Kynoch Sports 3 – 2 Oaks Athletic (Dvision 2B Knock Out Cup)

This game will be remembered not so much for the disappointed of defeat, but for a special moment for one of the Oaks most loyal servants; Paul “Gollum” Webb. Gollum has taken a fair bit of flack (though all in good humour) for managing just one goal in two seasons, despite starting the majority of games at Centre Forward. This is not to say that Gollum hasn’t contributed significantly in other ways, and his determination and willingness to get stuck in has caused defences no end of problems. Al’s arrival this season has seen Gollum deployed in the centre of midfield, and he has relished his role as the “break up” man.

It was somewhat fitting that Gollum’s replacement in attack assitted in ending his goal drought, with Al’s corner finding the unmarked Gollum in the six yard box, who put the ball home with a bullet header to give the Oaks the lead midway through the first half. It was great to see Gollum score, and especially pleasing for our old friend Jacko who had come over to support us (although was there really any need to seem so amazed!).

Injuries and work commitments meant that milesy once again had to change the team around, with Aaron and Parker replacing Stu and Kieron in the starting eleven, which looked as follows:

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaNeil (GK)

aaParker (RB) Milly (CB) Deano (CB) (c) Eye-Ball (LB)

aaaaNathan (RM) Gollum (CM) Rob (CM) Aaron (LM)

aaaaaaaaaaa Sharpy (CF) Al (CF)

Subs: Bill, Jimmy.

In a high tempo first half The Oaks had chances to extend their lead, and also road their luck as Kynoch squandered some good chances. However this luck didn’t last for long, and the failure to deal with a long goal kick lead to the Kynoch striker crossing low for his team mate to tap in at the far post.

Injuries are still a major problem for The Oaks, and Vice-Captain Deano – who had been struggling since the initial warm up – had to reluctantly step down at half time and hand over the cursed arm band to Nathan. This meant another shake up from Tinkerman Milesy, with Rob moving back into defence and Bill coming on with the unenviable task of tracking Kynoch’s most influential player.

Having done more than hold our own for 45 minutes against a good side -who had spent the previous season in the Division One – it was a shame that we weren’t able to carry on where we had left off in the second half, as we allowed Kynoch to get on top of us. To be fair, they made much better use of the large Pegasus pitch, and their sustained period of possession finally bore fruit as the newly named “Titanium Pepperami” tried too hard to intercept a floated cross into the danger area, and only succeeded in flattening the opposition player. The ref had no hesitation in awarding the penalty, which was subsequently converted to give Kynoch a 2-1 lead.

Kynoch remained on top following the goal, and The Oaks players – by their own admission – failed to raise their game to the required level. Sharpy even admitted that he would have substituted himself, by what could he do ...”he’s not the manager”. Nathan rightly tried to encourage his troops to put more pressure on the opposition higher up the pitch, but unfortunately a third goal for Kynoch came before an equaliser. There was still to be a potentially interesting finish as Al slotted home smartly between the keeper’s legs from 20 yards to make the score 3-2, but unfortunately the only other noteworthy incident was in the bar where Deano fulfuilled a lifetime ambition of burping, coughing, and sneezing at the same time.

I don’t think any of us would disagree that the better team won on the day, but what was encouraging was that we all felt we could, and should have done better – so let’s up it again next week!

Eye Ball

Next game – Sun 26th Oct 10.30 K.O vs Concept B @ Blackshots (Away) (league match)

Oaks Athletic 3 - 2 Linford Wanderers (Combined League Cup)

The Oaks are starting to show real self-belief, as they twice came from behind to win a match in which they were by far the better side.

I'm afraid I don't know the official name of this cup competition (it's probably something like the Dulux Dog Magnolia Challenge Cup), but it's basically the one where you can meet any team from the five divisions of the Thurrock Sunday League. The draw for the first round saw The Oaks pitted against Linford Wanderers, who are in our league this year and beat us 4-2 in the same competition 2 seasons ago.

Manager Milesy decided not to stick with the team that had played so well the previous week against Belhus Park, and instead chose to put the returning Rob and Eye-Ball back in and hand a starting spot to Kieran, who had really impressed the previous week when coming on as a sub. I'm sure everyone will agree that having Kieran available regularly will add an extra bit of class - even if it means our centre backs can't see much when he is playing with Gollum in the midfield.


The starting 11 for today's game was as follows:

Neil (GK)

Deano (RB) Rob (CB) Milly (CB) Eye-ball (LB)

Nathan (RM) Gollum (CM) Stu (CM) (c) Kieran (LM)

Al (ST) Sharpy (ST)

and this left Parker, Jimmy, Bill and Aaron starting on the bench.

The Oaks kicked-off the match, playing towards the flats in the lifting fog. It was a bright start, with The Oaks quickly settling into the slick passing game that is becoming a bit of a trademark. There was a really good balance to the side, with Nathan and Kieran linking up time and again with Al and Sharpy to provide a real attacking threat, whilst Stu and Gollum held their ground in the midfield, preventing the opposition from having any sustained posession. With the back four looking comfortable, and Neil obvioiusly having put the previous week behind him, there was really only one team that looked likely to win - and the only surprise was that The Oak went behind after 20 minutes.

On their first attacks of any note Linford got the ball into the heart of The Oaks penalty area, but when a good block from Rob was prevented from going behind by the arm of a Linford player on the ground, the injustice felt by the absence of any whistle from the referee was compounded by the fact that a Linford player was consequently able to fire the ball into the net to give his side an undeserved 1-0 lead.

The frustration caused by this horendous decision unsettled The Oaks, but composure was soon restored, and it wasn't long until the equaliser arrived. The referee was not having the best of games, and when Rob was barged off the ball in the opposition penalty area he decided that this offence was only worthy of an indirect free-kick! In hindsight we can't complain about the decision, as Nathan rolled the ball into Stu's path to calmy drill the ball into the bottom left hand corner and level the scores. The only person still slightly disappointed was Sharpy, who saw his chance of catching Al in the scoring chart snatched away (because of course he would have scored the penalty).

This score proved the catalyst for all out war on the Linford Wanderers goal; unfortunately the Linford keeper wasn't ready to throw in the towel, as he pulled out a string of quite remarkable saves to keep the score at 1-1 going in at half time.

The Oaks weren't able to start the second half in the dominating fashion they had displayed in the first, and Linford were able to get on the front foot. The home side were subsequently made to pay when some slack defending, and a failure to clear the ball on several consecutive occasions lead to the replacement winger getting on the end of a tame throw-in to slot in and put Linford 2-1 up.

The Oaks had shown in the first half that they were capable of creating genuine scoring chances from open play, but as always we were still very dangerous from set-pieces. It was from the tried and tested O'Kerin bullet throw that The Oaks equalised for the second time; Sharpy once again causing all sorts of problems in the box and finally converting with his rosy cheeks. 2-2.

2-2 soon turned to 3-2, as The Oaks took the lead for the first time. Linford's policy of launching it long in an attempt to capatilise on the rising sun back-fired as Neil confidently collect one such long ball, and whose quick distribution saw the ball find it's was through to Sharpy, who wasn't about to give the keeper more saving practise as he calmly slotted the ball into the corner.

The game was by no means over, and Linford pushed forward looking for an equaliser. It was all hands to the pumps, and some dogged defending plus some outstanding saves from Neil - including a fine reaction stop from a volley from about 8 yards - saw The Oaks over the line.

Well done to all for the first (and overdue) win of the season; now let's make it a habit. I hope those who didn't make it on this week feel like they contributed to the team effort. We've got a really strong squad, and if we have 15 players turning up every week those who do start will know they have to perform because Milesy will know he can replace anyone not pulling their weight with someone eager to impress.

Eye-Ball

Next Game : Sun 19th Oct - 10.30 KO Vs Kynoch Sports @Pegasus Club (another cup game)

Goal scoring chart:

Belhus Park Ath 2 - 2 Oaks Athletic

I'm not really in a position to comment on this match, as I wasn't there and I haven't seen the highlights on Match of the Day yet!

I have been reliably informed that The Oaks could (and possibly should) have won the game, and that early fears that we might be out of our depth in this league have already been dispelled.

Well done to Al for bagging his first two goals for The Oaks - I'm sure there will be many more to come.

If someone lets me know the starting 11 (and who came on as sub) I'll update the scoring chart. Also if you want to supply any info about the game I will add it to the report.

Well done lads.

Eye-Ball

Sutton Sports 5 - 2 Oaks Athletic (Essex Cup)

The full title of this match was: The Sunday Junior Cup - Group Eleven - Preliminary Round; which is slightly demoralising for a few reasons: Firstly it gives the impression we were beaten by a bunch of kids; secondly a better draw could have seen us play Kaktus or Asda rather than a half decent side from the Southend League; and thirdly, we didn't even make it to the first round!

Given the opposition, and the general consensus that this cup is a bit of an unwanted distraction, it says a lot about the expectations of the team that we were all disappointed with the final result. With a couple of strong performances pre-season, and the introduction of some new blood to the squad everyone was itching to get the season underway.

Milesy had to make a last minute change to the side, with Milly taking the sensible decision not to risk his dodgy calf. New man Bill stepped in to the starting 11 which also included two more new signings in Al and Neil; all three having already proven themselves to be valuable additions in pre-season.


The full starting eleven looked as follows:

Neil (GK)

Parker (RB) Robbie (CB) Deano (CB) Eye-ball (LB)

Nathan (RM) Gollum (CM) Stu (CM) (c) Bill (LM)

Al (ST) Sharpie (ST)

The Oaks started well, with Sharpie, Al and Nathan supplying the main attacking threat. However, it was apparent early on that it was not going to be an easy game for the defence, with the ridiculous policy of not having linesmen meaning you could have no confidence in playing offside. This was made even worse when the eagle-eyed amongst us noticed the ref was wearing a Sutton Sports shirt under his kit. To make matters worse his incontinence pants were obviously hampering his mobility, and he subsequently had to make every decision from the safety of the centre circle.

The Oaks went behind in the first half when Neil was unfortunate to parry a shot straight into the path of an opposition player, who rifled a low shot which went in off the post.

It was not long until The Oaks were back in the match when Nathan "Delap" Kerin hurled in a trademark long throw which was met at the back post by Sharpie, who opened his goal-scoring account for the season.

1-1 soon became 2-1, when the opposition number 10 was allowed to meet a diagonal ball and slot in with ease at the back post. The Oaks were now on the back foot, and a neat volley finish by the same number 10 (you're right Deano - he really was doggy do-do) made the score 3-1 at the break.

The two fit(ish) subs Aaron and Jimmy came on at the start of the second half, replacing Bill and Parker respectively (the latter needing to get back to his Donkey World apparently - we've got to get that photo on here!). The second half saw a 13th man added to the opposition's side, with mother nature playing havoc with our vision. They looked to take advantage of this by peppering shots at our goal, one of which Neil was only able to parry into the path of an on-rushing Sutton player who made the score 4-1.

The game was not over by any means, and a good attacking run and rasping shot from Aaron resulted in a corner which Sutton failed to clear, and Deano smartly slotted home at the back post to make the score 4-2 and apparently earn himself a hair cut (?).

First game fitness issues became apparent in the last 15 minutes, and Sutton always looked the more likely to score, which they duly did when efforts of Neil, the cross-bar (twice) and Eye-ball could only result in the ball being bundled over the line.

So 5-2; a disappointing result, but an encouraging first performance of the season which will hopefully give everyone some confidence going into the first league game next week.

Eye-Ball

Next Game : Sun 5th Oct - 10.30 KO Vs Belhus Park Ath @Lakeside (between M&S and Ann Summers)

Goal Scoring Chart

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Big Match this weekend - England V Andorra. Expect a 3-0 win. They will defend deep, we need to get to the byline to cross you morons!

Anyway. It's on Setanta :)