Aylesbury Vale
Allied Counties League Subsidiary Cup Wednesday 23rd January 2008
Oxford City (1)3 (Connell 37, Forbes 66, Denton 79)
Aylesbury Vale (1)1 (Khan 12)
City battled through against Aylesbury Vale with what turned out to be a comfortable win in an entertaining game despite city being less than convincing at times.
Vale, mid-table in the Central Division, tried to take the game to City from the off. City, despite fielding the same team who had put in such a commanding performance against Farnborough, seemed to be unable to string more than two passes together. Too often players seemed to expect the ball to come to them rather than moving into space to receive it, which meant that team-mates were reduced to hitting speculative 60-yard passes inatesad of playing the simple ball.
Vale took advantage of defensive indecision in the 12th minute to go ahead when Khan nipped in between keeper and defender to score.
The visitors continued to look dangerous up front, but City started to exert more control over the game, with Corey Forbes prominent in attack. It was Forbes whose pace and control led to the equaliser – he was brought down on the edge of the area, and Andrew Smith’s free-kick was headed back across goal by Laurence El Kassir for Luke Connell to force the ball home from close range.
City, who were much more fluent after the break, were well on top in the second half, and scored two more goals. First Forbes beat the offside trap to run from wide and lash the ball home; then Rhys Denton killed the game off when he was on hand to finish from close range after good work by Forbes and Tom Holmes had put the Vale goal under pressure.
Vale continued to try to save the game and were unlucky to hit the bar from outside the area, but City continued to dominate and only a couple of good saves and a goal-line clearance prevented Forbes, Connell and El Kassir from adding to the lead.
Team: Alex Williams – Kyle Harris, Simon Reeves, Mitchell Meredith (sub Richard Higgs 85 min), Joe Bull (sub James Harris 78 min) – Tom Holmes, Luke Connell, Laurence El Kassir, Andrew Smith (sub Richard Norris 59 min) – Corey Forbes, Rhys Denton. Unused sub: Zac Lafford.
Oxford City (1)3 (Connell 37, Forbes 66, Denton 79)
Aylesbury Vale (1)1 (Khan 12)
City battled through against Aylesbury Vale with what turned out to be a comfortable win in an entertaining game despite city being less than convincing at times.
Vale, mid-table in the Central Division, tried to take the game to City from the off. City, despite fielding the same team who had put in such a commanding performance against Farnborough, seemed to be unable to string more than two passes together. Too often players seemed to expect the ball to come to them rather than moving into space to receive it, which meant that team-mates were reduced to hitting speculative 60-yard passes inatesad of playing the simple ball.
Vale took advantage of defensive indecision in the 12th minute to go ahead when Khan nipped in between keeper and defender to score.
The visitors continued to look dangerous up front, but City started to exert more control over the game, with Corey Forbes prominent in attack. It was Forbes whose pace and control led to the equaliser – he was brought down on the edge of the area, and Andrew Smith’s free-kick was headed back across goal by Laurence El Kassir for Luke Connell to force the ball home from close range.
City, who were much more fluent after the break, were well on top in the second half, and scored two more goals. First Forbes beat the offside trap to run from wide and lash the ball home; then Rhys Denton killed the game off when he was on hand to finish from close range after good work by Forbes and Tom Holmes had put the Vale goal under pressure.
Vale continued to try to save the game and were unlucky to hit the bar from outside the area, but City continued to dominate and only a couple of good saves and a goal-line clearance prevented Forbes, Connell and El Kassir from adding to the lead.
Team: Alex Williams – Kyle Harris, Simon Reeves, Mitchell Meredith (sub Richard Higgs 85 min), Joe Bull (sub James Harris 78 min) – Tom Holmes, Luke Connell, Laurence El Kassir, Andrew Smith (sub Richard Norris 59 min) – Corey Forbes, Rhys Denton. Unused sub: Zac Lafford.
posted by Julian at Thursday, March 20, 2008
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