Week 18 Football Report

February has rolled around once again, with slightly warmer and more welcoming temperatures greeting players and officials to the field on Saturday afternoon. Every game was played, with only one abandonment. Perhaps it could be suggested then that with the warmer temperatures some teams have come out of hibernation after the cold snap in January. At least one result in every division went against the recent formbook, ruining any fantasy accumulators for those who like to predict the outcomes ahead of Saturday’s results, disrupting title races and relegation battles in equal measure.

Premier Division

Two upsets in the Premier Division to kick things off with.

First, Minster Lovell have their first win of the season, beating Charlbury Town by a single goal. Ryan Colleton marked his birthday weekend with the only goal of the game, inflicting a first league defeat on Charlbury since September.

This season, Hanborough may not have been the force with which we’ve been used to in recent years but found themselves playing a hand in the title race with a hard-earned win over second placed Enstone at the weekend. The report comes from Hanborough’s Facebook page.
High flying title contenders Enstone were the visitors to Roosevelt Road this weekend and with Boro having a near full squad the message of the day was that compared to last week there needed to be a lot more effort from the lads if they wanted to get anything from this one. Nick Manifold was missing due to a Hamstring injury, but the returning Reece Deasy from injury was good news. Ayris, Weedon and Hobley returned from missing last week too and slotted straight back in.
The early exchanges were quick and Enstone as expected started brightly, popping the ball about well. After 15 minutes a defence splitting pass found Enstone’s Jay Mair who timed his run well and slotted the ball home. 0:1 Enstone. Boro's reply took only 5 minutes, a ball over the top saw Weedon race clear on goal only to be up ended by the Enstone defender, the resulting free kick was dispatched superbly by Arran Hobley into the top corner. There were chances at both ends with an Enstone free kick superbly saved by Bennington, who also mopped up the rebound, and both Mays and Weedon went close for Hanborough.

Half time
Hanborough 1:1 Enstone

The second half was end to end a Hobley cross found Mays whose touch was as ever impeccable and composure to get the ball round the defender and smash the ball into the top corner. 2:1 Boro. Claims for an Enstone penalty were waved away by the ref who had a superb game dealing with the physicality in the middle of the park well, Sean Quinn and Craig Johnson were doing a fantastic job against a strong 3-man Enstone midfield. With time ticking away there were a couple more superb saves from Tom Bennington, and some great defending from Haggie, Ayris, Trinder and Hobley at the back, and although defending deep as Enstone threw the kitchen sink at Boro they were always dangerous on the break with Brookes and Rogers breaking on the flanks. Reece Deasy came on and steadied the ship for his return from injury which was also great to see. Enstone did for a minute think they had equalised but the two strikers that finally got behind the stern defensive line had both strayed offside, this led to a barrage of abuse from most of Enstone, ironically though the two Enstone supporters who were directly in line with the offside incident were the only two that agreed with it.
But it was Hanborough who held on to claim all 3 points.

Enstone’s defeat means that Hailey’s gap at the top of the league grew to seven points as they swept aside Milton at Middletown. A horrible, bobbly surface made playing any sort of attractive football difficult. There were challenges aplenty and plenty of effort as both sides struggled to get any real foothold in the game. Hailey’s custom attacking style continued to exert pressure on the Milton back line and eventually a crack appeared. A fine stop from Milton keeper was lingered on by the covering defender and Freddie Buckingham swept in to prod home for his seventh league goal of the season. Ten minutes later, Hailey doubled their lead. This time Buckingham was on the assisting end as his corner dropped neatly onto the head of Sid Ashley in the crowded area and his header found the back of the net, through a wave of defenders. Milton could be pleased with their efforts to this stage, having largely held off a strong Hailey side and were still in the game. However, Hailey managed a third in the final minutes of the first half. Another defensive mix up led to a scuffed clearance, the ball fell kindly to Buckingham who raced clear, and chipped the ball into the far corner, racing away to celebrate as apologies were exchanged between the Milton back line.
Into the second half and Milton had more of the ball and plenty of venture as they tried to muscle their way back into the game. Sam Wright in the Hailey net found himself sweeping away quick balls through the middle on a couple of occasions as Milton tried to find a way through. Their resolve was broken in the 65th minute though. Substitute Luke Bolley found space on the edge of the box and his deflected strike bobbled into the bottom right corner for 4-0. Hailey turned it up a gear for the final twenty and had their keeper to thank for two good saves, one from another Bolley strike and a second from a point-blank Jack Wood header, were all kept out. But nothing could be done for Hailey’s fifth, as Wood raced up the left side of the pitch, rounded the keeper and rolled the ball into the empty net for 5-0 and all three points. Hailey face Hanborough next week!

Carry Rice’s hat-trick fired Stonesfield to all three points as they maintained their 100% record this season with victory over Freeland. Brother Raffy was also on hand to score, Jake Wheeler also added one and Logan Mitchell scored his sixth goal in two games as he hit two. Liam Harris’ goal was all Freeland could muster in a 7-1 reverse.

Division One

RAF Brize Norton Social surrendered a half time lead as they crashed to their first defeat of the season against Heyford Atheltic, giving up top spot in the process. Wes Christian gave the away side a deserved first half lead. Hosts Heyford have been in excellent form of late, having taken points off both RAF Brize and Carterton, the top two, and are now unbeaten in the league since the start of November. One key factor in that run has been the introduction of Connor Duggan, who scored both Heyford goals in the second half to take his tally to 11 goals in just six games. Heyford held on for a brilliant 2-1 win. The sides meet again next week at Brize.

Carterton jumped into top spot with a comfortable 4-0 win over Aston. Jack Bellenger made a welcome return to the score sheet, notching his first league goal since November, Jay Lewis-Revill also scored once, Conner Townsend scored the remaining goals to give Carterton a one point lead at the summit.

Hatherop are just two points off the top now, with a game in hand, after handing out a 7-0 thrashing of Faringdon Development. Paddy Cripps’ hat-trick had Hatherop well on the way to victory, two more from Ollie Taylor and a goal for player manager Mason Hathaway made for a relaxed afternoon. Faringdon’s miserable afternoon was complete when they turned the ball into their own net. The result leaves Faringdon teetering on the edge of the bottom two, but just the right side of it from their perspective.

Witney Royals jumped four places with a welcome victory over Tower Hill. Jack Scott scored for the hosts but Royals blew them away with goals from Luke Colville, Kyle Grimmett and Corey Donohoe for a 3-1 win. It’s Royals’ first three points since October and bumps them to seventh, leapfrogging Tower in the process.

Chadlington also moved away from the bottom two, as they saw off fellow strugglers Ducklington. The game started with the teams ninth and tenth respectively, but Chadlington proved to be too strong on the day. Ethan Bennet, Jordan Charlesworth and Josh Chadbund all scored one each in the 3-0 win. The move pushes Chadlington to sixth. Duck slip into the bottom two, thanks to Royals’ win and their defeat.

Division Two

Different division, same story as another top two team lost their way this weekend.

This time it was the turn of Brize Norton to slip up, as they hosted a local derby against Bampton based Siege FC. Matthew Webster scored for Brize in the first half, but two Siege goals gave them a half time lead. It appeared that momentum shifted in Brize’s favour as early as the second minute of the second half, the referee dismissing Gaz Nicholson to reduce Siege to ten men. Instead it would be the ten men who would profit, scoring twice more. Steven Lazarus made an incredible double save to keep Siege three ahead and that’s how it finished. Siege winning their fourth game of the season, Brize losing only their second.

Brize lost no ground on leaders Cassington though, their game against Bampton was abandoned. The lead at the top remains at nine points, Brize have two games in hand.

Spartan Rangers Reserves earned points for just the second time this season as they shared the spoils with Hatherop Reserves. An eight goal thriller played out on the other side of the Gloucestershire border. Alistair Eccleston scored his first goals in Hatherop colours since his move from Faringdon by bagging a brace, Jason Cobb scored a third and Mani Randhawa came off the bench to score a fourth. But Spartan’s fighting spirit was not to be denied as they scored four of their own to give them their first draw of the season.

Milton Reserves remain second bottom after a 4-0 thrashing by third placed Witney Royals Reserves. Four different goal scorers paved the way to victory for Royals. Mikey Piper, Rob Debanks, Nathan Harris and Matt Smith all scoring one goal each.

Freeland Reserves have recorded back to back wins for the first time this season, as they moved further away from the bottom two, with a win over mid table Hailey A. Nathan Rees and Cody Davies were on hand to score for Hailey but Freeland snatched the points with goals from Connor Smith, Billy Rendell and Jake McNamara in the 3-2 win.

Tom Burdett and Tom Walsham both scored to give Faringdon A victory over Leafield. The 2-0 win moved Faringdon up to ninth, giving them their third win in four games and putting them nine points clear of the relegation zone.

Division Three

A second half blitz ensured that Chadlington Reserves survived a scare against Sherborne Harriers, as they maintained their place at the top of Division Three. Chadlington were the better side in the opening phases but found Josh Betteridge his usual clinical self, as he lobbed the keeper in Sherborne’s first real attack, to take the lead against the run of play. Chadlington remained dominant but found Sherborne resilience hard to break down, that was until the 42nd minute, when Adam Tinkham finally beat Ian Hepworth in the Sherborne net. The second half was a different story though, as Chadlington laced up their scoring boots during the half-time interval. Just five minutes had passed before Nadir Fortes found the net for the first time, and he was able to double the lead and his tally just two minutes later. Three goals in eight minutes secured all three points for Chadlington, Ethan Taylor scoring in the 62nd minute, James Hobden scoring in the 68th minute, and Fortes completed his hat-trick just two minutes later. There was still time for Betteridge to get his second but the damage was done for Chadlington’s tenth league win.

Two goals in each half gave Yarnton three points to help them keep the pressure on Chadlington. George Greening’s double putting Yarnton two up at half-time against Tower Hill Reserves. Tower weren’t willing to lie down and hit back in the second half, Fenn Carey and Ian Wright bringing them back into the game, but Michael Trafford gave a fine substitute performance to score two goals off the bench to salvage an important win and move Yarnton into second.

Michael Steers struck in each half to help ten man Wootton hold off Deer Park Rangers for their ninth win of the season. Steers scored in the 10th minute to give Wootton the lead, Lee Spencer doubling that lead in the 35th minute to give Wootton a 2-0 lead at the break. Steers’ second arrived just five minutes after the break to have Wootton seemingly coasting to victory. But Chris Godfrey reduced the arrears in the 62nd minute before Gary Townsend then saw red just three minutes later. Deer Park pressed for more goals in the remaining 28 minutes but made no further dents as Wootton jumped into third.

FC Mills were made to pay for a sluggish first half as they fell two places after suffering a shock defeat to Kingham Reserves. Mills started the day second with just one defeat all season. Kingham started the day seventh, with more defeats than victories. But Kingham had a bright first half, Mitchell Faulkner’s goal, along with a Jamie Youngson brace had Kingham well ahead. John Chapman’s goal for Mills was their only bright spark in a poor first half, leaving them 3-1 down at the break. It was roles reversed in the second half. Andrew Tennant coming on to change the game as he scored the two goals needed to restore parity. As the game inched towards an entertaining draw, Kingham stole the points with just five minutes left, Faulkner scoring his second as Kingham went away with a richly deserved three points.

There were two big wins in the bottom three as well. Neil Cooley’s hat-trick helped Aston thrash Leafield Reserves 6-0. Top scorer Reece Wain added one to his records for the season with additional goals coming from Brad Allen and Connor Henderson-Sowerby. The win allowed Aston to overtake Leafield in the league and move into tenth.

Carterton Town recorded their third win of the season to put daylight between them and the bottom placed team, with a 3-2 win over Stonesfield Reserves. Stonesfield, who are heavily involved in the race for promotion, scored through Fin Baker and Lee Cherrill, but they lost out by the odd goal in five thanks to a Josh Henry strike and a Tyler Webster double that gave Carterton an important three points.