Kynoch Sports 3 – 2 Oaks Athletic (Dvision 2B Knock Out Cup)

This game will be remembered not so much for the disappointed of defeat, but for a special moment for one of the Oaks most loyal servants; Paul “Gollum” Webb. Gollum has taken a fair bit of flack (though all in good humour) for managing just one goal in two seasons, despite starting the majority of games at Centre Forward. This is not to say that Gollum hasn’t contributed significantly in other ways, and his determination and willingness to get stuck in has caused defences no end of problems. Al’s arrival this season has seen Gollum deployed in the centre of midfield, and he has relished his role as the “break up” man.

It was somewhat fitting that Gollum’s replacement in attack assitted in ending his goal drought, with Al’s corner finding the unmarked Gollum in the six yard box, who put the ball home with a bullet header to give the Oaks the lead midway through the first half. It was great to see Gollum score, and especially pleasing for our old friend Jacko who had come over to support us (although was there really any need to seem so amazed!).

Injuries and work commitments meant that milesy once again had to change the team around, with Aaron and Parker replacing Stu and Kieron in the starting eleven, which looked as follows:

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaNeil (GK)

aaParker (RB) Milly (CB) Deano (CB) (c) Eye-Ball (LB)

aaaaNathan (RM) Gollum (CM) Rob (CM) Aaron (LM)

aaaaaaaaaaa Sharpy (CF) Al (CF)

Subs: Bill, Jimmy.

In a high tempo first half The Oaks had chances to extend their lead, and also road their luck as Kynoch squandered some good chances. However this luck didn’t last for long, and the failure to deal with a long goal kick lead to the Kynoch striker crossing low for his team mate to tap in at the far post.

Injuries are still a major problem for The Oaks, and Vice-Captain Deano – who had been struggling since the initial warm up – had to reluctantly step down at half time and hand over the cursed arm band to Nathan. This meant another shake up from Tinkerman Milesy, with Rob moving back into defence and Bill coming on with the unenviable task of tracking Kynoch’s most influential player.

Having done more than hold our own for 45 minutes against a good side -who had spent the previous season in the Division One – it was a shame that we weren’t able to carry on where we had left off in the second half, as we allowed Kynoch to get on top of us. To be fair, they made much better use of the large Pegasus pitch, and their sustained period of possession finally bore fruit as the newly named “Titanium Pepperami” tried too hard to intercept a floated cross into the danger area, and only succeeded in flattening the opposition player. The ref had no hesitation in awarding the penalty, which was subsequently converted to give Kynoch a 2-1 lead.

Kynoch remained on top following the goal, and The Oaks players – by their own admission – failed to raise their game to the required level. Sharpy even admitted that he would have substituted himself, by what could he do ...”he’s not the manager”. Nathan rightly tried to encourage his troops to put more pressure on the opposition higher up the pitch, but unfortunately a third goal for Kynoch came before an equaliser. There was still to be a potentially interesting finish as Al slotted home smartly between the keeper’s legs from 20 yards to make the score 3-2, but unfortunately the only other noteworthy incident was in the bar where Deano fulfuilled a lifetime ambition of burping, coughing, and sneezing at the same time.

I don’t think any of us would disagree that the better team won on the day, but what was encouraging was that we all felt we could, and should have done better – so let’s up it again next week!

Eye Ball

Next game – Sun 26th Oct 10.30 K.O vs Concept B @ Blackshots (Away) (league match)