Week 19 Football Report

Premier Division

After handing out Enstone’s second defeat of the season last week, Hanborough recorded back to back league victories for the first time this campaign as they ended Hailey’s unbeaten run this season. Match report comes from Hanborough’s Facebook page.

After last week's fantastic victory against 2nd placed Enstone we welcomed unbeaten run away leaders, and reigning champions Hailey to Roosevelt Road. With the quote from the leagues write up of last week’s victory being "Hanborough may not be the force they used to be" in mind it would seem that the only people that believed we could get something here were the people in our changing room. And these people are the only ones that matter. With no goalkeeper, and a bare 11 due to yet another week of poor availability, maybe even the strongest believer has having doubts. These doubts would have been even stronger when after only 4 minutes a Freddie Buckingham goal gave Hailey the lead. Hanborough grew into the game though and had chances themselves all before Josh Brokkes drilled home a fantastic equaliser. Half time Hanborough 1:1 Hailey The second half was a great advert for football at our level with Boro working hard and still creating chances, Aston Leach received the ball and slipped through Craig Mays who rolled the ball home to make it 2:1 to the home side. The bare 11 of Boro were starting to tire and resorted to sitting in as Hailey began exert pressure for the first time in the game but Hanborough were defending superbly and it was another break away which resulted in a 3rd goal, Leach found Mays again and it was 3:1. The pressure was building as Johnson, and Rogers at least were carrying knocks and everyone else was tiring. The valls coming into the Boro box were deep and dangerous, Ayris and Haggie heading each one away time after time, Hobley the stand in keeper came and got something on crosses a couple of times, and then Matt Knapton smashed a headed goal in, 3:2. The bombardment continued but so did the refs watch as time ticked away. Hobley made a great safe from a free kick which was sneaking in and the resulting corner was dealt with again. Finally the ref decided that enough was enough, despite giving 7 minutes of additional time for Hailey to equalise. They didn't. Full time Hanborough 3:2 Hailey

Hailey’s gap remains at seven points though as Enstone crashed to a second consecutive defeat. Charlbury were the visitors on a bright Saturday afternoon and Charlbury proved themselves to be more alert than their opponents with a deserved 2-0 victory. Tom Williams and Craig McCallum were the scorers for Charlbury. Enstone’s frustrations boiled over as the cards flowed, eventually reduced to ten men with Liam Harris seeing red.

It proved to be a bad weekend for the sides at the bottom of the table as the bottom two sides both lost, with the three teams directly above them in the table winning. Hanborough’s victory over Hailey put them well clear, with Charlbury’s excellent three points moving them four points away from the bottom two.
Minster and Spartan were cast further adrift with their own defeats in a less than ideal weekend.

Stonesfield jumped into second place, level on points with Enstone, as they now become the only undefeated side in the league. A relatively comfortable afternoon for Stonesfield as they brushed aside Minster Lovell with a 5-1 win. Familiar names were on the scoresheet yet again as Logan Mitchell, Carry Rice and Raffy Rice (2) all scored for the second week running. Mike Phipps came off the bench to score Stonesfield’s fifth. Tomasz Mazur came out of goal to score Minster’s consolation from the spot. Minster made a difficult afternoon harder for themselves when Mark Norridge saw red when Stonesfield were 2-0 up.

Milton started the day seventh and hosted ninth placed and bottom side Spartan Rangers.
This match report comes from Milton’s Facebook page.

The first team hosted premier division strugglers Spartan Rangers on Saturday in their first home game in what feels like forever. Although we were missing several key players, we still managed to field a strong squad, and everyone knew the importance of this game if we wanted to stay away from a relegation scrap. The game kicked off and for 10 minutes it was a hard watch. Neither team getting their foot on the ball and players seeming to struggle to get used to the bobbly pitch and heavy conditions. Lots of walking about and the game being played at a very slow pace. But Milton seemed to settle after 10 minutes, and they started to get some composure on the ball and some urgency in their play on and off the ball. And it very quickly paid off when some play down the right hand side found Ryan Oliver who took a touch out of his feet and whipped in the perfect delivery for Sam Wright to head home. 1-0 up and only just starting to get going. We then started dominating play and realised Spartan were really struggling if you pressed them hard. As soon as we lost the ball we hassled them to win in straight back. Chances came but it wasn't until the 32nd minute when we put another away. Louis Breaks was found in space near the edge of the box where he hit a decent effort towards the bottom corner. The Keeper saved but only managed to parry it out to the on rushing Wiggy who turned the ball home for his and Milton's second. 2-0 up but aware that we can be quite capable of throwing 2 goal leads away. With that in mind, the emphasis was on the lads being hungry to get more. And on the 38th minute it paid off. A Spartan corner was collected by Aj who's quick distribution found Rob James. His through ball to Ryan Oliver was hit early from outside the box and found the corner of the net perfectly. 3-0 up and cruising. HT' Milton 3-0 Spartan The second half started and we were keen to stay on top. Whatever we did this half, we could not throw this lead away. The boys were still buzzing from the first half but Spartan came out with a purpose this half. The game was much more 50/50 now but neither team creating clear cut chances. Fortunately for us, the times Spartan did get forward, their final pass or delivery was poor. Our defence looked comfortable and AJ didn't have any saves to make. We forced the Spartan Keeper into several saves and then we thought we'd made it 4 when Wiggy saw an effort hit the underside of the bar, hit the ground, and then with spin on the ball, bounce back up to hit the bar again. Some say the ball was 2 foot over the line. The only opinion that mattered was the refs from 35 meters away and he said it didn't. We continued to search for the 4th goal and had another perfect opportunity but for some reason we dilly-dallied on the ball instead of getting our shot away. The game entered the final stages and Spartan really were putting some pressure on the Milton back line. Corner after corner but thankfully we were getting the clearances in or Spartan were putting their efforts wide. It wasn't till about 8 minutes to go when they finally took a chance. Another corner wasn't dealt with and the Spartan player slid in to tuck the ball under AJ as he came out to gather the ball. 3-1 and some composure needed. Thankfully we had learnt from previous mistakes and saw the game out without conceding again. FT' Milton 3-1 Spartan Rangers A good performance from all the lads. We still need to be more clinical in front if goal but it's getting there. Pip slotted in perfectly at centre-back which was a huge positive for us. And having Wig scoring again is something you love to see. And fair play to Ryan, his first Milton goal and looking better and better as each game goes by.

Division One

All the goals came in the first half as Hailey Reserves stunned Hatherop as the visitors suffered their first league defeat of the season. Hailey looked to disrupt Hatherop’s quick passing football style from the off, with a fast press and a high defensive line. It worked for the most part but Ollie Waite and Shaun Skinner looked comfortable in midfield and always capable of causing problems. However, it was Hailey who took a surprise lead. A long ball out from Sam Wright was beautifully controlled by Seb White up front, who managed to create a yard of space for himself. His right foot shot raced towards goal and keeper Arie Peursum inexplicably let the ball under his body as Hailey took the lead, in the 14th minute. Hailey’s disruptive style found them on the wrong side of the ref’s whistle as free kicks were continuously awarded. Ryan Holmes found himself in the book first as Hatherop turned the screw. From one of those many free kicks Hatherop found their 21st minute equaliser. An aerial battle in the box had no clear winner and the loose ball fell to Charlie Bailey who fired into the bottom corner. Parity remained for just six minutes, a Hailey corner was flicked onto the back post. Seb White showed great presence of mind to take a touch and play the ball back to Curtis Hathaway who had all the time in the world to fire the ball home. The remainder of the half became the Jack Rideout show as he kept Hailey a goal ahead. Three excellent saves, one from close range, one from a scuffed clearance and an incredible double save on the edge of the box maintained Hailey’s one goal advantage. Hatherop’s only incident was Mason Hathaway receiving a yellow for a foul tackle.
Into the second half and the Hailey bus was firmly parked. On average, eight of Hatherop’s players were camped in the Hailey half as they tried to find the equaliser. It left Hatherop vulnerable on the counter and Hathaway will be cursing the Hailey turf for weeks to come as his brilliant strike from the edge of the box beat Peursum and was heading into the net, only for it to hit the famous Hailey divot in the goal mouth at the park end, and then bobble wide and out for a goal kick. Hailey then went down to ten men as Seb White earned himself ten minutes in the sin bin. Hatherop changed tactics and pushed more men forward but found that Rideout’s incredible form continued as he tipped a rocket over the bar and then reacted smartly to a deflected strike to turn the ball round for a corner. Another Hailey counter attack earned Shaun Skinner a yellow card as he stopped the promising move but Hailey were equally culpable of numerous fouls and Jake Smith took the team yellow for persistent fouling. Rideout saved his best save till last as a volley from the in the box was tipped into the ground. Rideout then had the presence of mind to jump on the loose ball with pink shirts piling in to finish the job. Hatherop tried every tactic going, long ball, balls out wide, long shots and neat play around the box but got no joy. Their misery was compounded as one final Hailey counter attack had Cameron Trwobridge through on goal with only the keeper to beat. The chasing Skinner cynically bringing him down outside the box to see red. Hailey saw out the seven additional minutes without alarm to earn back to back wins for the first time this season.

RAF Brize Norton Social benefitted from some mistimed Heyford defending as they got revenge on the side who dealt them their first loss of the season last week. Two Dave Wanless penalties gave Brize a 2-0 first half lead. Connor Duggan was able to hit back for Heyford but Phil Kenyon’s goal secured the points for Brize as Heyford lost for the first time in the league since October.

Jack Bellenger’s double helped Carterton FC Reserves remain two points clear at the top with a 3-0 win over Faringdon Development. Adam Fisher got the third goal to give Carterton all three points.

Ducklington are back out of the bottom two after edging bottom side Combe by the odd goal in five. Jasper Winder, Harvey Butler and George Townsend all scored one each as Ducklington moved above Faringdon in the table after a much needed 3-2 win.

Back to back defeats for Aston have all but ended their aspirations of finishing inside the top two. Two weeks ago they faced Tower Hill but nothing could separate the sides. This time Tower Hill ran out comfortable 3-0 winners. Tim Banks’ strike plus a brace from Jamie Harris got Tower the win. A Chris Smith red card was the only blemish on a good afternoon for the home side.

Division Two

Leafield won the battle at the bottom as they eased past Spartan Rangers Reserves. Leafield started the day only two points off the bottom two but managed to subject Spartan to their twelfth defeat of the season and move five points clear. Travis Cozier’s brace opened his account for Leafield this season. Pedro Rozini got Leafield’s third in a 3-0 win to give Leafield their first taste of three points since October.

Ben Oates’ four-timer extended his lead at the top of the division two goal scoring charts and gave Eynsham a brilliant 4-2 win over Milton Reserves. George Ford struck for the ninth time this season, along with James Simpson’s goal for Milton but nothing could stop Oates taking his overall tally to 16. The victory gave Eynsham their eighth straight league win, leaving them with an outside chance of sneaking into the top two.

Two goals in each half gave Cassington a 14th straight league win this season as their lead at the top of the division grew to 12 points. Jordan Lyne opened the scoring in the 18th minute, Jason Blackman doubling said lead thirteen minutes later. It took 22 minutes of the second half for Cassington to extend their lead through Max Gallagher and Thomas Rawlings put the icing on the cake with ten left on the clock for a 4-0 win over Hatherop Reserves.

Brize Norton found Robbie Nicholson in inspired form between the sticks as Freeland Reserves produced a fantastic display to take three points. Dylan Briggs scored for Brize but after that Brize couldn’t find the net again as Nicholson pulled of a handful of fine saves. Freeland proved more clinical at the other end, Matt Williams, Jake MacNamara and Billy Rendell all scored one each in a 3-1 away win which helped them jump two league places.

Witney Royals Reserves are still third and now just one point off second place Brize after a 4-1 win over Bampton. Two goals each for Ollie Nolan and Mikey Piper gave Royals their ninth win of the season. Kieran Colley’s goal was a mere consolation for Bampton.

Kingham received a walkover victory against Siege FC. The automatic three points helping them move up two places, leapfrogging Hailey A and Siege in the process.

Division Three

A slither of daylight opened at the top and bottom of division three this weekend.

At the top, Chadlington maintained a three point gap at the top after a 4-1 win over bottom side Eynsham Reserves. Ewan Thomas, Nadir Fortes, Aaron Bennett and George Slattery all scored one each for the league leaders. Chris Baldwin hit back for Eynsham.

Yarnton A also won 4-1 as they moved four points clear of third placed Wootton. Michael Trafford moved into double figures as his two goals took his personal tally to eleven for the season. George Greening scored for the second consecutive game and Ethan Penny also scored once again. Aston’s own goal machine Neil Cooley replied for Aston in defeat.

Wootton fell further behind the top two as they shared eight goals with Kingham Reserves. Lee Spencer, Paul Brown, Jamie Hutton and Michael Steers all scored one each for Wootton. Kingham hit back through a Jamie Whelan double and further goals from Lewis Pretorious and Liam Barnes as Wootton and Kingham got their first draw of the season.

The battle of fourth versus fifth saw all the goals scored in the second half as Deer Park Rangers recovered from last week’s defeat to remain in the promotion race. It was 0-0 at half time before the game burst into life in the second period. Ben Thomson scored for Mills but a quickfire double for Michael Bason and a third goal for Chris Godfrey gave all three points to Rangers as Mills suffered back to back defeats.

Second bottom Leafield Reserves lost out to a Will Watts double as they slipped to a ninth defeat of the season. Tower climb to eighth with Watt’ two first half goals. Leafield pulled one back with ten to go but Tower held on for an important win.

Carterton Town were reborn last season and won only won game all season. They have their fourth league win this season and consecutive victories for the first time in their current guise as they came from behind to beat Sherborne Harriers. Josh Betteridge put Sherborne ahead with his 20th goal of the season. Josh Henry equalised and it appeared that both sides were leaving with a point until Harry Perkins scored in the 90th minute to win it for Town to the delight of the players, bench and spectators. The win puts them six points clear of bottom side Eynsham.