Tag Archives: West Witney

That Point

09 Thursday May 2013

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Tuesday 7th May 2013 ko 18.30

Witney & District League Premier Division

WEST WITNEY 8 (Lewis 21 77 Hirons 33 Holder 62 Perry 79 85 Rayfield 86 Stubbs 90)

CHARLBURY TOWN 0

Att 22

Entry FREE

No Programme

Just over a week ago I watched West Witney agonisingly fail to take the point they needed to secure the league championship at Long Hanborough. It was a mere 30 seconds from full time when Hanborough’s winner went in, and in all honesty I rather felt for the league leaders so it was an easy decision to make for the West Witney Sports Ground on the B4047 Burford Road. One thing is clear, the club’s location means they’re well named, in fact you’re as close to Minster Lovell as you are to Witney!

It’s a well appointed site, featuring tennis and cricket as well as football. It used to be the Smiths Industries Sports Ground, and Smiths Industries FC played Hellenic League football here from 1964 to 1967.

Last week West Witney’s nerves got the better of them when the finshing line was in sight, but since then they haven’t looked back. The first XI have won the the Fred Ford and Witney Senior Cups and the reserves have won the Jack Busby Cup. It also turned out that Charlbury Town weren’t going to put up the level of resistance that Hanborough did.

The visitors though should take credit for fulfilling the fixture. They maintained their Premier Division survival on Saturday, and it would have been easy enough for them to have scratched this fixture. They turned up, and don’t let the scoreline fool you, they fought from start to finish, and had the class to stay around afterwards to applaud West Witney as they received the trophy.

But this evening was all about West Witney, and once Chris Hirons had scored the second, they looked irresistible. The football that had frozen in the tension last week flowed, and the goals rained in. Adi Holder headed home from a cross, before Kev Lewis collected his second. The decision was then made to put centre half Tom Perry up front. He did well, collecting a brace, the second a vicious left foot shot from all of an inch!

There was however one concern as substitute Shaun Rayfield slotted home for his first of the season, and that was where was the cup? As the game re-started a man with a wooden box slowly made his way over from the car park, and everyone relaxed. Alex Stubbs rounded off the rout, before everyone decamped to the clubhouse for the presentation and a beer or ten.

The only question that remains is can West Witney do it all again next season? They won’t take promotion, few clubs do from this league, but there’s no lack of competition to be found in this league.

 

What’s in a D anyway?

30 Tuesday Apr 2013

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Monday 29th April 2013 ko 18.15

Witney & District League Premier Division

HANBOROUGH FC 3 (Haggle 56p 90 Lewis 59)

WEST WITNEY 2 (Sparkes 22 Lewis 73)

Att 41

Entry FREE

Nothing for sale

If you drive along the A4095 from Witney to Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, you do pass though some beautiful countryside. From North Leigh (pronounced locally as “Nor Lye”) and the spectacular Eynsham Hall, through Freeland, then its on through Long Hanborough, and Bladon to Woodstock.

Long Hanborough is aptly named, being an example of ribbon development along the main road. The only exceptions are along the roads out to the Blenheim sawmills at Combe, and the road out to Church Hanborough. You can see the spire at that village in a couple of the pictures.

The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway was built past Long Hanborough in 1852, with Hanborough station between Long Hanborough and Bladon being opened to serve the village. The station is best known for being where on 30th January 1965 the body of Sir Winston Churchill arrived at on a train hauled by Battle of Britain Class locomotive Winston Churchill. From there the funeral cortege proceeded by road to Bladon Parish Church, where he was buried.

The problem with the station was devilishly simple though, it was misspelt! From opening to 1993 the station was known as Handborough even though the spelling had long since been standardised!

In more recent times the village has been a byword for quiet affluence, its close proximity to Oxford and the major commuter routes pushing up house prices. Former Neighbours and Spooks actor Craig McLachlan used to live here.

The mathematics of my game at the end of Roosevelt Road was straightforward, West Witney needed draw to take the championship. I don’t know why I don’t watch more of this league, its well run and its website is painstaking maintained. It nominally is a feeder to the Oxon Senior League, which again nominally leads to the Hellenic League, but the practicalities mean little or no transfers take place.

West Witney are well used to winning this league, and warming up they looked confident so it was no surprise when Ian Sparkes fired them into the lead. I thought that would open up the floodgates instead as time wore on they got more and more nervous. Hanborough began to exploit a weakness on the right channel, but Dan Haggle’s penalty following Shaun Rayfield’s poor challenge still saw the visitors with one hand on the trophy.

That changed when Tom Lewis put Hanborough into the lead soon afterwards, but the shock galvanised West Witney, and another Lewis, this one named Kevin equalised with the goal of the game, a fine 20 yard drive. Time to breath more easily? Not a bit of it as the nerves once again frayed as the clock wound down. Jokes were nervously told, substitutes paced and a dog looked nervous.

There was just enough stoppage time for Hanborough to float one more free kick into the 6 yard box. Keeper Kev Trethowan came for it but his weak punch went straight to Haggle whose header went back over Trethowan’s head, and with time almost standing still, gently dropped into the net.

There was no time for a second equaliser, but West Witney will have a chance of salvation next Tuesday evening at home to Charlbury. I wouldn’t bet against them!

 

If Cornered Will Fight

21 Saturday Jan 2012

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Saturday 21st January 2011 ko 10.30am

Oxfordshire FA U14 Girls County Cup Quarter Final

TOWER HILL VIXENS 0

CARTERTON FC 2 (42 54)

Att 21 (h/c)

Entry FREE

No Programme

Refreshments Available

Since I let it be known that I would be attending this game, I’d had a few calls commenting that it shouldn’t count towards my records. I pondered that one, and came to the conclusion that its a game of football, so it counts. But why was I there at all?  That was down to Ali Haining, my boss many years ago, and manager of the Tower Hill side. We hadn’t had a chat since seeing each other at a funeral in 2004.  So there you go, these days I’m available for weddings, bar mitzvahs and U14 football matches!

The West Witney Sports Ground is to be found by the B4027 Burford Road, if you’ve ever visited Witney Town’s Downs Road Ground, chances are that you’ve passed here.

On a horrible wet cold, and windy morning the place was packed. I had to park on the grass verge outside, as a multipicity of games were taking place on the ground, on various sizes of pitches. I recognised the referee from my 10-10 at Islip a few months ago. https://laurencereade.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/the-i-was-there-game/

Tower Hill have no Saturday male team, that’s the job of West Witney of the Witney and District League. They have a reserve team, but every other team falls under the Tower Hill banner. I was reminded of my visit to SanFrecce Hiroshima back in the summer. Not for the stadium, or the conditions, but for the field outside where hundreds of children were learning about the game by playing and having fun.  Any snobbery I could have felt disappeared with that thought. https://laurencereade.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/the-big-day-at-the-big-arch/

The game saw the Vixens pitted against their counterparts from Hellenic League Carterton FC. I’d looked up “Vixen” for some inspiration before setting out. Obviously its a female fox, but I was rather taken with the comment, “Will fight if cornered.” It turned out to be  positive metaphor for the game, as the two sides worked extremely hard to both master the conditions and the opposition.

When watching the womens’ game you have to accept that the pace is slower, but once I got used to that, the game ebbed and flowed nicely. I thought an error would settle the contest, and as usual I was wrong. A corner was floated in and a forward was able to bundle the ball in. Soon after, a through ball found a Carterton forward; her shot cannoned off the defender’s foot to wrong foot the keeper for 2-0.

A little harsh on the hosts I thought, although Carterton had enjoyed marginally more possession. For all of that this was football in its purest form in some respects, played for the enjoyment only.