OCFC v Fleet Town

FA YOUTH CUP 1ST QUALIFYING ROUND 27th September 2006
OXFORD CITY (2)3 aet 6 (Lewis 15, 90, Lloyd 36, Davis 92, Kamberi 111, Bell 118)
FLEET TOWN (0)3 aet 6
City won 4-2 on penalties

City finally prevailed in a rain-soaked penalty shoot-out after what may well have been the most extraordinary game ever seen at Court Place Farm. Alex Williams, who had already saved a penalty in normal time, blocked Fleet’s opening effort. Michael Betnay, Lewis Colwell and Joel Meade all showed expert technique to place theirs into the bottom corners for City, and with Fleet’s third going wide, Stephen Davis smashed his shot down the middle to finally separate the sides after more than two hours of enthralling football.

I am not sure I have ever seen a game finish 6-6 before; I know for a fact I have never seen six goals in extra time. There was little hint of the drama to come as City went in at half-time 2-0 up. Kieron Lewis, captain for the day in the absence of Ben Hepburn, fired City ahead from a corner after 15 minutes following a period of sustained City pressure. Fleet tried to get back into the game, forcing one excellent save from Williams and a goal-line clearance from Lewis, before Lloyd shot City further ahead in the 36th minute from a typically excellent Stephen Davis cross. Had Hepburn been leading the line, perhaps City might have made more of the chances they had created and been out of sight at the break

As it was, City were in command and simply needed to keep possession as much as possible in the second period. This they signally failed to do, launching high balls which the Fleet defence eagerly gobbled up. As the half progressed, Fleet began to dominate more and more, but looked to have lost their chance when Williams saved a 61st minute penalty. However, with time running out, a second Fleet penalty was converted in the 80th minute; four minutes later, a defensive mix-up let in Fleet for the equaliser. The away side’s tails were up now and they looked the likelier winners. However, City stormed back and Lewis grabbed his second deep in injury time, forcing home a rebound after Laurence El-Kassir had headed against the bar. With less than a minute of added time remaining, City just needed to run down the clock – but a needless free kick led to a scrambled equaliser with the last kick of regulation time.

Extra-time, with torrential rain making defending a treacherous business, was so packed with goals that several spectators lost count of the score and at least one City player thought they had won 6-5 at the end. The facts were (probably) these: Stephen Davis ghosted in at the far post from a clever free-kick to put City 4-3 up in the 92nd minute; Fleet equalised in the 102nd minute and went ahead for the first time in the 108th after another period of confusion at the back. City’s 5th was perhaps the goal of the night, an unstoppable header from the impressive Kamberi at a corner in the 111th minute. Fleet went ahead again in within 60 seconds, but Davis somehow found the energy for another lung-bursting run and cross with two minutes to go. Lewis’s header hit the bar, but Mark Bell was on hand to sweep home the rebound. There could even have been another goal, as the last kick of the match was provided by Lewis Colwell, somehow clearing the ball off the line from a Fleet corner with the keeper beaten.

The shoot-out was almost an anticlimax, and to tell the truth neither side deserved to leave empty-handed. Some may criticise the defending, but conditions undoubtedly played their part. The game was played in an excellent spirit, and the most notable facet of the game was the way that nobody’s head went down at any stage. Several times we were all heard to mutter ‘well, that’s it over now,’ only to be proved spectacularly and ridiculously wrong. Congratulations to all concerned for their part in an outstanding evening’s entertainment.

Team: Alex Williams, Michael Betnay, Lewis Colwell, Jason Evans (sub Laurence El-Kassir 24 min), Kieron Lewis (capt), Joel Meade, Ajay Lloyd, Mark Bell, Jetmir Kamberi, Jack Griffiths (sub Jamie Coleman 71 min), Stephen Davis.