***Oaks Athletic 7 - 2 Stanford Wanderers*** Oaks confirmed as Division 2 Champions!

As the referee's whistle confirmed another comprehensive victory for the Oaks, we awaited the result of the game between Wilburn and Jacks Lads to discover if the 40 points we had now accumulated would be enough to clinch the league title, or if we would still need one more point from the last four games. Later in the evening news filtered through that Jacks Lads had triumphed 3-2 against Wilburn which meant no one in the league could now catch us, and within five days of winning the league cup, the Oaks are now crowned as league 2 champions as well!


I think I might get this framed...

To be honest, the league has been won for some time, and we have just been crossing off the games before it would be confirmed beyond any doubt that we are champions. When the news came it was therefore unsurprising that it was greeted with muted excitement. At the end of the day, we already knew that we are by far and away the best side in this league, and when we are able to put the league and cup trophies side by side there can't be a person alive who can question that fact. Congratulations to everyone involved with the Oaks; especially to those who have warn the Oaks shirt with pride for all these years without even getting a whiff of success. Being one of these people I'd also like to give a massive thank you to the boys who have come in this year, fitted in perfectly to the Oaks family and helped take this great club to the next level.

Anyway there will be plenty of time to blow our own trumpet between now and the end of the season, so lets get on with the details of the latest victory.

This win was an impressive fifth in a row in the league for the Oaks (the best run of the season), and extends our unbeaten streak in all competitions to a monumental 18 games! Some of you will remember that, earlier in the season, Tyrone vowed to not cut his hair until the Oaks lost a league game. He soon realised that this would soon start affecting his ability to see, and obviously didn't fancy the prospect of an alice band. Just imagine if he had kept to his word!

With both Mikey B and Bunny missing, Al started in the centre of midfield, and although the rest of the team had a familiar look there were some old faces on the subs bench, with both Jordan and Gollum stepping into the gaps left by the four regulars who were unavailable.

ppppppppppppppppTy

Deano (c)ppppppRobppppNikippppEye-Ball

NathanppppppAlpppppTapsellppppppRyan

ppppppppppppNickppppHarry

subs: Sharpy, Jordan, Gollum

I thought for a change I would summarise the details of this game in MOTD 2 style with 2 Good, 2 Bad, and 2 Ugly.

2 Good.

The Oaks once again showed that they were far 2 good for their opponents, who I bet wish they had the strength of squad that the Oaks possess. They started with nine men, and the Oaks capitalised to take an early 2-0 lead before scoring a further five goals when the two Stanford ringers had arrived.

1-0: Stanford's keeper may have been big, but that boy was scared of the ball. On this occasion rather than simply catching Nathan's over hit free kick he palmed it straight out to Rob, who took one touch before firing home from 8 yards.

2-0: Harry took control of the ball and responded to the call from cup hero Tapsell, who had made an overlapping run. He raced on to Harry's through-ball and netted low past the keeper.

3-0: Tyrone gets a 1 in the assists column as his quick thinking and expert kicking from hand sets the young speedster clear of the Stanford defence. H gives the keeper no chance as he supplies the quality finish that merits his 15 goals for the season.

4-0: The ball is played across the box where Tapsell and Ryan are standing in close proximity. Ryan dutifully leaves the ball on the orders of Tapsell, who draws the defender and then plays the ball to Ryan. He takes one touch inside before curling the ball out of the keeper's reach and into the back of the net.

5-1: Harry is once again the provider as this time he spots the run into the box of Nathan from the right. Nathan races onto the ball and keeps up the high quality finishing standards set before him, as he fires an unstoppable low shot across the keeper.

6-2: Sharpy directs the ball into Tapsell's path, and the cup hero again supplies the finish to notch up his fourth goal in 2 games.

7-2: Tapsell returns the compliment, and Sharpy accepts as he heads the pin-point cross into the roof of the net.

2 bad

They say all good things come in pairs, but in this game we had a pair of 2 bad winners. 2 bad (this being an understatement) misses, and 2 bad bits of defending that stopped the winning margin being as big as it should have been.

Bad miss 1: Harry is clean through on goal, lifts the ball over the keeper and from two yards out, with only net in his field of vision, missing is surely impossible. Not for a player of H's quality. He side foots the ball towards goal with his left, but from nowhere his right foot appears and performs the mother of all last ditch tackles to re-direct the ball to safety. I can safely say I have never seen a miss more extraordinary than this one: hats off you to H.

Bad miss 2: Eye-Ball's cross-come-shot is met on the volley by Jordan on the right hand side of the goal. Perhaps Nathan wasn't expecting Jordan to catch it so sweetly, because he didn't seem ready when the ball bounced into his path no more than two yards from goal. He got under the ball a little too much and managed to lift it over the crossbar.

Bad defending 1: The Stanford player is left unmarked in the box, and when the ball falls to him he has all the time in the world to find a way past Ty to make the score 4-1.

Bad defending 2: The lone Stanford striker, who had run himself into the ground could probably think of nowhere he wanted to be more than the meat in a Rob and Ty sandwich. Well he got his wish, with a penalty served up for afters. Despite an excellent save by Ty from the initial kick, the follow up fell perfectly for the Stanford player to score with his second attempt.

2 ugly: Much like the small child, whose sulking and whining is met with the unhelpful conclusion that "someone must be tired", it seemed that the Oaks were suffering from the mid week cup exertions in the second half of this game. The quality of the football decreased, and unfortunately we weren't as patient with each other as we should be. We'll put it down fatigue, but I do hope success doesn't ever stop us supporting each other, and that we remember the two most important things about Sunday football: 1. if we weren't meant to cock up someone would be paying us, and 2. it's our own choice to get up on a Sunday morning so it's our responsibility to make sure we, and everyone around us, enjoys it.

Rather than be content with the league and cup double, the new challenge has been set to go the rest of the season unbeaten. Four games to go, so lets give it our best shot.

Eye-Ball

Next game: Sunday 8th April @ home v Wilburn Wanderers: 10:30 K.O

Goals and assists chart