norris, who like Silvester earlier, powered in a header from a corner to make it 5-1 on the brink of half-time. Spartan held firm for ten minutes of the second half before Godin grabbed his second and Godin pipped Silvester to hat-trick honours by scoring his third just past the hour mark after fine work by Jamie Youngson. Ten minutes later and Silvester completed his hat-trick but with his teammates teasing him that his first goal was actually an own goal, Silvester was left unsure as to whether he’d scored three or not. Godin got his fourth with ten minutes to go before Youngson showed his bravery to poke the ball past the onrushing keeper to get his richly deserved goal with eight left on the clock. Silvester then got his fourth (or third depending on who you asked with the clock ticking down to ninety to put him on the same tally as Godin, but not happy with that, Godin burst through one last time to score his fifth and Kingham’s twelfth for a resounding home win.

A Matthew Warner hat-trick guided Tower Hill Reserves to victory over Faringdon Town A. Will Macpherson scored for Faringdon but a double from Jason Bufton and a Zack Groves goal earned Tower a 6-1 win to put them three points off second spot and with a game in hand.

Gloomy weather at Sherborne but the weather didn’t match the football as six goal thriller played out between Sherborne and Leafield Reserves. Leafield jumped into a two-goal half-time lead thanks to new man Mykel Ryan’s first goals for the club. Sherborne dragged themselves back into it during the second period and got level before Ben Russell had seemingly won it for Leafield with less than five minutes to go. Sherborne weren’t to be denied though as they grabbed a third goal to draw themselves level for the second time and steal a point. The draw leaves Leafield unbeaten in their last three games but still cemented to the bottom of the league.