Stanford Wanderers 7 - 2 Oaks Athletic (League Game 10)

The Oaks are gaining a reputation for being slow starters, and were finally punished for this by a good Stanford Wanderers side who hade the game won by half time. In the first half they were superior in every department, and caused The Oaks problems with whichever route to goal they chose.

In the time it takes to cook store bought spaghetti (approximately 10 minutes) the Oaks were already two down. Firstly, a corner wasn’t adequately dealt with, and a simple prod was all that was required to give Stanford the lead, and then a straight forward ball in behind the back four caught us napping and the striker ran on to score: 2-0.

The referee could obviously see that something wasn’t right, and decided that a pitch that didn’t resemble mud soup would be more conducive to a properly contest game of football. The move to mud soup with a dash of seasoning (more commonly known as grass) did little to address the imbalance in performance, and Stanford scored three more goals in quick succession. One from a cross to the unmarked forward, a rare misjudgement from Ty (who probably underestimated the difficulty of rushing off your line whilst standing in quicksand), and a one-two with the cross bar from a corner: 5-0.

Although the score line and the performance were far from satisfactory, it is worth mentioning that The Oaks were in this as a team, took collective responsibility and continued to support and encourage each other. Things did improve slightly towards half time and we even managed to pull a goal back with a little help from their goalkeeper. In an incredible act of kindness he chose to palm Scott’s excellent corner into the net whilst being put under pressure by Deano: 5-1.

Although it has already happened once this season (a 6-2 defeat to Blackshots in the cup), a thrashing for the Oaks is about as rare as all of the following:

- Sharpy going a whole match without whinging;

- Parker changing his underwear;

- Deano wearing a coat;

- Gollum winning a header;

- Seeing one of Bill or Al without the other;

- Eye-Ball scoring;

- Aaron walking anywhere.

Therefore we were keen to put in a better performance in the second half; we only had pride to play for, but pride is important. Things did improve in the second half, with Parker being introduce to sure up the defence (yes, things were that bad!), and Nathan and Gollum linking up well up front. Although the ball in behind still seemed to cause us no end of problems Stanford actually started to miss chances, and Ty pulled off some fine saves to redeem for his earlier mistake.

Despite the improvements the next two goals still went Stanford’s way, but this time both had to be put down to bad luck. Deano and Ty agreed in principal on undertaking a back pass procedure, but hadn’t quite factored in the slow pitch and the proximity of the Stanford forward. Ty got to the ball first, but his attempted clearance ricocheted of the forward and into the bottom corner. The seventh goal was due to another assist by Eye-Ball (see Oaks v Legend). This time what appeared at first as a good intercepting sliding tackle – of which the main objective was to regain possession – turned into the sort of defence splitting pass that Kaka or Cesc Fabregas would be proud of. The Stanford striker duly accepted the plated delights and ran through to score: 7-1.

There were a few bright moments for the Oaks to take away from this game; including Eye-ball managing a shot on target (as if things couldn’t get any crazier!), but the keeper managed to tip the ball over as it was dipping under the crossbar, and we even managed to score a proper goal. Scott broke down the left, and his cross into the box found Deano who had advance into the penalty area (defending was pretty pointless by this point). With a man between him and the goal he unselfishly pulled the ball back for Nathan to score a well deserved goal: 7-2

Having already had a goal unfairly disallowed for off-side it would have been a travesty for Nathan not to come away with at least one goal to his name. He was by far and away our best performer, and although we take collective responsibility for the defeat our vice captain couldn’t have given any more.

As individuals we might not be the best players in the league, but The Oaks strengths have always been high intensity and dogged determination. This seems to have been lost over the last few weeks, and perhaps this result was the wake-up call we need. We’ve lost a few influential players - including Sharpy who is finally having his much needed operation (good luck mate) – and that means none of us can rely on others to put in the extra yards or create the chances. If we all give 100% and play to our full potential the results still might not always be what we want, but I guarantee we’ll enjoy the experience.

Eye-Ball

The team:
ppppppppppppppTyrone (GK)

ppDeano (RB) Milly (CB) Rob (CB) Aaron (LB)

pJordan (RM) Eye-Ball (CM) Stu (CM) (c) Scott (LM)

pppppppppppGollum (CF) Nathan (CF)

Subs: Jimmy, Parker

Next Match: Sunday 14th February @ Home v Stanford Wanderers