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Allied Counties Youth League Premier Division Wednesday 12th September 2007

Oxford City (2)2 (Jon Gotch 11, Richard Norris 15)
Bisley Sports (2)3

Oxford City suffered a disappointing defeat in their first home game of the season.

The game started brightly with both teams trying to pass the ball. Both sides created chances, but it was City who went two up early on. First an excellent long pass from Lewis Colwell set up Jon Gotch to finish coolly, then Richard Norris capitalized on a goalkeeping error to roll the ball into an unguarded net.

Bisley hit back to equalize with an excellent first time shot and a composed finish.

Up to this point the game had been open and entertaining, but it began to degenerate, with the ball spending more time out of the ground than in play. Too many players on both sides were content to hog the ball and run down blind alleys rather than passing.

Bisley scored the winner early in the second half with a looping header from a right-wing cross. City dominated possession for the rest of the game but could never find the final ball to punish Bisley; often players were guilty of shooting when others were in a better position.

City still look like a team who are getting to know each other and better results will surely follow.

Team: Alex Williams (capt) – Kyle Harris, Kallum Conlon, Rhys Denton, Lewis Colwell – Andrew Smith, Laurence El-Kassir (sub Tom Holmes 72 min), Ashley Jones, Jon Gotch (sub Richard Higgs 85 min) – Corey Forbes, Richard Norris (sub Simon Reeves 62 min)
Unused subs: Aaron Davies

Chesham V OCFC

Allied Counties Youth League Premier Division Monday 3rd September 2007

Chesham United (0)2
Oxford City (1)3 (Corey Forbes 27, 64, Richard Norris 87)

Oxford City picked up three points with a battling performance in their opening league game of the season.

A young City side featuring many newcomers to this level, twice saw their lead pegged back but had the character and determination to keep playing to the end.

The game took a while to settle down and there were few chances before City went ahead just before the half-hour. A long pass by Zac Lafford found Simon Reeves, whose cross looked to have evaded everyone, but Jon Gotch showed great perseverance to retrieve the ball and cross for Corey Forbes to glance home.

City held on to the break, but a defensive error gave Chesham an easy equalizer from four yards ten minutes after half-time.

Nine minutes later City were back in front. Richard Norris might well have been given offside had the Chesham goalkeeper not chosen to play the ball; his attempt to dribble round Norris saw the ball rebound to Forbes, who showed great composure and technique to stroke the ball into the net from 35 yards out.

Chesham battled back again and were on level terms within 3 minutes, when a corner was headed in.

City continued to attack and took the lead for the third time when Richard Norris, having been set up by the magnificent Forbes, slotted home coolly from the corner of the 18-yard box.

Chesham tried to retrieve the situation during the thirteen minutes of injury time but did not test City’s impressive skipper Alex Williams. Indeed, it was City who should have added to their lead, spurning three chances when one-on-one with the keeper. The unpredictable Richard Higgs was particularly unlucky to see his shot beat the keeper and rocket back off the post.

This was a battling performance in all areas of the field from City. It was particularly encouraging to see the whole team pass the ball crisply and work hard for each other.

Team: Alex Williams (capt) – Kyle Harris, Rhys Denton, Zac Lafford (sub Kallum Conlon 68), Lewis Colwell – Simon Reeves (sub Andrew Smith h-t), Ashley Jones, Laurence El-Kassir, Jon Gotch (sub Richard Higgs 63 min) – Corey Forbes, Richard Norris
Unused subs: Tom Holmes, Dominic Bruno