You could argue that these results alone are reflective of the good form the Oaks are in at the moment. We may have come away without any points, but walked off at the end of 120 minutes with our heads held high, safe in the knowledge that Lakeside knew that they had been made to work hard for their points, and that their fans definitely would never have considered singing “can we play you every week”. On the contrary they will be pleased to see the back of us, and are unlikely to do battle with us again unless a cup draw dictates otherwise.
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There were some early concerns about the mental state of some of the Oaks players, with it transpiring that Nick had given some bloke the fright of his life as he jumped into his car, mistaking it for Gollum’s. Milly also mistook Jimmy for Parker, which as insults go would have felt like a bigger kick in the teeth than anything Jimmy has experienced at the hands of the local rozzers.
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The Oaks were boosted by the return of Ty and Jordan, but with Rob, Scott and JP missing it was going to be a tough morning for the 13 men available for selection. Milsey decided to start the match with the following line up:
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pppppppppppppppppTyrone (GK)
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ppParker (RB) Deano (CB) Milly (CB) Eye-Ball (LB)
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pJordan (RM) Gollum (CM) Mikey (CM) Aaron (LM)
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pppppppppppNathan (CM) (C)
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ppppppppppppppppppppppNick (CF)
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Subs: Sharpy, Jimmy
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For the first ten minutes, we were more than equal to top of the league Lakeside, whose game plan to play the ball behind our back four, and exploit the bags of pace they possessed both on the flanks and through the middle, was clear. However, Ty was quick of his line, and dealt with anything that came into the area.
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I don’t want to use the fact that Lakeside were wearing red as an excuse, but along with their petulant youth, the proverbial rag to the bull seemed to be waved by the opposition, as the Oaks completely lost their discipline, and with it their competitive edge in this first half. One incident early in the half saw both teams reduced to ten men, and following a reshuffle a misjudged header from Eye-Ball turned into a through ball for the Lakeside striker, who had too much gas for Aaron and executed a composed finish past Ty: 1-0.
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A deflated Oaks made it to half time without going further behind (mainly thanks to some fine saves from Ty with his legs), and had a much needed five minute break to recompose ourselves and attempt to regain the self-control that had been sorely missing in the first half.
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Milesy could see that the reshuffled team following the dismissal just wasn’t working, and in an inspired move decided to shift Nathan to centre half, whose aerial presence, pace and strength in the tackle were a welcome boost to the make-shift defence. This also allowed Eye-Ball to return to the left-back position which helped to deal with the threat Lakeside possessed on the flanks.
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Sharpy also came on for the second half and took up a position on the left where he was finding lots of space and causing all sorts of problems for the opposition. The team was functioning much better now, and we started to look back to our best. Despite this we were obviously weakened in attack with Nathan playing at the back, and failed to create many clear cut chances. Eye-Ball did come close to scoring when he broke in from the bye line, but could only hit the post from a tight angle.
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Given how much better we had played it was disappointing to go two down, when Lakeside eventually found a way through our defence and finished past a helpless Ty: 2-0.
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Milesy and the referee made it clear that we needed to wipe the slate clean, clear our heads, and start again from scratch for the second match. Milesy had obviously decided we should look to soak up the pressure and try and hit Lakeside on the break as he packed the defence, with Nathan continuing in the centre with Deano and Milly, and Eye-Ball moving to the right to try and deal with the lightening fast winger who had terrorised Parker and Jimmy in the first match.
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ppppppppppppppppppppppTyrone (GK)
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ppEye-Ball (RB) Nathan(CB) (c) Deano (CB) Milly (CB) Parker (LB)
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ppppppJordan (RM) Gollum (CM) Mikey (CM) Aaron (LM)
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ppppppppppppppppppppppNick (CF)
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Subs: Sharpy, Jimmy
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Such was Lakeside’s strength in depth, that they were able to change a number of players without appearing to weaken their side. The new winger who Parker was given the job of marking was even quicker than the one he replaced, and they were also able to call on a lightening fast 6 foot plus striker who had been surplus to requirements in the first match. It was this striker who broke the deadlock, with a finish we could only stand and applaud. A floated ball from the right drifted just over Milly’s head, and the striker was on hand to bring it down with one touch, and fire past Ty into the corner of the net with a second: 0-1.
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Lakeside scoring first was the only similarity with the first match, as this game was destined to take a very different path. It was down to Mikey – who was working his socks off in the middle of the park – to raise the Oaks’ spirits and get us back on level terms with a goal that is up there with the best we have scored this season. Nick won the ball in the middle following a misunderstanding between the opposition players, and played the ball out the
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This goal really lifted the Oaks and with only 40 minutes or so to play in the match we started believing we could grab at least a point.
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The 4th half followed a similar pattern with the Oaks entrenched in their own half for much of the time, and Nick casting a lonely figure as he tireless tried to hold up possession to give the rest of us time to get up in support. We did play some good football though, including a sequence of passes from kick-off that numbered between 10 and 15, but still ended up in a Lakeside attack. We even created a good chance to take the lead when the ball fell to Mikey in the area; he had more time than he realised though and his snatch shot with the ball bouncing sailed way over the bar.
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Lakeside created plenty of chances to score as well, but were pretty wasteful in front of goal. They also had the difficult task of getting past Ty, for whom I’m running out of superlatives. He continued to keep us in the game, and made one splendiferous save in particular, diving to his left to tip a rasping shot past the post.
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With only a few minutes remaining we were starting to believe that we were going to hold out for a much deserved point, but then a rare lapse at the back saw us lose our shape, and the five that had worked so well were now more like three. The youthful Lakeside players were quick to turn this into a numerical advantage inside the box, and one of the unmarked players had time to steady himself and shoot high into the net past a despairing Eye-Ball and possibly unsighted Tyrone: 2-1.
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There was still time for one last throw of the dice, and when a throw-in was won out on the right Nathan hurled the ball into the box. Mikey leapt to win the header and flicked it on to Deano, whose own flick on look like it was going to slip under the bar, but unfortunately went just the wrong side. The game ended 2-1.
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At the end of last week’s report I said that, whatever the results this week, if we continued to play in the way we have been recently we could leave the field with our heads held high. This we certainly did, as although our endeavours were not rewarded with any points, this performance should fill us with confidence when we go up against any of the teams in this league, and also leave us with some satisfaction from knowing how hard our opponents were made to work. Well done boys, and more of the same next week.
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Eye-Ball
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Next match – Sunday 27 Feb @ Home v Thameside – 10:30 K.O.
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There will be a twist this week, as Milesy is away and has left Sven and Nancy (aka Nathan and Sharpy) in charge. This could be interesting…
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