Tag Archives: Northway

Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker

18 Thursday Apr 2013

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Wednesday 17th April 2013 ko 18.30

Oxon Senior League Division One

NORTHWAY 3 (Welby 37 Simpson 62 Albin 66)

YARNTON 4 (Steele 4 Marsh 17 Webb 25 83) Marsh missed penalty 34

Att 17

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

The Parish of New Marston, in Oxford used to be part of Headington, and the cottages and stone fronts of Old Headington soon give way to the red brick and concrete of the newer estate as you head down the hill on Dunstan Road. The vast majority of the estate was built in the  20th century, when the County Borough of Oxford developed estates of council houses around Marston Road and north of Headley Way. The County Borough had built 138 council houses at New Marston by 1938 and added another 70 after 1950. More recently the influx of Eastern Europeans saw the local church in Ferry Road become Russian Orthodox and be restyled Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. A small gold cupola has been added too!

In the middle of it all is the Northway estate, and the huge Plowman Tower which dominates what is in all but name, a village green surrounded on three sides by roads. The Northway club is a community centre and social club here with the shops and buses leaving city centre bound from opposite the club. It’s nothing if not convenient if you want to watch a game, especially if you happen to live in the first few floors of the tower! As convenient as it all is, Northway cannot progress further than Oxon Senior League football here, assuming they’d want to. There is no hard standing, its barely enclosed, and there’s no cover save for the odd tree. But then again, do they really need more?

And if the delights of the Oxon Senior League aren’t to your taste, the floodlights of Court Place Farm, home to Oxford City are clearly visible a couple of hundred yards away. In fact my only regret in attending this game was that one of the shops wasn’t a Fish and Chips Shop. Sometimes on a windy night, only a bag of chips will do!

Not that there was anything wrong with the entertainment on offer, with two contrasting sides on view. Yarnton are former Hellenic Leaguers and the well-to-do village has been inhabited since Bronze Age times. They looked highly organised with no lack of trainers and looked smart in their club tracksuits. In contrast Northway’s manager did everything, and had clearly arrived straight from work.

Maybe that was why Yarnton made such as good start, they scored 3 in 25 minutes, and missed a penalty 10 minutes after that. What was noticeable was that the Northway heads didn’t drop, and the manager was positive throughout. The comeback started with Lewis Welby’s fine strike before half time, and they managed to keep the momentum going after the break.

I wondered when Yarnton would fine their feet again, but Northway kept piling on the pressure. Anthony Simpson mugged the keeper for the second and when Nick Albin nodded home from a corner there looked to be only one winner, but when a game is this good, there’s sting in the tail.

The Yarnton bench castigated striker John Webb for not tracking back, and clearly stung by the criticism, he let fly from 20 yards, and the ball fairly whistled in! Cruel on Northway, who had nothing left with which to respond. Breathless stuff on a windy night, with 2 friendly sides whose company I enjoyed. I feel a trip to Yarnton coming on!

From Loftus to Arnold

26 Sunday Feb 2012

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Sunday 26th February 2012 ko 10.30am

Upper Thames Valley League Divsion 3A

WHITE HORSE ABINGDON 1 (Belcher 74)

NORTHWAY (BOYS & GIRLS) 2 (Yerwood 75 Hatt 76)

Att 1

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

There is a team called Abingdon Exiles in the UTVL but they play at Abingdon United. The real exiles are White Horse Abingdon who play at the Louis Memorial Pavilion, Arnold’s Way in the west Oxford suburb of Botley.

Botley is one of those places that many will have passed, but few recognised. The A34 runs past the suburb’s main landmark, the Seacourt Tower, built as a car dealership, but known locally as Botley Cathedral, due to its spire!

The ground is basic, just a set of posts and a changing room block, but the welcome from manager John Clark was genuine. It transpired that the team moved here when they couldn’t get a pitch in Abingdon, this pitch having been vacated by Research Machines FC who have moved to Steventon FC. Co-incidentally this morning’s referee Andrew Caven was in charge of the North Berkshire Hop game, at yes Steventon! Its worth noting that the Arnold’s Way Ground hasn’t been used for Saturday football for some time.

Northway have a certain quirk in that both they and their reserves play in Division 3. The firsts in 3A and the reserves in 3B, and for the record both divisions are of equal stature. For White Horse, the quirk was in the form of defender Dan Lawrence who’s place of work the previous day was Queen’s Park Rangers! OK, he’s a cameraman for Sky Sports, but everyone enjoyed the Premier League connection.

I tried hard to get the attendance above well, me. A few walkers passed as a public footpath is situated at the back of the ground. Some stopped and watched for a few minutes, but none lingered, or asked the score. A shame as this was a decent honest game, which deserved watching.

The first half was notable for profligate finishing from both sides but particularly the hosts. Northway did get the ball in the net, but this was quickly ruled offside. Northway midfielder Kieron Jennings debated the point describing the decision as “A f*****g joke,” for which he received a red card, Caven explaining how in the pre-match talk how he would not tolerate foul language. That hurt Jennings more than Caven imagined. Jennings plays for Hellenic League outfit Thame United and I would not want to be present when he informs the club he’s now suspended! Unusually he did end up running the line, which I suspect isn’t entirely compliant with FA guidelines.

As the game wore on and I became increasingly nervous about collecting a 0-0, White Horse came more into the game, and the introduction of Matty Belcher seemed to have swung the game in their favour. His finish of a good move was no more than White Horse deserved, but the lead was to last barely a minute as Michael Yerwood smashed home at close range to equalise, then just a minute after that Rob Hatt’s low shot from 10 yards won the game for the visitors.

It was all rather harsh on White Horse, who had done little wrong other than shoot poorly. An interesting coda for them was the introduction of Youcef El Barhdadi, or to use his blogging title Moroccan Yellow. For a few minutes it was blogger watching blogger!

Here’s his site, it’s rather good!!!

http://www.moroccan10.blogspot.com/

The “I was there” Game

02 Sunday Oct 2011

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Sunday 2nd October 2011 ko 10.30am

Oxfordshire FA Sam Waters Cup 1st Round

RED LION ISLIP 10 (Thorne 21 90 Wells 22 39 41 110 White 76 90 Webb 89 Johnson 98)

NORTHWAY BOYS & GIRLS 10 (Lawrence 20 54 68 72 Muze 48 Martin 49 77 R Hatt 65 Cox 105 Hibbins 114)

AET Northway won 3-1 on penalties

Att 12 (h/c)

Entry FREE

Programme NO

Wow, where do I start with this one? My attendance was a last minute affair, my mate Pete said he was going, he didn’t turn up and will probably regret his decision for a long time!

Islip is a pretty village around 5 miles north of Oxford, and its claim to fame is that its the birthplace of St Edward the Confessor. The ground is to be found on Church Lane, virtually in the shadow of the village’s decorated gothic church, the parish church of St Nicholas. Like many places in the area the village saw action in the civil war, the battle of Islip Bridge being fought in 1645. The bridge is still in use and adjacent Swan pub car park nearby was used for moor boats taking parliamentary troops into Oxford. The other pub that gives the local side its name, used to boast former Oxford United, Third Lanark, Manchester United, Wolves and Banbury United striker Hugh Curran as its publican.

With the unseasonally warm weather it was a pleasure to sit in the sun, and be entertained on Sunday. The Sam Waters Cup is for Sunday sides affiliated to the OFA, which with the demise of  the Morrells Oxford Sunday League is almost an entirely Upper Thames Valley League affair. Islip play in Divsion 3 of the UTVL with Northway a division down in 3A.

But the game…. exactly as the scoreline would suggest. The opener was a quite wonderful effort, Marvin Martin’s pinpoint cross from the left found Dan Lawrence whose first time volley whistled past Franklin in the home goal.

But then Islip found a outlet, midfielder Adam Wells. No great movement, but a shot like an angry mule. Three shots, three goals, and while the second, the  keeper Partlett will want to forget, the third, a free kick nothing on earth was going to stop. So, at half time 4-1, and the Islip win looked assured. But Northway reorganised and significantly in midfield Justice Muze and Martin swapped places, and the former found real space out on the left. Wells was man-marked, and the game turned. Goal after goal went in as the sides worked out the only form of defence was attack and Lawrence duly collected the second hat trick of the game, and with two minutes left Northway found themselves 8-6 up. The finish? Not a bit of it, as Islip found it within themselves to notch twice in injury time to force extra time.

Sitting here typing I still have no idea how the sides managed to keep the pace going for another 30 minutes. Johnson’s thumping header at a corner was answered by full back Cox tapping in at the back post. Wells’ free kick, so powerful it dislodged the net from its moorings looked like the winner, but no side deserved to lose this. Neither side begrudged Northway’s equaliser, Carl Hibbins bundling in with 6 minutes left.

So to penalties, and would you believe the first two were missed! Wells thumped home his, but his proved be the only successful conversion for Islip. Make no mistake, I’ll make sure I’ll see both of these sides again. What a game!

Daylight Robbery

14 Wednesday Sep 2011

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Cheltenham Association Football League Division Two

NORTHWAY 2 (33 89)

PRESTBURY 1 (59)

Att 25

Entry FREE

Nothing for Sale

They say that God helps those who help themselves (so why do shoplifters get arrested?) and my blasting through the countryside of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, was rewarded when I arrived 15 minutes late for a 6.00pm kick off when Referee Mike Lytheer arrived late and kick off was delayed until 6.25! Handy, we did get 90 minutes in, but it was mighty dark at the end!

Northway is a village just the other side of the M5 from Tewkesbury, although it looks less a village and more an industrial estate. Nothing too preposessing about the Gould Playing Field either, barely a tree to photograph, the only point of even minimal interest was the BMX equipment nearby.

Still all the ground ticks are the same size, even if the standard was poor and the first half instantly forgetable! In the gloom, Prestbury hit the crossbar, Northway counter-attacked and scored. But that’s something you can see at a far higher level!

The Mickey Mouse Quotient

09 Friday Sep 2011

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Cheltenham Association Football League Division 2

TEWKESBURY TOWN 4 (Jordan 15 57 Halling 55 75)

NORTHWAY 1 (Higgins 24)

Att 47 (h/c)

Entry FREE

Nothing for Sale

Many groundhoppers have standards of football beyond which they won’t venture, a favourite measure is whether a programme is available. For others it’s a specific level, measurable by how many promotions it would theoretically take to reach the Football League.

As a result the Cheltenham League is off the beaten track for many, and it’s generally difficult to sell a game on a pitch behind a school, with no cover, and no facilities.  For all of these perceived difficulties this was an enjoyable evening out. It helped that the club were kind enough to phone me to offer directions and both sides gave information about the lineups and themselves freely. It was handy for the neutral also, that the two sides are local rivals, hate each other, and the two benches spent the encounter glowering at each other from opposite sides of the pitch. A division 4 game was taking place on the adjoining pitch to add more flavour.

So what was it like? Well the standard was predictably poor, but I’ve seen a lot worse, and at a far higher level, but it was always entertaining. We had the unusual sight of Northway’s Steve Prosser being booked for dissent, whilst a non playing substitute, but his side’s defence was notably more incompetent than their opponents’ and in  the second half the home side made that implied advantage count.