Hillingdon-Away

Hillingdon Borough 3 - OCFC 1

On a wet & windy night the Youth team bowed out of the League Cup with their poorest performance of the season so far.

Playing against a team from a division below we didn't show any appetite for the game. I don't like to make excuses but our lack of regular football was apparent in showing a great lack of match fitness.

Playing on what was a poor pitch didn't allow us to play any type of passing game & our wide players who are normally 'free flowing' runners could not get the ball in front of them to allow them to run at defenders. This was a game where the fittest & more commited were going to come out on top.

Although we took the lead from a well taken goal from Jetmir Kamberi we still looked second best in midfield & with the distribution from defence very poor Hillingdon were able to have more time on the ball & therefore make more use of it.

After the break we seemed to push on much stronger but with Hillingdon's 1st attack we allowed a high cross to come in which we didn't deal with & a simple tap in resulted in the equaliser. Our heads dropped & we lost shape which is unusal for us. Hillingdon's 2nd came from another poor clearance which went straight to a Hillingdon player & with our goalie out of position he had the skill to chip the ball into an empty net from 30 yards. Again another poor clearance straight to them resulted in a through ball for their forward to beat our goalie in a 1 on 1 situation.

All in all I take nothing away from Hillingdon, they 'wanted' to win this match more than us & I always say if you can't match commitment, strength & the desire to win in your opponent's you will always struggle.

Again we have to wait 2 weeks for our next match, but I know we can bounce back. We have a very strong team spirit which will come through & enough quality to put this behind us.

One last thought though, whenever we wear the yellow kit we always seem to struggle, I think wearing the blue & white hoops seems to increase the players ability by at least 20%. Physcology maybe!

Duncan Colwell Youth Team Manager

Yeovil-Away

FA YOUTH CUP sponsored by e.on FIRST ROUND PROPER
Wednesday 15 November 2006

Yeovil Town (3)6 (Bowles 2, Horder 12, 89, Clarke 41, 68, Morgan 86)
Oxford City (0)1 (Bell 57)

Oxford’s last remaining representatives bowed out of the FA Youth Cup on Wednesday night with a disappointing 6-1 reverse at Yeovil Town. On an occasion spoiled by the weather, the scoreline failed to reflect accurately the skill and commitment City had shown throughout their cup run.

Five levels of the pyramid separate Town’s League One first team from BSB South and West Division side City, and while the Under 18 sides are not so far apart in class, it will always be the case that the smaller side will need to be on top of their game and benefit from a healthy share of luck to cause an upset. This was certainly not the way it turned out as City, playing into a howling wind and driving rain in the first period, found themselves two down within 12 minutes. Having played only one game in over a month, City were understandably slow to start and two headers from set-pieces benefited from uncertain marking and the ball holding up in the wind.

City could have crumbled, but this side have already shown great spirit this season and played themselves back into the game, with Steven Davis always looking to create chances. Their best chance of the first period came after 20 minutes; first Mark Bell forced a fingertip save from Burridge with an excellent curling shot from 25 yards, then Joel Meade headed just wide from the resultant corner.

2-0 at half-time would not have been a bad score given the conditions, but Town scored a third just before the break with a lovely 25 yard lob from Clark after the ball had again been held up in the wind. This might have put the game beyond City even without the wind and rain slackening off at the interval, as the pessimistic among the City followers predicted they would.

Once again, however, City refused to give up and deservedly pulled a goal back when Mark Bell, excellent throughout, showed great persistence to fire home. Yeovil, protesting that a hand had been used, looked rattled briefly and four Town bookings for dissent or encroachment at free-kicks followed in a matter of minutes.

However, City were caught by a sucker punch when Clark forced home from close range to the obvious delight of the Town crowd. Thereafter Town’s greater professionalism and match fitness told and they scored twice more in the closing minutes as City, heads never dropping, continued to push forward.

Yeovil were the better side, and certainly made better use of the conditions, but were undoubtedly not five goals better than a City side who never really showed their full potential. In the aftermath of the game, City’s players and management were understandably dejected, but they achieved great things even getting this far – the first team in a decade to get to the First Round Proper. Moreover, they have acquitted themselves excellently both on and off the field during their cup run and last night showed they are young men who can lose with good grace as well as win games. There should be plenty more victories this season for a group with great talent and great team spirit. The large number of parents and other family members who travel to the games should be very proud of them.

Yeovil: Burridge – Taafe, Bowles, Sherwood – O’Brien, Gundry, Ormrod, Concliffe, Wake – Horder, Clarke. Subs used Morgan, Hatcher, Turnock.

City: Alex Williams – Michael Betnay (Kassim Abdillahi 74), Joel Meade, Kieron Lewis, Lewis Colwell – Jetmir Kamberi, Jamie Coleman, Mark Bell, Steven Davis – Ben Hepburn (Simon Reeves 84), Jack Griffiths (Ajay Lloyd 74). Unused subs Lawrence El-Kassir, Russell Colwell (gk)

Farnborough-Postponement

Please note that this Wednesday's youth team fixture at Farnborough has been postponed.

Our next game will be the 1st round FA Youth Cup away to Yeovil.

Duncan.

Aldershot-Away

What another great game to be involved with.

This was our 4th cup tie on the trot & we didn't dissapoint with the 'keeping you on the edge of your seat' theme.

We new this would be a tougher test for us, but like I have mentioned after the last few ties you cannot question the resolve & character of this team. They will not lie down & be walked over.

Aldershot were always going to knock the ball around & with the movement of their forwards would pose us some problems. This was how the game started but our boys were under orders to shut down & put pressure on their midfield & back four. This we did with a good deal of success & Ben Hepburn latched onto a high through ball & lobbed the on coming keeper to make it 1-0. This lead was kept through to half time.

The 2nd half saw Aldershot trying to probe a way through our back four & they finally equalised from a long throw in which evaded our defenders to the far post for a low header into our goal.

There were further chances at both ends with Ben Hepburn having a great chance to seal the game for us but with only the goalie to beat he failed to beat the goalie who made a good save.

This saw normal time end 1-1.

Extra time saw us take the lead after a great run from Steve Davis who finished with a superbly taken goal into the bottom corner. This is Steve at his best & although he was spending a lot of the match in a defensive position he is such a threat when he goes down the wing.

Aldershot lost there way a little after this but were always prepared to put the ball onto our back line who were in control for most of this period. With the clock running down Ben Hepburn had his 2nd one on one of the night but again their goalie came out on top. All credit to Ben in my opinion he was always willing to chase what seemed lost causes & was a real handfull all night. With over 5 minutes of added time played Aldershot got the equaliser with the last kick of the game. Most teams at this point would be dead on their knees but all my players wanted to do was go on & win the penalty shootout.

It is a lottery & you do feel a little sorry for the losers. But these boys love taking pens & with a goalie in Alex Williams who likes to try to save them you know your in with a great chance. It seemed to go on forever but in the end we just sneeked it with Mark Bell keeping his nerve to seal it for us.

We were never behind in this game & that just goes to show how much these boys have come on this season. Everybody at Oxford City should be very proud of what they have acheived in the FA Youth Cup this season & we will go to Yeovil to enjoy the occasion & you never know with these boys what will happen.

Many thanks to all who helped with transport & came to support us it is greatly appreciated.

Duncan Colwell Youth Team Manager.