Unfortunately there isn't much to report in the way of football from this match. In the 60 minutes that were played the Oaks struggled to dominate the 10, then 9, then 10, then 11 man opposition.
In fact the Oaks were indepted to Ty for keeping the score at nil - nil, who pulled off at least three top class save. His brother Jordan also chipped by somehow managing to deflect the ball over the cross bar whilst defending the goal line.
Two shots on target ended this match, before thankfully the referee put us out of our misery.
Eye-Ball
Team:
ppppppppppppppppppppTy
pEye-Ball ppppppppDeano ppppppppMillyppppppp Aaron
pParker pppppppppRobppppppppp Jordan pppppppScott
ppppppppppppNathan (c) pppppppppppSharpy
Next game: Sunday 7th February away v Stanford Wanderers at the Billet
Friday, February 05, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Oaks Athletic 1 - 1 Belhus Park Athletic (League game 8)
The long held theory that Sharpy doesn’t listen to Milesy was blown out of the water prior to this game, when evidence emerged to suggest that he hears OK, but just doesn’t understand. How else could you explain how Sharpy ended up at Belhus Park even after being told on the morning of the game that we were playing Belhus AT HOME.
Fortunately Sharyp did make it to the match, and afterwards suggested this performance could be summed up in two words; the first being “Dog”. Although it was tempting to let Sharpy write the report this week, I feel I should probably expand a bit.
If we had been offered a 1-1 draw before the match, we wouldn’t have taken it as this is a game we should have won easily. However, the suggested summary gives a pretty good account of our performance, and in hindsight a point was a bonus. We do have some excuses; we already knew Rob would be missing for this game, and the plan was for Deano to partner Milly in the centre of defence. However, Milly’s wife gave birth during the week and complications meant that Milly had somewhere much more important to be. Congratulations from us all, and we hope everything is OK with mother and baby. With Sharpy the only available striker, this meant a real re-shuffle for Milesy, and we started with the following line-up:
ppppppppppppppppTy
pJimmy Deano Stu (c) Eye-ball
pNathan Jordan Gollum Aaron
pppppppppppSharpy Scott
Sub: Parker
The game began as it was destined to go on; as a really scrappy affair. The Oaks in particular lacked composure on the ball and struggled to string more than a couple of passes together. Matters were made worse when Stu sustained an injury within the first five minutes. He tried to soldier on, but was really struggling and was unable to do anything about Belhus’ opening goal, which saw the entire back four accountable for failing to deal with a seemingly harmless move, that started with a short throw in and ended with the ball being poked home past Ty: 0-1.
Stu had to go off soon after, which meant Eye-Ball joining Deano in the centre to form a partnership that has had mixed success in the past. Parker (our only sub) had to put down his flag and make the short trip to the left back position. We weren’t the only ones with injury problems (which also included the permanently semi-crippled Gollum), with Belhus losing two players to injury in the first quarter who had to be replaced by a couple of old guys who were definitely not expecting a game.
Although the game continued in pretty much the same vain as it had started, we did improve towards the end of the half but still went in to half time a goal down.
Given the disruptions in defence it is possibly a surprise to hear that the Oaks Raggy Doll back four functioned remarkably well as a unit in the second half. Playing a high line, Belhus were caught off-side on numerous occasions, and the one instance when the referee decided to ignore the offside flag came to nothing thanks to a fine save from Ty and good chasing back from Jimmy.
With neither midfield functioning very well, and the defences winning most of the battles in the last third, this wasn’t really one for the neutral. However, we were treated to one moment of quality as Nathan leapt majestically to head home Scott’s pin-point corner, and restore a bit of the Oaks pride: 1-1.
The only other incident worth a mention is what was quite possibly the worst insult ever heard on a football pitch. Feeling aggrieved at foul being award against him, the Belhus defender promptly turned to Nathan and branded him a “leper”. Now he might have a bit of a dodgy hip, but I don’t think any limbs are going to fall off any time soon (I hope!).
Lets hope next week is an improvement, and maybe if we try and get the nets up a bit earlier we can have a few more touches of the ball before we kick off – which definitely couldn’t have made matters any worse!
Eye-Ball
Next match: Sunday 31st Jan v Young Knight @ Home
Fortunately Sharyp did make it to the match, and afterwards suggested this performance could be summed up in two words; the first being “Dog”. Although it was tempting to let Sharpy write the report this week, I feel I should probably expand a bit.
If we had been offered a 1-1 draw before the match, we wouldn’t have taken it as this is a game we should have won easily. However, the suggested summary gives a pretty good account of our performance, and in hindsight a point was a bonus. We do have some excuses; we already knew Rob would be missing for this game, and the plan was for Deano to partner Milly in the centre of defence. However, Milly’s wife gave birth during the week and complications meant that Milly had somewhere much more important to be. Congratulations from us all, and we hope everything is OK with mother and baby. With Sharpy the only available striker, this meant a real re-shuffle for Milesy, and we started with the following line-up:
ppppppppppppppppTy
pJimmy Deano Stu (c) Eye-ball
pNathan Jordan Gollum Aaron
pppppppppppSharpy Scott
Sub: Parker
The game began as it was destined to go on; as a really scrappy affair. The Oaks in particular lacked composure on the ball and struggled to string more than a couple of passes together. Matters were made worse when Stu sustained an injury within the first five minutes. He tried to soldier on, but was really struggling and was unable to do anything about Belhus’ opening goal, which saw the entire back four accountable for failing to deal with a seemingly harmless move, that started with a short throw in and ended with the ball being poked home past Ty: 0-1.
Stu had to go off soon after, which meant Eye-Ball joining Deano in the centre to form a partnership that has had mixed success in the past. Parker (our only sub) had to put down his flag and make the short trip to the left back position. We weren’t the only ones with injury problems (which also included the permanently semi-crippled Gollum), with Belhus losing two players to injury in the first quarter who had to be replaced by a couple of old guys who were definitely not expecting a game.
Although the game continued in pretty much the same vain as it had started, we did improve towards the end of the half but still went in to half time a goal down.
Given the disruptions in defence it is possibly a surprise to hear that the Oaks Raggy Doll back four functioned remarkably well as a unit in the second half. Playing a high line, Belhus were caught off-side on numerous occasions, and the one instance when the referee decided to ignore the offside flag came to nothing thanks to a fine save from Ty and good chasing back from Jimmy.
With neither midfield functioning very well, and the defences winning most of the battles in the last third, this wasn’t really one for the neutral. However, we were treated to one moment of quality as Nathan leapt majestically to head home Scott’s pin-point corner, and restore a bit of the Oaks pride: 1-1.
The only other incident worth a mention is what was quite possibly the worst insult ever heard on a football pitch. Feeling aggrieved at foul being award against him, the Belhus defender promptly turned to Nathan and branded him a “leper”. Now he might have a bit of a dodgy hip, but I don’t think any limbs are going to fall off any time soon (I hope!).
Lets hope next week is an improvement, and maybe if we try and get the nets up a bit earlier we can have a few more touches of the ball before we kick off – which definitely couldn’t have made matters any worse!
Eye-Ball
Next match: Sunday 31st Jan v Young Knight @ Home
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Oaks Athletic 1 - 2 AFC Blackshots (league game 7)
This hard fought encounter may have ended in defeat for the Oaks, but overall we can be satisfied with what the manager considered to be a very good performance. To be up against the league leaders was probably the last game we wanted after a month without playing (which would have included the traditional Christmas over-indulgence for most), but at least the recent Artic conditions had meant a lengthy lay-off for all teams. So although there was noticeably less room in the changing room due to expanded waistlines, we were still confident that we were capable of giving Blackshots a good contest.
The sunshine encouraged a good turn-out, with Milesy picking the following line-up from a squad of 14:
pppppppppppppppppppTyrone (GK)
pppppppDeano (RB) Milly (CB) Rob (CB) Eye-Ball (LB)
pNathan (RM) Jimmy (CM) Stu (CM) (c) Jordan (CM) Scott (LM)
ppppppppppppppppp Sharpy (CF)
Subs: Parker, Aaron, Gollum
Blackshots had inflicted the Oak’s heaviest defeat of the season in a previous cup game, and Milesy had obviously been studying the video footage intently as he chose to pack the midfield in an attempt to disrupt the fluid passing moves that had caused us so much trouble before.
The plan seemed to be working well as, although the Oaks were obviously rusty, we allowed the opposition very little time on the ball, and restricted them to speculative balls over the top which the Oaks defence were more than capable of dealing with.
It was therefore disappointing to go a goal down through being slow to get out of the area after seemingly clearing the danger from a cross. However, the ball was played back in and the blackshots players were played on and literally queuing up to put the ball past a stranded Ty: 0-1.
The Oaks created some good chances after going behind with the best falling to our very own Alan Shearer (Newcastle fan, good in the air, rubbish goal celebration etc.). When Sharpy leapt to head Rob’s pin point cross goal-wards the inside of the post cruelly came to Blackshots’ rescue. Sharpy wasn’t finished there, and was first to the ball again only to see his well struck shot blocked on the line. The Oaks had to therefore settle with going into half time with a one goal deficit, when they really deserved to be level.
The Oaks struggled to find the energy required to really threaten Blackshots’ lead in the second half and if it hadn’t been for a superb one-on-one save from Ty we would have been 2-0 down early in the half.
There hasn’t been much opportunity to introduce the Oaks newest recruit, but Scott has made a real difference to the side since joining before Christmas. Scott is a proper left winger, with a few good tricks and a super left foot. He was involved in the best Oaks move of the game, when he linked up with Sharpy on the left, who then crossed agonisingly close, but just out of reach, of Nathan.
Unfortunately when the next goal did come it was at the wrong end for the Oaks. An in-swinging corner hit the crossbar and fell fortuitously right onto the foot of the Blackshots skipper, who had the easy job of lifting the ball into the roof of the net: 0-2.
Blackshots seemed to take their foot of the gas following the second goal, and when Stu found the bottom corner with a well struck free kick from the left hand side we were in for an interesting last 10 minutes: 1-2.
The game had been competitive, but had been generally played in a good spirit. The one unpleasant moment came when a nasty collision between Ty and the Blackshots forward left Ty with a cut below his knee. He obviously felt that he had been the victim of an atrocious tackle, but whether or not there was any intent is not for me to decide. We should just be thankful that nobody was seriously injured.
Although the Oaks were in the ascendancy for the last 10 minutes they were not able to find the equaliser, and the game finished 1-2 to Blackshots. Although the result wasn’t what we wanted, the performance was very satisfying, and a good indication of what we should achieve in the rest of the season.
Eye-Ball
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Oaks Athletic 2 - 5 Legends (All leagues cup round 2)
I’m not sure if anyone actually dreams about slaying the biggest Premier Division sides on their way to lifting the Ted Fairchild cup, but if they do the dream for the Oaks was still very much alive until the last 10 minutes with the score at 3-2. A fluke and an individual error may have soured the final score line, but the performance left a sweet taste in the Oaks ranks where all involved worked their socks off and refused to hand Legends an easy passage to the next round.
Milesy had 13 players to choose his starting eleven from for this match, and went for the following line up:
ppppppppppppppTyrone (GK)
pParker (RB) Stu (CB) (c) Rob (CB) Eye-Ball (LB)
pNathan (RM) Jimmy (CM) Jordan (CM) Scott (LM)
pppppppppJamie (CF) Sharpy (CF)
Subs: Aaron, Bill (complete with tights)
The game started in competitive fashion, and although no one was going to argue who the stronger side were The Oaks showed they weren’t prepared to sit back and let Legends play their own game. The two assistants were as busy as the twenty-two players in the open exchanges with both defences successfully deploying the off-side trap. This limited Legends to a few speculative long range efforts, and when they did finally break free of The Oaks defence Ty was on hand to make a fine one-on-one save with his legs.
Sharpy and Jamie were linking up well upfront, and Jamie especially seemed to be inspired by the opportunity to show he is in the same class as the strikers our premier league opposition face week in week out. The Legends assistant’s arm seemed on automatic pilot, and both Jamie and Sharpy were harshly denied goal scoring opportunities.
The Legends took the lead 15 minutes into the match when their striker made himself an inch of room in the box and slotted the ball past a helpless Ty: 0-1.
The Oaks continued to battle hard and soak up the pressure, and when Eye-ball intercepted a pass mid way in his own half few would have envisage what was to happen next. If you were to rank the Oaks players purely on footballing skillsEye-ball's name would appear next to 'Not Applicable'. Unfortunately he has watched quite a lot of Match of the Day, and as a result you will quite often hear him say "it looked good in my head" as he swings at thin air or uses his nose to clear the ball. This often ends in disaster, with the Legends' 5th goal being a prime example, as aperfectly weighted cross field ball to Bill turned into a defence splitting pass for the opposition to latch on to and score. On the very odd occasion it pays off; when Eye-ball set off on a mazy dribble that actually resulted in bulldozing through three opposition players and fortuitously emerging with the ball the task was the simple: Pass the ball to Jamie who set off towards goal before laying it off to Nathan to continue the run, he then played the ball across the goal for Sharpy to finish from 6yards (notice we don't describe 6 yard finishing as an easy task for Sharpy): 1-1.
This was a really well worked goal, and the Oaks fully deserved to still be in the game at this point. Unfortunately a sloppy goal was conceded just before half time when we were slow to get organised following the award of a free kick on the edge of the area, but all in all we were delighted with the first half performance: 1-2.
With Al on the long term injury list, and Milly and Deano also missing Stu had dropped back to partner Rob at the heart of the defence and Jordan joined Jimmy in the centre of midfield. The versatility and commitment of Oaks faithful is second to none and the performance from all in the first half demonstrated why we are able to compete with any opposition irrespective of player availability. The first half had unsurprisingly taken it toll, and the Oaks struggled to get into the game in the second half. Fortunately the Legends had left their shooting boots at home (or had they swapped them with Eye-Ball?) and despite their best efforts it wasn't until about 25 minutes into the second half that they managed to put the ball into the net when a break away down the right led to an easy finish for the Legends' attacker: 1-3.
A lot of teams would have thrown in the towel at this point, seeing as we were two goals down against premier league opposition with 20 minutes to go. The Oaks are made of sterner stuff though, and good work from Nathan on the right earned a corner which he then prepared to take. Rumours had been spreading throughout the game that, far from being dead, the King of Pop was alive and well and marshalling the Oaks defence. In an attempt to dispel the conspiracy theories I should point out that the man in question has never been excuse of sexual relations with Billie Jean, and although he is pretty smooth I’m sure he has a clean record. Also, far from Healing the World he’s more likely to put the opposition (or himself) in hospital. However, it’s easy to understand the confusion as Rob glided (not to be confused with “moonwalked”) into the area wearing one glove and powered an unstoppable header from Nathan’s pin-point cross past the helpless goalkeeper: 2-3.
I should clear up any confusion at this point, and inform you that Rob was told that simply taping up his wedding ring wasn’t sufficient, and wearing the glove was the only alternative to removing the ring – which wasn’t going to happen. Rob was rightly annoyed by this ridiculous new ruling. I understand to a certain extent that football league rules should apply across the professional and amateur games, but a bit of common sense should be applied in some cases. If the job you get paid to do requires you not to wear rings then it’s obvious that you wouldn’t wear one. When you’re only a footballer for 90 minutes on a Sunday morning it’s unreasonable to be asked to remove your wedding ring (and a lot of people physically can’t) if it has never been off your finger. If the decision for Rob becomes a choice between cutting off his ring or not playing Sunday League football any more the Oaks are going to loose a key player.
Now that rant is over I can tell you that the Oaks believed now that they could possibly force extra time, but when Ty attempted to clear a corner at the near post, but only succeeded in whacking the ball onto the back of his brother’s head (maybe a subconscious reaction stemming from their childhood) the opposition were left with a simple finish: 2-4.
I’ve already talked enough about the shambolic goal in the last minute that gave the final score line a more unfavourable tint: 2-5.
Well done everyone, and hopefully we can take the confidence and experience gained from this game into our next league matches.
Eye-Ball
Next Match – Sun 3rd January League Game v Belhus Park Athletic @ Belhus Park (Away) – 10:30 K.O.
Scoring Chart will return once I've checked all the figures. I still have Sharpy top with 8 goals, and Nathan second with 6.
Milesy had 13 players to choose his starting eleven from for this match, and went for the following line up:
ppppppppppppppTyrone (GK)
pParker (RB) Stu (CB) (c) Rob (CB) Eye-Ball (LB)
pNathan (RM) Jimmy (CM) Jordan (CM) Scott (LM)
pppppppppJamie (CF) Sharpy (CF)
Subs: Aaron, Bill (complete with tights)
The game started in competitive fashion, and although no one was going to argue who the stronger side were The Oaks showed they weren’t prepared to sit back and let Legends play their own game. The two assistants were as busy as the twenty-two players in the open exchanges with both defences successfully deploying the off-side trap. This limited Legends to a few speculative long range efforts, and when they did finally break free of The Oaks defence Ty was on hand to make a fine one-on-one save with his legs.
Sharpy and Jamie were linking up well upfront, and Jamie especially seemed to be inspired by the opportunity to show he is in the same class as the strikers our premier league opposition face week in week out. The Legends assistant’s arm seemed on automatic pilot, and both Jamie and Sharpy were harshly denied goal scoring opportunities.
The Legends took the lead 15 minutes into the match when their striker made himself an inch of room in the box and slotted the ball past a helpless Ty: 0-1.
The Oaks continued to battle hard and soak up the pressure, and when Eye-ball intercepted a pass mid way in his own half few would have envisage what was to happen next. If you were to rank the Oaks players purely on footballing skillsEye-ball's name would appear next to 'Not Applicable'. Unfortunately he has watched quite a lot of Match of the Day, and as a result you will quite often hear him say "it looked good in my head" as he swings at thin air or uses his nose to clear the ball. This often ends in disaster, with the Legends' 5th goal being a prime example, as aperfectly weighted cross field ball to Bill turned into a defence splitting pass for the opposition to latch on to and score. On the very odd occasion it pays off; when Eye-ball set off on a mazy dribble that actually resulted in bulldozing through three opposition players and fortuitously emerging with the ball the task was the simple: Pass the ball to Jamie who set off towards goal before laying it off to Nathan to continue the run, he then played the ball across the goal for Sharpy to finish from 6yards (notice we don't describe 6 yard finishing as an easy task for Sharpy): 1-1.
This was a really well worked goal, and the Oaks fully deserved to still be in the game at this point. Unfortunately a sloppy goal was conceded just before half time when we were slow to get organised following the award of a free kick on the edge of the area, but all in all we were delighted with the first half performance: 1-2.
With Al on the long term injury list, and Milly and Deano also missing Stu had dropped back to partner Rob at the heart of the defence and Jordan joined Jimmy in the centre of midfield. The versatility and commitment of Oaks faithful is second to none and the performance from all in the first half demonstrated why we are able to compete with any opposition irrespective of player availability. The first half had unsurprisingly taken it toll, and the Oaks struggled to get into the game in the second half. Fortunately the Legends had left their shooting boots at home (or had they swapped them with Eye-Ball?) and despite their best efforts it wasn't until about 25 minutes into the second half that they managed to put the ball into the net when a break away down the right led to an easy finish for the Legends' attacker: 1-3.
A lot of teams would have thrown in the towel at this point, seeing as we were two goals down against premier league opposition with 20 minutes to go. The Oaks are made of sterner stuff though, and good work from Nathan on the right earned a corner which he then prepared to take. Rumours had been spreading throughout the game that, far from being dead, the King of Pop was alive and well and marshalling the Oaks defence. In an attempt to dispel the conspiracy theories I should point out that the man in question has never been excuse of sexual relations with Billie Jean, and although he is pretty smooth I’m sure he has a clean record. Also, far from Healing the World he’s more likely to put the opposition (or himself) in hospital. However, it’s easy to understand the confusion as Rob glided (not to be confused with “moonwalked”) into the area wearing one glove and powered an unstoppable header from Nathan’s pin-point cross past the helpless goalkeeper: 2-3.
I should clear up any confusion at this point, and inform you that Rob was told that simply taping up his wedding ring wasn’t sufficient, and wearing the glove was the only alternative to removing the ring – which wasn’t going to happen. Rob was rightly annoyed by this ridiculous new ruling. I understand to a certain extent that football league rules should apply across the professional and amateur games, but a bit of common sense should be applied in some cases. If the job you get paid to do requires you not to wear rings then it’s obvious that you wouldn’t wear one. When you’re only a footballer for 90 minutes on a Sunday morning it’s unreasonable to be asked to remove your wedding ring (and a lot of people physically can’t) if it has never been off your finger. If the decision for Rob becomes a choice between cutting off his ring or not playing Sunday League football any more the Oaks are going to loose a key player.
Now that rant is over I can tell you that the Oaks believed now that they could possibly force extra time, but when Ty attempted to clear a corner at the near post, but only succeeded in whacking the ball onto the back of his brother’s head (maybe a subconscious reaction stemming from their childhood) the opposition were left with a simple finish: 2-4.
I’ve already talked enough about the shambolic goal in the last minute that gave the final score line a more unfavourable tint: 2-5.
Well done everyone, and hopefully we can take the confidence and experience gained from this game into our next league matches.
Eye-Ball
Next Match – Sun 3rd January League Game v Belhus Park Athletic @ Belhus Park (Away) – 10:30 K.O.
Scoring Chart will return once I've checked all the figures. I still have Sharpy top with 8 goals, and Nathan second with 6.
Anchor Tilbury v Oaks Athletic (GAME CANCELLED)
Due to temporary expansion of Blackshots swimming pool to cover the entire playing fields.
Eye-Ball
Eye-Ball
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