Daily Archives: October 11, 2012

Moonraker

11 Thursday Oct 2012

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Wednesday 10th October 2012 ko 19.45

Western League Division One

CORSHAM TOWN 4 (Baker 7 Lye 39 J Moss 71 Moore 73)

WARMINSTER TOWN 0

Att 146

Entry £5

Programme £1

Teamsheet FREE

Whenever I venture south and west from Oxford, within a few miles you notice the accents change. The “Town” part of Oxford speaks with an approximation of the “Estuary” accent, but once you’re past Witney the country burr soon takes over. It’s a hangover from the days when the woollen industry went no further east than the Earley’s blanket factory in Witney, and listening to the people before the game reminded me of the story Oxonians used to tell of their country cousins. It consisted of the country folk thinking they could scrape gold from a pond at midnight, presumably because of the reflected moonlight. Bunkum of course, and I greatly enjoyed my trip to this corner of Wiltshire. Continue reading →

The Fish and the Barrel

11 Thursday Oct 2012

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Tuesday 9th October 2012 ko 19.45

Southern League Central Division

RUGBY TOWN 2 (Koriya 12 Palmer 90)

WOODFORD UNITED 0

Att 145

Entry £8

Programme £2

Ever had one of those evenings when things conspire to trip you up? This was definitely one of those! The original idea was to head south to the Wessex League to watch Hayling, but that called off before I left work (Thanks Splodge for letting me know!), so I headed north to watch Saffron Dynamo, in the Leicestershire Senior League. That, it transpired got postponed because the Cosby-based side didn’t fancy playing Desford twice in 3 days, so I was faced with a choice, do a revisit or head for home.

A call from Graeme helped no end with my options, so I parked up in Butlin Road with a couple of minutes to spare. It was about a decade earlier that I’d first visited, when the club were mid-way though their transformation from Valley Sports, to VS Rugby, to Rugby United. Nowadays its Town following the merger with the United Counties League side, and Butlin Road remains a magnificent ground, a league ground in waiting, totally out of step with the club’s position, 4 promotions from the supposed promised land.

They were always likely to a take a step in the right direction this evening as Woodford are having a dreadful time of it. Led by former Birmingham and Yeovil forward Howard Forinton, and featuring former Leamington striker Josh Blake, you’d have expected a lot more than no points from 7 games. It became clear why though, as every first step was a backward one. It gave Rugby a head start every time, and on a different night there could have been a bucket-load of goals.

And for the life of me I don’t understand why there weren’t! The game was so one-sided I placed myself each half towards the end Rugby were attacking, as Woodford had almost no answers, to the obvious frustration of Forinton. But if the Woodford goal was a barrel of fish, for the most part the hundreds of bullets fired, missed. Fazel Koriya was there to finish off a neat through ball in the twelfth minute, but then a mixture of poor finishing, over-passing, and inspired goalkeeping from Jamie Brassington kept the game within reach of the beleaguered visitors.

Every time you thought “They’ve got to score with this,” Rugby found another way to miss, and on the odd occasion Woodford ventured forward, you wondered if they could steal the most unlikely of points. They didn’t, as with yours truly already moving towards the exit, an reverse pass from Seb Lake-Gaskin found subsitute Steve Palmer, and he did the simple thing, stroking home from just inside the box. If only his team-mates had done the same…..

 

 

Take the Nil

11 Thursday Oct 2012

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Saturday 6th October 2012 ko 3pm

League 2

OXFORD UNITED 0

GILLINGHAM 0

Att 6,690 (1,014 away)

Entry S/T

Programme £3 (ic Ox Mail)

Choices, Choices…. So many games I could have chosen, the Bedfordshire hop was busy attracting around 100 people to each of its three games, and there was no lack of other attractive looking games. In the end two things influenced my decision, sheer exhaustion after one of the busiest Septembers ever, and the chance to catch up with schoolfriends Saleem and Carmine after the game. I hadn’t seen them for over 20 years, so it was an easy decision to make.

There was also the hope if not expectation that Oxford United had turned the corner. The 3-2 win over AFC Wimbledon had ended a dreadful run of 6 straight defeats, but the Gills were a different prospect altogether, top of the table, unbeaten away, and with confidence high.

First on the agenda was the presentation of David Langan to the crowd. David was a hero to anyone who grew up watching Oxford during the 1980’s as the club reached the top flight and won the League Cup. His overlapping runs made him a popular fixture at right back, but injuries took their toll, and he still suffers from the aftermath of the operations and injections. His autobiography, “Running through walls,” looks to be an involving read.

But back to the game in hand. With Wayne Brown injured Chris Wilder had little alternative but to restore Ryan Clarke between the sticks, and with Michael Raynes out injured his former teammate John Mullins arrived on loan to 2013 in the morning from Rotherham. It was to be those two players that had the most influence on the game, Clarke pulling off 4 stunning saves, and Mullins looking anything other than an unwanted defender at a fellow League 2 club who hadn’t even trained with the team.

It became clear that the number one priority was to keep midfielder Chris Whelpdale quiet. That they managed, of a fashion although Jake Forster-Caskey did have to clear a glancing header off the line from the former Peterborough man. Stirring stuff, and if the grit will have pleased manager Wilder, the increasing injury list will have not. First Damian Batt limped off then Deane Smalley struggled to make it through to half time. Surprisingly after the break he was replaced by Tom Craddock rather than the more obvious James Constable.

It took until almost the hour mark for United to create their first shot on target, Potter seeing his effort tipped over the bar by Stuart Nelson. Constable eventually was introduced for the last 10 minutes, and very nearly set up the winner, his reverse pass from the right found Craddock whose shot was deflected over the bar. It just shows how the small the margins are between success and failure. I wonder what will happen when Wilder is able to select anything like his first choice eleven? In the meantime, I think just about every Oxford United would have taken the clean sheet before this game kicked off.