Drenched

A terrific game of football, full of fight and venom, penalty shouts, near misses and in the end, a 2-2 draw seemed a fair result. Although both teams had opportunities to win it at the end, both teams should be congratulated for putting on such a great game is such dire conditions.

Bardwell put Cumnor under pressure from the kick off and hit the bar in the opening minutes. Thankfully, there was more Cumnor fight than against Banbury - the better playing surface suited our game - and the boys scrapped for every ball but we were initially, second best. Bardwell forced the issue and opened the scoring after we left a corner unchallenged in the box for their impressive number 3 to head home.

Once again we were fighting to get back on level terms. Ben was ferocious in the midfield and Will was getting forward at all opportunities, almost capping a lovely mazy run with a fine goal. Rory was nice and vocal and Josh and Adam continued their impressive partnership at centre-half (much to Adam's continued annoyance!). Joe (despite a dubious handball) was his ever vigilant self and Toby kept a watchful eye on his flank. Harry and Jack worked very hard out wide and Fyn looked hungry for a goal. One did come thanks to a lovely piece of sleight of foot from Will who smashed it past the keeper. 1-1.

Honours even at half time and hot chocolate to warm the boys up. James E came on for Jack, Will pushed out to the flank in his place and Cumnor went on the attack. However, a lack on concentration at the back and the ball suddenly found itself in the back of our net. 2-1. Once again we had to fight and concerted pressure saw us get a corner. Adam hit a beauty for it to be cleared from the line only to fall to the lethal Will who somehow squeezed his volley in. 2-1.

In the final quarter the match went into overdrive. We lost Fyn to a nasty challenge and Ben was unlucky to have his free-kick cleared. James went close, Bardwell hit the post and then put a late one wide. 2-2 and a big sigh of relief.

All the boys fought valiantly but special praise for Leo making his debut in goal. What a game he had, solid under the high ball, sure in his positioning and making three truly excellent saves, especially that one handed block. Well done, Leo and thanks to Chris for some excellent tuition.

Player of the Week: Easy choice, Leo 

Bumpy Start

A difficult match in blustery conditions on a bobbly pitch, not ideal for our passing game but fair play to Banbury, it was the same for both teams and they probably edged it to deserve their 3-2 win. Saying that, we had a very good penalty shout denied and we did create plenty of chances but the Banbury keeper made at least three exceptional saves. Will scored a lovely right-foot goal from a sweet lay back from Fyn and James did what few other boys did, get his head to the ball and score. A great poachers goal.

The word from the sidelines is 'don't be disheartened boys, keep playing attacking expansive football and we'll do well'. We just need to dig in, meet those headers and fight for the second ball. The league is going to be tight this year so we'll have to scrap for everything.

Player of the Week: Fyn battled hard up front, Adam again was assured but our choice was Rory who is growing nicely into his new central role.

The Big Kick Off

Here we go again and what a start, thrashing our local rivals (and our conquerors last week) Kingston. The heat was blistering and there were scorch marks all over the pitch as we played sublime, attacking football. We scored 5 goals, 5 wonderful goals, but we created at least 12 excellent scoring chances. What's changed? Well tinker men Tim and Dave forged a rock solid - and new - central defence pairing of Adam and Josh. We don't know how long we'll stick with it but it does allow two hugely important players to have a real influence on the game. This frees Rory to boss the midfield battleground and give our own Xavi and Iniesta pairing of Ben and Will, a platform to tiki-taka their way into the danger areas. Add impressive new boys Harry and Jack on the flanks, sharpshooter Fyn up front, ever diligent Joe and Toby in defence and Henry (who looked extremely solid on Sunday) and that's a heck of a team. But we're only as good as the squad and our bench v Kingston made us brilliant. If you've been chasing shadows for 30 minutes in the sweltering heat, the last thing you need is Matt harrying and hassling you. Lucas too, shows natural football intelligence in the wide areas and James (our Berbatov) produced the quality moment (and there were plenty of those) of the match with his supreme, instinctive control and pass into a galloping Jack. With Leo developing nicely under the watchful tuition of Chris, we've a talented squad full of options able to deal with a long and challenging season. Boys will play, boys will rest so it's imperative that we have competition for places. Anyway, let's get back to the goals the goals the glorious goals. True we went one down against the run of play but there was never a doubt we'd win this encounter and avenge the friendly defeat because of the chances we were creating. The boys were told to play a quick passing game and they stuck to the plan perfectly. Will hit the bar and then struck from a corner after the Cumnor wasp (specially trained by Bryan Goudman in the close season) made an appearance and launched an attack on the Kingston defence as the ball came in. It wasn't long before Will was at it again, caressing a lovely drive into the bottom corner. 2-1. The next goal came from a lovely intricate exchange between Fyn and Jack with Jack's inch perfect cross finding Harry who is making an art
form out of turning up at that far post to score. The boys were enjoying themselves and soon got another goal - our 4th - when Will played a divine pass into the tireless, livewire Fyn who opened his body and found the far corner. Our 5th goal - and Will's hat-trick - was a dream of long range knock
clip into the top corner. There could have been more goals, many more. Strangely, it didn't matter. Ben might have capped a dream display with a deserved goal but it didn't happen. More chances will come as he beds down in this new advanced position. Fyn - when fully back in the groove - will score as well. Jack was an immense threat out wide and he too, will get plenty of scoring chances. All the
boys played sweet, effervescent football. The back four were passing it around and Adam and Josh were relishing the chance to advance. The midfield worked their triangles and Fyn and James, Matt, Jack, Lucas, Toby and Joe never stopped grafting. And best of all, Henry was alert to any threat on a difficult hard pitch. Thank you boys, here's to a great season.  Player of the Week: How could we
choose one player from that performance? We couldn't.