Week 32 Football Report

Fred Ford Cup Final

Division One side Faringdon and Premier Division side Enstone met on Friday night at Clanfield for the second WDFA final of the year. Enstone had seen off Hailey in the semi-finals, whilst Faringdon beat Cassington to advance one step further than last year. Faringdon started with the wind behind them but Enstone soon created their first opening, Nathan Bott’s header back across goal was sent goal bound by Jordan Godfrey but it was blocked on the line. Reece Bayliss sent a free kick wide before Matt Lawrence recorded Faringdon’s first shot on target, resulting in an easy save for Enstone keeper Danny Phillips. Phillips was called into action again after Chris Rutt raced through for a one on one but again the keeper was equal to it. The same for Aaron Hares in the Faringdon net, who saved comfortably from another Bayliss free kick.
Faringdon then took a shock lead. Richard Evans quickest to react to his own rebound after Phillips saved to put Faringdon ahead and on the brink of half-time, Phillips had to be at his best as he saved from Evans again at his near post. Faringdon ahead at the break.
Faringdon needed to preserve their lead as a second half of relentless pressure was due, Enstone would have wanted to score early to settle back into the game and it was Enstone’s game plan that worked. Dan Bott scoring inside the first minute of the half to restore parity. The game settled and Faringdon had their own chance, Andy Makepeace firing wide from his half chance. Then, in the 73rd minute, Enstone took the lead. Reece Bayliss played the ball calmly across the box and Jay Mair was on hand to fire home. Enstone remained the stronger side, Dan Bott hitting the bar in the 90th minute. Faringdon did have a last minute corner, which Hares joined the melee in the box for, but Enstone survived and held on to avenge their defeat in the final last year.

Premier Division

Hailey put all the pressure onto Stonesfield as they beat their hosts on Tuesday night to leave Stonesfield with a mountain to climb in their final league fixture. Their victory on the 6th May helped them reach the summit for the first time since the 22nd March, Hailey then put distance between them and their rivals with a hard earned 2-0 victory on Tuesday night at Stonesfield. Hailey took the lead in the 19th minute, Sam Wheeler bundling home from a Freddie Buckingham cross. Carry Rice had a chance to equalise but fired home after doing the hard bit to create space and Hailey led at the break.
Early in the second half and this time Buckingham turned from provider to scorer as he pounced on a Stonesfield mistake and fired past the Stonesfield keeper for his fifteenth goal of the season. Buckingham will win the golden boot unless Carry Rice can score five or more in Stonesfield’s final game. Hailey remained the stronger side and saw out the game for a 2-0 win. The result means they are three points ahead of Stonesfield and have a twelve goal better goal difference. Stonefield will have to beat Freeland by thirteen to snatch the title in their final game.

Division One

Hailey Reserves rounded off a good week for the men in green and white after a clinching a critical victory over Witney Royals. Luke Colville and Kieran Colwell scored one each for Royals but Hailey managed to go one better thank to Harvey Savin, Seb White and Gary Mitchell. The 3-2 victory allowed Hailey to leapfrog Combe in the table and out of the bottom two in their last game of the league campaign.

Division Two

Plenty of games in Division Two this week as the battle to get the league campaign finished continued.

On Bank Holiday Monday, Faringdon A secured their place outside the bottom two with a much needed 3-1 win. Jack Green’s brace plus Daniel Cairns’ goal was enough for the three points. Ollie Nolan hit back for Royals.

Faringdon’s win meant that Freeland Reserves were guaranteed to finish inside the bottom two as they fell seven points adrift with only two games remaining. They still battled on as they hosted Kingham in what turned out to be a thriller, with Kingham winning by the odd goal in seven. Dan Lay, Mitch Faulkner and Sean Collins’ two goals seeing Kingham over the line.

The four games on Saturday produced 26 goals, with the lowest scoring games still containing six goals.

Milton Reserves finished their strong end to the campaign with a 4-2 victory over Spartan Reserves. Darren Craig’s double had Spartan well in the game with goals from Sam Betts and Nathan Randall keeping things tied. Jake Newland scored in the 76th minute before Randall grabbed his second, in the 88th minute, to give Milton all three points.

Cassington hit the 60-point mark with a 6-0 victory over Kingham. The game looked like it was heading for a goalless first period before Declan Green scored in the 42nd minute to give Rangers the lead. There then followed a second half onslaught as Rangers hit five to record a comfortable win. Neal Hobday scored five minutes after the restart before Green got his second just before the hour mark. Jordan Lyne, Aaron Pyke and a Kingham own goal rounded off the scoring to give Cassington a win on the final day of the season.

Two games at Bampton Town saw the remaining 14 goals scored.

First Bampton recorded the biggest win of the day in the early kick off as they put seven past Faringdon without reply. Arron Court, Jordan Day, Jake Pritchard all scored once. James Haley and Karl Pritchard scored twice each for a resounding win.

In the late kick off Siege hosted Eynsham in a preview of the Junior Cup semi final to be held on Wednesday night. If the league game is anything to go by the semi final should be a cracker of a game. Alfie Minchin, Jack Douglas and Gez Morgan all scored for Siege but Ben Oates and Martin Edwards fired back for Eynsham and Malek Chok’s double was enough to snatch the points in a 4-3 win.

Division Three

Wootton’s season ended with a walkover victory against FC Mills as they finished one point behind champions Yarnton A.