Witney & District Match Reports - Week 6

By Ant Barlow

Saturday 2nd October 2021 Written by David Evans

Perfect Ten for Junior Shield competitors in opening round

Junior Shield
Ten Witney and District sides advanced to the second round of the largest county cup competition in Oxfordshire. The Junior Shield returned after a one year postponement last season, with plenty of local sides advancing into the next round.

Biggest winners were Freeland, who defeated fellow W&D side Kingham All Blacks 12-1. Joe Burgess proved to be in inspired form as his four timer did a significant amount of damage. Rob Keylock followed closely behind with a hat-trick and there was also a double for Conor Allmond.

Dan Lay did get Kingham on the board at least, but Freeland scored further goals through Jamie Curtis, Liam Harris and Lewis White to complete the rout.

Another W&D side winning comfortably at the expense of another W&D team were Leafield as they romped past Brize Norton. Another four goal hero for the winning side, Benjamin Barbosa, scored half of Leafield’s goals with the 8-0 win completed by further goals from Victor Hugo, Gabriel Menezes and a brace for Markus Carvalho.

There were six goal scorers each for Stonesfield and Enstone as both sides completed six goal victories against non W&D teams. Stonesfield thumped Union Street 8-2 thanks to goals from Carry Rice (2), John Umney (2), Mike Phipps, Jack Barker, Sammy Hart and Nick Higgs.

Enstone kept a clean sheet whilst strolling past Broughton and North Newington 6-0. Reece Baylis, Nathan Bott, Josh Hunt, Jordan Godfrey, Jamie Gregory and Warwick Tompkins all scoring one each to get the job done.

Ducklington needed a goal at either end of the ninety minutes to scrape past Blue Elephant. Lewis Bartlett scored after just 18 seconds to get Duck started early. The opposition equalised only for Bartlett to grab a second. Just as Duck looked to be heading into the break ahead, Blue Elephant equalised to restore parity at half time. Duck dominated the second period but couldn't buy themselves a goal. As extra time loomed, Ben Stanley bundled the ball home with less than 30 seconds on the clock to steal the win and put Ducklington in the hat for round two.

Aston recovered from scoring an own goal to upset Premier Division Charlbury. Lewis Scott scored in the right net for Aston and a Nick Angus double gave the division two away side a 3-1 victory for their first win of the season.

Chadlington prevailed in a ten goal thriller against Bloxham, eventually winning out 6-4. Gus Boeing, Alfie Peachey, Jacob Hazelwood, Ethan Bennett and Jarvis Morley (2) got Chadlington over the line.

Wootton are still unbeaten this season after seeing off Gravenhill in the first round. Jared Smile’s solitary goal was enough to split the sides and send Wootton through.

A depleted Hook Norton side faced off against Chesterton but still managed to triumph as they defeated the opposition 2-1. Connor Davies and Adam Hemmings’ goals were enough to put Hooky through and keep their cup hopes alive.

The easiest win of the day came for Spartan Rangers who advanced without even kicking a ball. Steeple Aston forfeited the game prior to kick off to put Spartan into the draw for round two.

Extra time heartbreak was felt by not one but two W&D sides. Minster Lovell forced an extra 30 minutes against Longford Park after Jack Scott and Nick Rose’s goals had made the full time score 2-2 but Longford Park scored the fifth and final goal of the game to put Minster out.

It was identical circumstances for Carterton FC Rangers who also found their game going to extra time after a 2-2 draw inside the ninety minutes. Ben Pearce and Damien Williams goals forcing the game into extra time. But it would be East Oxford who would score the last goal of the game to prevent penalties and put Rangers out as well.

Cassington Rangers found themselves on the end of a thrashing. Donnington winning 10-0 to make it a truly miserable afternoon for the division two side.

Premier Division
Just the one game in the premier Division after Milton and Hailey avoided being drawn in the opening round of the Junior Shield. Hailey dished out the second largest league defeat of the day as they dismantled home side Milton to win 9-0. Travis O Connor, Jordan Cormack, Luke Turner and Joey Aust all scored one each. Nathan Kimber went one better as he scored two but it would be Freddie Buckingham who scored the most as he grabbed a hat-trick as Hailey returned to the summit with an extremely healthy goal difference.

Division One
Bampton scored two late goals to defeat Bletchington and move up to second in division one. Karl Pritchard scored for Bampton but was cancelled out by Mason Connelly scoring directly from a corner. Appeals for a strong Bampton penalty were waved away but it didn't deter them and they finished the stronger of the two sides after a back and forth encounter. Pritchard grabbed his second and a Chris Laurence strike secured the points for the home side.

Division Two
RAF Brize Norton Social got back to winning ways with a comfortable win against Hook Norton Reserves. Both sides had chances to score in the opening ten minutes but squandered those. Brize then took the lead in the 13th minute thanks to a scooped finish from Wes Christian after beating the offside trap. Two minutes later and Brize had doubled their lead when Mark Williams slotted home but any thoughts of one way traffic were banished when Will Wall despatched a beautiful free kick from the edge of the box in the 26th minute.

Brize quickly dampened Hooky’s sprits though by scoring just ten seconds after the restart. A mazy run from the left hand side found Carl Drury in plenty of space in the box and he rolled the ball past the keeper. 3-1 was the half time score. It was 4-1 shortly into the second half, Phil Kenyon firing home to extend Brize’s advantage. Hooky had a few more free kicks but couldn’t recreate the magic of the first half strike whilst Tom Dyer, Coen Sword and Wes Christian squandered numerous one on one opportunities to put Brize further ahead. It finished 4-1 leaving Hook Norton Reserves still looking for their first point of the season.

It was equally comfortable for Combe as they defeated Spartan Rangers Reserves. Five different goal scorers scored for the home side as Kai Paton, Solomon Maasz, Charlie Ibbotson, Jake Allinson and Lloyd Thomas all scored one each. Branden Fenwick scored to give Spartan a consolation goal but that’s all it proved to be in the 5-1 reverse.

Division Three
FC Mills pulled off a partial upset by earning their first point of the season against league leaders Hailey A. Hailey A were at 100% before the game and facing second bottom Mills might have expected an easier afternoon. A spirited Mills side were a match for their table topping opponents. Even though Hailey put three past Mills with Craig Greenhalgh scoring his sixth and seventh goals of the season and Sean King’s solitary goal, Mills hit back with Ben Thompson’s own brace and Darren Smith’s goal which brought the final score to 3-3.

The other two games in the division didn’t take place due to the away sides forfeiting the fixture. Faringdon Town A are only one point behind Hailey now after Chadlington Reserves couldn’t raise a side. Milton Reserves are up to third after Bampton Reserves cancelled their game, giving Milton the walkover victory.

Division Four
Sherborne Harriers are now four wins from four after winning yet another epic encounter by a single goal. This time, Leafield Reserves were the latest to fall victim to Corey Cullen’s goal scoring heroics for the current season, with his hat-trick winning the game for Sherborne. It wasn’t all plain sailing for Sherborne, Charlie Hill putting the ball into his own net and Brandon Laing scoring for Leafield, but with Cullen taking his season tally to nine, the Harriers continued their astonishing early season form with the 3-2 victory to leap to the top of the table.

Freeland Reserves are also still at 100% after comfortably negotiating their way past Spartan Rangers A. Mev Gundem did score one goal for Spartan but found Freeland in relentless form as Connor Smith, Spencer Lancaster, Ross Henderson and Sam Blantz (2) all scored for the 5-1 win. Having played a game less, they find themselves three points behind the league leaders and with a slightly superior goal difference. Freeland and Sherborne face each other in two weeks’ time, after next week’s break for the Fred Ford Cup.

Hatherop and Faringdon Town B ended up cancelling each other out in their 1-1 draw at Hatherop. David Legg scored once again for Hatherop with Nick Loveridge firing back for Faringdon. The draw leaves Hatherop and Faringdon second and third respectively in the league.

Aston Reserves recorded their third consecutive victory with a hard fought win against Stonesfield Reserves. Luke Parker’s brace would have given visting Stonesfield every hope of at least a point but they tasted defeat once again thanks to Neil Cooley’s brace and Jack Chaundry’s goal which earned Aston a 3-2 victory.

Last but by no means least are this week’s biggest winners, Witney Royals Reserves, who unsurprisingly have the best goal difference in the division after a 12-1 demolition of Carterton Town FC. Seven different goal scorers found the net for Royals, with Aaron Court leading the way with a hat-trick. Luke Colville and Gus Zuliani both notched a double each with further goals following for Rob DeBanks, Ian Barrett, Lucq Balmer and Nathan Harris. Fenn Carey got Town on the board but will have been only a tiny consolation in the 12-1 reverse.

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