If you believe the numbers Greyhound would have been overwhelming favourites to win this game; before this game they had only lost 3 times and still had an outside chance of winning the league. Compare this to The Oaks who had lost 7 times, and could only finish 4th at best if they won the last two games. You might then expect that not only would Greyhound be hungrier for the win, but that The Oaks may have been resided to defeat before the whistle had even been blown. However, this isn’t a mindset that exists amongst The Oaks faithful, who are playing with a desire and belief that belie the stats. This was evident today through the mixed feelings of satisfaction and disappointment at the end of this game; satisfaction for an excellent performance, but disappointment at not gaining the additional two points we felt we deserved.
With Captain Stu still on the injury list Nathan once again took the arm-band, and after being exhausted by an extra length in the warm-up an unchanged side from the previous week took to the field:
ppppppppppppppParker (GK)
With Captain Stu still on the injury list Nathan once again took the arm-band, and after being exhausted by an extra length in the warm-up an unchanged side from the previous week took to the field:
ppppppppppppppParker (GK)
ppDeano (RB) Milly (CB) Rob (CB) Eye-Ball (LB)
pNathan (RM) Al (CM) Gollum (CM) (c) Aaron (LM)
pppppppppppJamie (CF) Sharpy (CF)
Subs: Jimmy, Bill
We were assigned the same ref as last week, and fortunately he turned up this time and the game kicked off on time. Greyhound are obviously a good footballing side, but it was also clear that they try to use their physical presence to intimidate and disrupt the opposition. This may work against some of the teams in this league, but is not a tactic that is going to work against The Oaks; we more than matched them when competing for the ball and didn’t give them any time to settle. Although, having said this, Sharpy possible could have picked on someone else rather than the biggest player on the pitch – he does love a challenge.
If Greyhound hadn’t expected such a hard fought match, they definitely didn’t expect to go behind, which they duly did half way through the first half. We can all remember what it’s like to be the young newbie in the team (OK some of us remember), when you want to show you can hold your own with the big guys, but you invariably learn some valuable lessons. Greyhound’s young winger definitely learnt a lesson today (although I doubt he’ll heed it): that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. He’s just lucky that Milly only communicated this message verbally, although I suspect this was all that was needed and the next time we play he won’t show such petulance if Milly beats him to the ball. A similar incident when the youngster was beaten to the ball by Eye-Ball gave The Oaks the free-kick that lead to The Oaks first goal. Aaron whipped in an outswinging cross that eluded the defence and was met by Sharpy at the back post to tuck away. Sharpy has admitted that he may have inadvertently controlled the ball with his hand, but then what the ref doesn’t see doesn’t count: 1-0.
This goal gave us an extra impetus, and we were unfortunate not to go two up when the keeper called to collect a trademark Nathan long throw, but completely misjudged the flight to allow Rob to rise well and head home at the back post. However, this time the ref saw something none of the rest of us did and awarded a free kick.
We were then hit a hammer blow when Jamie paid the price for not joining in the pre-match warm up and pulled his groin. This meant a quick re-shuffle with Al moving upfront and Jimmy coming on to partner Gollum in the middle. Although we took a little time to settle again we were able to weather a mini storm, with Parker coming quickly off his line on more than one occasion to clear the danger and making a good save at the feet of the striker.
Before half time The Oaks gained further reward for their efforts when Nathan speared a throw to the near post that was not dealt with by Greyhound and was poked in by one of their own players under pressure from Sharpy. If only he’d known Sharpy can’t score from one yard. 2:0.
We went out for the second half knowing that Greyhound would commit extra men forward, but that they would also try to wind us up in the hope that we would make life easier for them. We continued to cope pretty well with their attacking threat, and even created some really good chances to finish off the game.
Unfortunately Greyhound were handed a life line when the ball fell to one of their players following a long throw, who managed to thread the ball through the crowded box and into the net. 2-1.
The equaliser came with about 15 minutes to go when some scrappy play around the area led to Parker having to push out a looping ball at the back post under pressure, only for it to fall straight onto the head of a Greyhound player. At this point we were starting to tire, and were probably the most likely to concede the third goal. However, we were denied a great opportunity when it seemed everyone – Oaks, Greyhound and Ref! – were in agreement that Sharpy had been illegally felled in the area, only for the Ref to wave play on. Apparently he was hoping to re-align his karma having realised Sharpy’s first goal should have been disallowed. This didn’t help us much, and in the end we had to settle for a 2-2 draw.
This was a great performance, and it was fantastic to see the commitment and desire from all in the squad despite it being the penultimate game of a long and tough season. Well played everyone and let’s finish off in style.
Eye-Ball
Next Match – v Greyhound away @ Blackshots– Date to be confirmed.
Goal Scoring Chart
Subs: Jimmy, Bill
We were assigned the same ref as last week, and fortunately he turned up this time and the game kicked off on time. Greyhound are obviously a good footballing side, but it was also clear that they try to use their physical presence to intimidate and disrupt the opposition. This may work against some of the teams in this league, but is not a tactic that is going to work against The Oaks; we more than matched them when competing for the ball and didn’t give them any time to settle. Although, having said this, Sharpy possible could have picked on someone else rather than the biggest player on the pitch – he does love a challenge.
If Greyhound hadn’t expected such a hard fought match, they definitely didn’t expect to go behind, which they duly did half way through the first half. We can all remember what it’s like to be the young newbie in the team (OK some of us remember), when you want to show you can hold your own with the big guys, but you invariably learn some valuable lessons. Greyhound’s young winger definitely learnt a lesson today (although I doubt he’ll heed it): that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. He’s just lucky that Milly only communicated this message verbally, although I suspect this was all that was needed and the next time we play he won’t show such petulance if Milly beats him to the ball. A similar incident when the youngster was beaten to the ball by Eye-Ball gave The Oaks the free-kick that lead to The Oaks first goal. Aaron whipped in an outswinging cross that eluded the defence and was met by Sharpy at the back post to tuck away. Sharpy has admitted that he may have inadvertently controlled the ball with his hand, but then what the ref doesn’t see doesn’t count: 1-0.
This goal gave us an extra impetus, and we were unfortunate not to go two up when the keeper called to collect a trademark Nathan long throw, but completely misjudged the flight to allow Rob to rise well and head home at the back post. However, this time the ref saw something none of the rest of us did and awarded a free kick.
We were then hit a hammer blow when Jamie paid the price for not joining in the pre-match warm up and pulled his groin. This meant a quick re-shuffle with Al moving upfront and Jimmy coming on to partner Gollum in the middle. Although we took a little time to settle again we were able to weather a mini storm, with Parker coming quickly off his line on more than one occasion to clear the danger and making a good save at the feet of the striker.
Before half time The Oaks gained further reward for their efforts when Nathan speared a throw to the near post that was not dealt with by Greyhound and was poked in by one of their own players under pressure from Sharpy. If only he’d known Sharpy can’t score from one yard. 2:0.
We went out for the second half knowing that Greyhound would commit extra men forward, but that they would also try to wind us up in the hope that we would make life easier for them. We continued to cope pretty well with their attacking threat, and even created some really good chances to finish off the game.
Unfortunately Greyhound were handed a life line when the ball fell to one of their players following a long throw, who managed to thread the ball through the crowded box and into the net. 2-1.
The equaliser came with about 15 minutes to go when some scrappy play around the area led to Parker having to push out a looping ball at the back post under pressure, only for it to fall straight onto the head of a Greyhound player. At this point we were starting to tire, and were probably the most likely to concede the third goal. However, we were denied a great opportunity when it seemed everyone – Oaks, Greyhound and Ref! – were in agreement that Sharpy had been illegally felled in the area, only for the Ref to wave play on. Apparently he was hoping to re-align his karma having realised Sharpy’s first goal should have been disallowed. This didn’t help us much, and in the end we had to settle for a 2-2 draw.
This was a great performance, and it was fantastic to see the commitment and desire from all in the squad despite it being the penultimate game of a long and tough season. Well played everyone and let’s finish off in style.
Eye-Ball
Next Match – v Greyhound away @ Blackshots– Date to be confirmed.
Goal Scoring Chart
