Oaks Athletic 1 – 0 Pegasus B. Pegasus B 6 – 1 Oaks Athletic

The long lay-off due to the harsh winter means double headers will be a regular feature for the rest of the season. These often throw up strange result and this first one against a good Pegasus side was no exception, with the Oaks inflicting only Pegasus’s second defeat of the season, before conceding 6 in a result that was heavily influenced by Mother Nature, and Gollum’s rear end.

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The Thurrock Sunday League manager really earns his salt when the double headers come round, and Milesy obviously came with a plan (and a scrap of paper). I can’t remember the Oaks squad being as big, or attendance being better than at the moment, and even with Deano (crippled) and Alex (man flu) missing, Milesy still had 15 players to choose from, with the return of Mikey especially being a massive boost. To start with the following eleven took the field for the first match:

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pppppppppppppppppTyrone (GK)
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ppJimmy (RB) Rob (CB) Milly (CB) Eye-Ball (LB)
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Parker (RM)pGollum (CM) Jordan (CM) Scott (LM)

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pppppppppppNathan (CM) (c)
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pppppppppppppppppppSharpy (CF)

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Subs: Aaron, Aaron(2), Mikey, Nick

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The strong wind and low sun would cause havoc for much of this match, and in the first half (i.e. the first 30 minutes of the first 1 hour long match), the Oaks really struggled with the conditions. Passes frequently went astray, and possession was given up again as soon as it was won. Much of the half was spent on the back-foot, and it was clear that we would have to be strong defensively. Matters weren’t helped when Milly limped off following a kick on the knee in the first 10 minutes, and that was the end of Milesy’s master plan for squad rotation. As has already been mentioned, both Deano and Alex were missing, which meant that Eye-Ball - the fifth choice centre half – had to move to the middle to partner Rob with Aaron coming on to fill the hole at left back.

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We know Pegasus are a good side who like to play football, but they are used to playing on a pitch that is almost as big as Wembley, and always struggle when they come to our postage stamp. Although we struggled to create many chances of our own, we defended well and played the off-side trap when it was appropriate. We maybe didn’t deserve to go in at half time on level terms, but the fact we did meant we had a good chance of snatching something from this match.

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With so many changes I may get some wrong, but I believe Mikey and Nick came on in the second half for Jordan and Parker, and Milesy reverted to a 4-4-2 with Nick partnering Sharpy up front.

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The Oaks continued to frustrate Pegasus by allowing them no time on the ball, and forcing them into errors which were berated by their team mates. At the back Eye-Ball and Rob looked comfortable against their strikers who looked to have all but given up. We even started to create chances of our own, and maybe should have had a penalty when Scott was brought down on his way towards goal, but the referee deemed the foul to have been just outside the area. Nick also had a great chance to make an impact, but when Rob nodded a corner back across goal he somehow managed to head it wide with the goal at his mercy.

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Our endeavours were finally rewarded after Mikey was fouled for the umpteenth time on the half way line. Rob floated a superb ball to the back post where Nick, Nathan and Sharpy were queuing up to score. Sharpy shouted the loudest and met the ball low with a diving header that evaded the keeper and gave the Oaks the lead: 1-0.

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There was still 15 minutes to go, and it was backs to the wall time. The Oaks defence held firm, and although I can’t recall any individual saves Ty completely dominated his area and was on hand to claim anything that came anywhere near the six yard box. His huge clearances, while helping to run down the clock also caused the opposition goalkeeper to panic on one occasion when he had to tip an awkward bouncing ball over the bar.

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We did get some luck as Pegasus failed to convert good chances from crosses, and a ball that was flicked goalwards in the dying seconds fell straight into Ty’s hands. The final whistle was a welcome sound, and a battling performance was rewarded with 3 points for the Oaks.

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After a short break to take on water and compare wounds we were at it again. Milesy again rotated the squad as much as he could and I think he went with the following eleven for the start of round 2, with the obvious tactic being to hit them with our pace down the flanks:

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pppppppppppppppppTyrone (GK)
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ppJimmy (RB) Rob (CB) Eye-Ball (CB) Aaron (LB)
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Aaron(2) (RM)pGollum (CM) Mikey (CM) Parker (LM)

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pppppppppppNathan (CM) (c)
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pppppppppppppppppppNick (CF)

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Subs: Scott, Sharpy, Jordan

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The relief of getting a win in the first game never really subsided, and the Oaks struggled to raise their game again for this second match. This wasn’t helped when we found ourselves behind in the first half when the Pegasus striker finally broke free of our defence to slot neatly past Ty: 1-0.

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Pegasus’s dangerous crosses from the right also finally found their reward, when Jimmy – faced with a two on one situation at the back post – decided to make it a more even contest by pushing one of the attackers to the floor. The resulting penalty was easily converted: 2-0.

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Although we didn’t seem to be on the same pitch as the opposition, we were still in the game come half time thanks to a goal from an unfamiliar source. Aaron Bass has collected significantly more cards than goals this season, but was on hand to steer home his first of the season from inside the area after Pegasus had failed to clear an Oaks set piece.

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Milesy again reverted to 4-4-2 in the fourth and final half, with Scott and Sharpy replacing Aaron(2) and Jimmy. Jordan replaced Mikey – who had done well to last as long as he did following a long illness – mid way through the half.

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Any hopes we had of improving on the 3 points we already had were soon dashed in a farcical 30 minutes of football. The Sun may have disappeared behind a mass of clouds, but the wind was still causing havoc, and seemed to be blowing in the exact direction occupied by the 12 by 6 space known more commonly as the Oaks’ goal.

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The next four goals can be summarised as follows:

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3-1: corner from the right hits Scott, then hits Gollum on the bum and goes in (o.g.)

4-1: high inswinging corner curls toward the back post. Ty gets a hand on it but can’t direct it away from the goal (we’ll say the ball was going in before Ty’s intervention).

5-1: the Oaks don’t learn the lesson from the previous goal, and the ball is once again swung in wind assisted and flies above the below-maximum-height man at the back post and into the net.

6-1: Rob looks to have cleared the ball from the goal line following a throw-in, but the brave (and ridiculously large) Pegasus defender puts his head in the way and Rob claims the assist.

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Some last ditch defending (including a crunching, but for once well timed challenge from Aaron) and a great finger tips save from Ty stopped the score line getting any worse.

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Despite the game seeming to be beyond us, we could have had an interesting finish if the referee had not, once again, decided to award only a free kick for a foul on Scott that looked pretty close to being in the box. Also, Sharpy unfortunately seemed to have put the boots back on that he was wearing against Linford, as he produced two incredible and uncharacteristic misses from right in front of the goal. Such was Sharpy’s frustration, that in a change from the normal routine, we almost had to step in to stop him from beating himself up.

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Losing by such a margin may have left heads hanging low when the 120 minutes of football was finally over, but Milesy was happy with the day’s work and the shift put in by all 15 players. Next week we do it all again, against AFC Staggs who – on paper at least – look like another tough propostion.

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Eye-Ball

Lakeside United 11 - 1 Oaks Athletic (League Cup)

11-1 may more closely resemble Paul Collingwood’s Ashes batting average than a football score, but it is with a significant degree of embarrassment that I have to confirm it is indeed the result of 90 minutes of dire football from the Oaks.

pppppppppppppppppTyrone (GK)

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ppEye-Ball (RB) Milly (CB) Deano (CB) Alex (LB)

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Nathan (RM) (c) Rob (CM) Jordan (CM) Scott (LM)

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pppppppppppSharpy (CF) Nick (CF)

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Subs: Parker, Aaron, Aaron (2)

Nobody wants, or needs to be reminded of the details of this game (and it would be too painful for me to recount), and it is also not my place to give a view of the particular failings that contributed to it going so horribly wrong. I will, however, try and convey the basic facts that I think we would all agree contributed to our humiliation.

Firstly, Lakeside are undoubtedly a very good side, and will surely gain promotion from division 2A (where they currently sit top with 7 wins from 8 games). In terms of technical ability and fitness they had the upper hand in more or less every position on the field. It can therefore be argued that the Oaks would have lost this game even if all eleven players, and the team as a whole, had played to their absolute best.

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The second fact is that the Oaks are no strangers to this situation, and have put in losing displays that felt like victories against noticeable opposition including Springhouse and premiership stalwarts Legends. In these situations we have more than matched our opposition for heart and desire and as a result have made the opposition work for their victory.

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The difference in this game is that we didn’t come close to matching Lakeside in this aspect, and simply rolled over and admitted defeat more or less from the first kick of the game. This is not to say there weren’t occasions were Oaks players put their bodies on the line, with Deano optimising what we should have all been doing for 90 minutes as he first received a bang to the head that left him dazed and with a nice shiner to boot, and then had to be helped off following a tackle that the referee admitted was reckless but for which the offending player was allowed to go unpunished for.

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The only positives I can take from this game are that this should give us a wake up call ahead of a tough double header against Pegasus B next week, we took the defeat as a team without criticising individuals, and there are two entries in the scoring chart thanks to a superb corner from Scott that was headed in by Rob (to actually make the score 2-1), and an own-goal from Eye-Ball.

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Oh, and there is always next week.

Eye-Ball

Oaks Athletic 2 - 1 Linford Wanderers

Finally, after 7 weeks of frost, snow and the coldest December since records began, we were able to play a game of football against our last opponents way back on 14^th November. The Oaks won that game 4-0, but everyone knew this would be a totally different affair, with concerns over match fitness, and the ability of some of us to remember what “football” is being evident. Added to this was the absence of key players in Mikey and Milly (both flu victims), and also Gollum who pulled up lame in the warm up (fortunately we don’t need to put him down just yet).

Nethertheless, it is a testament to the commitment of the Oaks players that Milesy still had 14 players to choose from and went with the following line up:

pppppppppppppppppTyrone (GK)

ppEye-Ball (RB) Rob (CB) Deano (CB) Alex (LB)

Nathan (RM) (c) Jimmy (CM) Jordan (CM) Scott (LM)

pppppppppppSharpy (CF) Nick (CF)

Subs: Parker, Aaron, Aaron (2)

All the goals (but by no means all the action) came in the first half which was a typically hard fought affair. The Oaks may have been a bit rusty, but had lost none of the confidence gained from the previous victory, as they looked to pass the ball to feet and create space for each other. Consequently some good chances to take the lead were created, including a free kick from Nathan that was tipped over by the diving Linford keeper, and a left foot volley from Scott after his run into the box was expertly spotted by Sharpy. Nick was also unfortunate to see a firmly struck header from a free kick cleared off the line.

There was also plenty of defending to do, with bodies (quite literally in Rob’s case) being thrown in front of the ball, and Ty making a fine save to divert a shot onto the post.

Despite the Oaks early pressure, it was Linford who took the lead when a close decision for offside went their way, and the forward poked the ball past Ty after receiving a cross from the right: 0-1.

This setback didn’t seem to faze the Oaks, who continued to apply pressure, and were soon back on level terms thanks to some quick thinking from Rob and good link up play between the front two. Noticing the opposition were slow to retreat following the award of a goal kick, Rob played the ball quickly up field where Nick was on hand to flick the ball on with his head into the path of Sharpy, who beat the off-side trap and netted past the keeper off the inside of the post: 1-1.

Given how well Sharpy had finished this effort, we all expected him to make the score 2-1 when he was again put clean through, but his left foot shot across the keeper lacked any curl and drifted wide of the left upright.

Sharpy was able to shrug off the disappointment of this miss to give the Oaks the lead at half time, with Rob once again being heavily involved. Linford failed to clear a corner, and Rob held off and turned his man before floating the ball to the back post where Sharpy was on hand to nod the ball down into the net: 2-1.

Linford really came at us in the second half, but defensively we held firm with Jimmy and Jordan especially putting in an impressive shift in the middle of the park. Defensively we were relatively untroubled, and when called upon Ty was able to rebel anything Linford could throw at him, including a firmly struck low shot to his left which he got down to well and flick round the post.

Nick and Sharpy continued to toil away up top against Linford’s impressive centre halves, and Scott and Nathan looked to exploit the weaknesses at full back. Some good chances to put the game beyond doubt were created but unfortunately no further goals were scored. Sharpy could have had at least two more goals after first being put through by Jordan, and then by Nathan but both his efforts sailed high and wide of the target. Alex even got in on the action from left back with a rasping shot that wasn’t far wide.

There were some late jitters as Rob was inexplicably asked to leave the field after taking an elbow in the mouth (where is the justice in us going down to 10 men after our man has be fouled?), but we held out for a hard fought and well deserved 3 points.

Eye-Ball