A great win against the odds against George and Dragons meant the Oaks would have been confident of gaining another three points against a team we are more than capable of beating. However, as is typical of the Oaks, we turned out at Blackshots this week with a bare eleven and no goalkeeper. It is therefore testament to the attitude and determination of those who were there that we outplayed Rec Rovers and gained another deserved 3 points despite finishing the match with ten men.
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With Parker not recovering from the elbow injury endured last week, and neither Ty nor Scott available, Deano put his hand up and put on the gloves, goalie shirt and padded shorts. Deano may not have been the first choice in terms of stature, but he stands tall above all others when it comes to putting himself on the line for the Oaks.
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Apart from the lack of a recognised goalkeeper, the rest of the team had a good balance, and with Parker on his way to watch we could at least name a sub.
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pppppppppppppppppDeano (GK)
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ppEye-Ball (RB) Rob (CB) Milly (CB) Aaron (LB)
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Nathan (RM) (c) Gollum (CM) Mikey (CM) JP (LM)
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pppppppppppSharpy (CF) Nick (CF)
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Subs: Parker
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It was inevitable that the squad problems would affect team confidence, and this was evident in a nervy first half in which we struggled to settle into our stride. The intention to play football was clear however, but stangely Sharpy and Nathan’s telepathic link was letting them down and strong defending from both sides kept clear cut chances to a minimum. Deano was well protected by his back four and although he looked assured when coming out to collect the ball, he wasn’t required to make a save of note. Nil – nil at half time was no bad thing, and we were definitely more than equal to Rec in every department.
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Unfortunately James (JP) Poskitt only lasted 45 minutes in his second outing for the Oaks. He wouldn’t have expected to have been thrown in at the deep end quite so quickly, but looked to be finding his feet as he put in an assured and composed performance on the left. He also showed he isn’t scared of a challenge, which means he should fit in well at The Oaks Athletic. Let’s just hope those hamstrings last longer as the weeks go on. This meant that Parker – who had no boots and had to borrow a pair of Gollum’s canoes – had to come on for the second half on the left of midfield.
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Milesy’s inspired half time advice to make sure we got that first goal seemed to do the trick, as the Oaks started to get on top early in the second half. Nowhere more than the centre of the park, where the Gollum-Mikey partnership is really starting to work well. Gollum continued his good form from last week and was winning everything in midfield. Once he had completed the donkey work he then looked to give the ball to Mikey as quickly as possible, who is getting close to his best having now had a run of games following a lengthy lay-off. With the ball at his feet, Mikey looked to create space and bring the wingers and strikers into the game, and we began to look a real threat to the Rec Rovers goal. One pass in particular stood out as Mikey played a fantastic ball to Nathan through a crowd of players, which unfortunately didn’t lead to anything.
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It is no surprise that Mikey was involved in the opening goal, when he played the ball out to Parker on the left who then feed the ball to Nick in the centre of the goal. Nick is becoming more familiar with the concept of shooting, and was rewarded on this occasion as his turn and shot found its way into the net via a deflection: 1-0.
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Any worries about the vulnerability of our depleted team were now long forgotten, and although we had to remind Deano that standing on the edge of his area with the wind against us probably wasn’t a wise move, we were playing with a huge amount of confidence. It wasn’t long before 1-0 became 2-0, with the Oaks regaining possession after Eye-Ball single handedly defeat the Rec hords to the cry of “I am Spartan!” In Rec’s desperation to regain possession a foul was committed, and Rob showed good awareness to play the ball behind the high back four for Nathan to run onto whilst Sharpy walked back, hands aloft from the offside position. Everyone’s money was on Nathan to finish with ease past the stranded keeper, and although his effort was a little closer to the keeper than expected, the goal was scored and the three points seemingly were in the bag: 2-0.
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I should have realised that there is no such thing as an easy victory as far as the Oaks are concerned, and when “he who shall not be named for legal reasons” talked the referee into sending him off, we faced the task of seeing out the last 30 minutes of the match with ten men.
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Everyone dug deep, but Deano was the real hero as he pulled off two great saves. The first (which I suppose counts as a save) came when the ball fell to the Rec’s burly centre half in the six yard box following a scramble from a corner. As he took aim to smash the ball into the net (and probably take Eye-ball – who was on the post – with it) Deano came from nowhere to throw his body in the way and block the shot. He then pulled off an amazing one handed save to deny the Rec Rovers striker on the odd occasion that the Oaks offence was breached. He also commanded his six yard box from the numerous Rec corners, and looked destined to keep a clean sheet.
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There was still plenty of time on the clock when these two efforts materialised, and if either had been converted it could have been a very nervy last 15 minutes for the Oaks. As it was we held out to the last minute, when a free kick just outside the area was well converted by Rec – if only we’d kept that extra man in the wall: 2-1.
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The following is a list of rare events involving Oaks players:
- Deano wearing a jumper
- Sharpy winning a bet
- Gollum announcing he is feeling “as fit as a fiddle”
- Aaron timing a tackle
- Nick having a shot
- Milesy paying Parker a compliment
- Milly mis-timing a volley
- Rob being booked for dissent
- Eye-Ball scoring at the right end
- Deano playing in goal
- Alex not being at Alton Towers
- Ty just taking the ball when the player is in striking distance
- Nathan being beaten in the air
- Sharpy getting on with the referee
- More than 35% of the squad having a shower
- Jimmy turning up wearing an Everton shirt
- Mikey not complaining about having done too many squats at the gym
- Parker managing two nights out in a row
- Rob not ending up bleeding from some part of his face
- Ty complimenting us on the lack of watching.
- …..[please feel free to add your own rare events to the comments]
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Now they say miracles do happen, and with two of the more outrageous statements having already occurred this weekend (Sharpy actually won a bet and Deano was between the sticks), you may say that anything was possible. However, not even Sharpy would have been stupid enough to put his money on what happened next.
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Following Rec’s goal the referee indicated that there was only 45 seconds to play, so the plan seemed obvious: kick-off and boot the ball into the corner. However, such was our confidence that we decided we could keep the ball from Rec for long enough to run down the clock. So Mikey kicked off with Nick and we advanced into the opposition half. Possession was temporarily lost, but quickly won back by Mikey who played the ball out to the right to Nathan. Nathan then looked to run the ball into the corner to safety, and Eye-ball followed him to give support and an extra outlet. The ball then found its way to Parker who turned inside and had a good effort at goal that shaved the post and dropped again to Nathan on the right. He played the ball back across to Parker, whose second attempt came off the wrong side of the canoe and looped back to Nathan on the right by-line. He then headed it back into the middle, where Eye-Ball of all people was standing unmarked on the edge of the six yard box. All those years of Heads and Volleys finally paid off as Eye-ball jumped and direct a firm header towards goal which went over the flapping keeper and into the net: 3-1.
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In five seasons of playing with the Oaks Eye-Ball finally had his first goal, but unfortunately the celebration that followed wasn’t quite what had been planned as he turned in shock, expecting to see that the goal had already been taken down at the other end and everyone walking towards the changing rooms. It wasn’t until the rest of the team rushed over to congratulate him that he realised the goal had been awarded. As a fellow West Ham fan, I felt a bit insulted to be compared, by the manager, to Frank Lampard, but it was later made clear that he was referring to Frank Snr’s goal in the 1980 FA Cup semi final rather than the portly version who plays for Chelsea. It’s just a shame that the chairman of the “Get Eye-ball a goal” society wasn’t there to see it, but hopefully he’ll still be playing long enough to see the next one. Records show that Milly is the only regular member of the current squad still to score for the Oaks, but I’m sure it won’t be long.
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Some have question what the right back was doing on the edge of the opposition penalty area when we were protecting a one goal lead with ten men, but in my defence I thought the referee had said there were five seconds rather than 45 left, and that he would blow up as soon as we kicked off. As it turned out, this was the longest five seconds in history, for which I am very grateful.
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This was a great team performance from the Oaks, and although everyone played their part the manager heaped particular praise on Gollum and Nathan, both of whom played out of their skins and between them were iconic of everything we did well in defence and attack.
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Next week will be a much tougher affair as we face top of the league Lakeside in a double header, but if we continue to play like we have the last two weeks we can leave the field with our heads held high whatever the result.
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Eye-Ball
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Next match: Sunday 20th Feb Double header Away v Lakeside @ Lakeside
1 comment:
GO ON EYE BALL!! That Parker sounds a good player.
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