A Boult from the Blue

16 Wednesday May 2012

Tags

Jason Hallatt, Louis McGillycuddy, Mansfield Road, Marston, Oxon Senior League, Saints, Simon Dickie, Stuart Whigham, Tom Payne

Tuesday 15th May 2012 ko 6.30pm

Oxon Senior League Premier Division

MANSFIELD ROAD 1 (McGillycuddy 64)

MARSTON SAINTS 2 (Payne 5 Hallatt 12)

Att 46 (h/c)

Played at Boults Lane, Old Marston, Oxford (Marston Saints FC)

Entry FREE

Nothing for Sale

If you’ve visited Oxford City FC then you’ve been within a couple of hundred yards of this place. Just opposite the main entrance to Court Place Farm is a small grassed area that used to be the home of Headley Hawks cycle speedway team. It’s now used for children’s football but beyond the hedge at the back is the sports field that is home to this small club.

If you want to drive there, it’s a good mile away, through Old Marston, a suburb of Oxford that to all intents and purposes is still a village, seemingly untouched by urbanisation. The village played an important part in the English Civil War. While the Royalist forces were besieged in the city, used by King Charles I as his capital, the Parliamentary forces under Sir Thomas Fairfax had quarters in Marston, and used the church tower as a lookout post for viewing the enemy’s artillery positions in what is now the University Parks. Oliver Cromwell visited Fairfax at what is now known as “Cromwell House” at 17 Mill Lane, and the Treaty for the Surrender of Oxford was signed there in 1646.

Boults Lane is the kind of place you wouldn’t know existed unless you’d been there. The ground is tucked away at the back of the cul-de-sac, and shares the limited space with the HQ of the 43rd Oxford Scout Troop. My last visit was over 25 years ago for a First Aid badge! The huge John Radcliffe hospital provides a striking backdrop to the whole area.

Mansfield Road have their roots as the Oxford University College Servants club. Their ground has the most wonderful 4-storey clubhouse/hotel/gym/restaurant, with a glass roof. It’s adjacent to New Collage and Balliol’s grounds, so its worth checking if there’s an Oxford University Middle Common Room game on a Saturday morning, then strolling over for the afternoon game. It’s also a complete pain to park, use the Park & Ride to St Giles. Don’t try what I did, park at the Faculty of International Relations, and when someone whinged suggest that they negotiate with me! With the Mansfield Road ground now devoted to cricket, this tie was switched, and I noted that the OSL Mitoo page managed to misspell “Boults!”

The game had something riding on it too, with Saints needing a point to avoid relegation. They made a remarkably quick start too, with two decent finishes in 12 minutes. With Manny forced into using their one substitute early, then watching centre half Simon Dickie pull his hamstring, forcing him to swap places with keeper Stuart Whigham I wondered how many Marston would get! Its didn’t happen as Marston eased off, and allowed Manny back in, and when Louis McGillycuddy’s excellent snap-shot reduced the arrears, there were palpable and completely unnecessary nerves, but Manny’s renaissance was short-lived and so Marston can breathe more easily. Mind you, this is the OSL so anything can happen at the AGM!

: The clubhouse at Mansfield Road, on my visit in January 2011

Muddy Waters

07 Monday May 2012

Posted by laurencereade in A

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Abingdon Town, Ben Green, Chris Harris, Cultham Road, Football, groundhopping, john radcliffe hospital, league presidents, Marston Saints, Oxon Senior League, Quarry Nomads, Riverside, Tom Payne

Monday 7th May 2012 ko 11.00am

Oxon Senior League Presidents Cup Final

MARSTON SAINTS 1 (Payne 75p)

RIVERSIDE 2 (Green 25 87) Green missed penalty 87 Harris sent off 73 (spitting)

Att 83 (h/c)

Entry & (4 page) Programme £3

@Abingdon Town FC

The Culham Road home of Abingdon Town is one of the County’s best grounds, in fact with Oxford United back in the League, I’d have thought it was the best non-league ground in Oxfordshire. The only problem is that in football terms, you’re in Berkshire, pesky pre-1974 boundaries still apply! There’s so much to like with cover on 3 sides, and 2 areas of seating. The clubhouse doubles up as a nightclub, and the offices as a campervan business, judging by the sheer volume of them parked up.

The ground does have issues though, and its clear that the ground is beginning to reflect the clubs lowly status these days in the Hellenic League. Turnstiles have been removed and some of the roofs are leaking. Not good on an appalling wet morning, on a riverside pitch, notorious for its propensity to flood.

The game saw two Oxford based sides go head to head. Marston Saints play at Boults Lane, in Old Marston. That’s just a stone’s throw from Oxford City’s Court Place Farm ground, and the John Radcliffe Hospital. Riverside are new to the OSL this year and are yet another reincarnation of Headington Quarry, using the Margaret Road ground that the now defunct Quarry Nomads called home. Their kit even had a “Quarry” badge on it!

The game was extremely one sided. Riverside dominated throughout, and should have won this far more easily than they did. They spurned an early penalty, given for handball, but continued the press until Ben Green atoned for his poor spot kick by being at the right end of a goalmouth scramble to open the scoring. This pattern continued through the rest of the first half and well into the second, with Riverside asking all the questions and Saints keeper Dave Newbold keeping them out.

All that changed with around 15 minutes left. Riverside keeper Chris Harris, bizarrely sporting a woolly hat dashed out to collect a ball but had to challenge an onrushing Ben Green. Green caught him, but play continued briefly only to be stopped as the linesman was frantically flagging. There was a brief conflab, then referee David Stanley dismissed Harris for spitting. Harris later claimed he shouted, “And spit came out.” Unsavoury to put it mildly. Riverside captain Arron Armstrong went in goal, but was unable to stop Tom Payne’s penalty.

For a brief time it looked like Marston could steal an unlikely and undeserved victory. Armstrong saved well down to his right, but the crisis was soon dealt with and normal service resumed. Green collected his second, as Marston quickly ran out of ideas in the mud. There was a little tension as a lot of injury time was played, due to the dismissal, but as the trophy was presented, I felt most sorry for the two sides arriving for the afternoon final, the pitch was a mess.