We've had an interesting relationship with Horspath over recent seasons. They are, undoubtedly, the team to beat. We've met them at tournaments where we've won games and lost games. Last season, we went to the Marathons Ground on a nasty, blustery October morning and won 3 - 1. To many Cumnor parents it was the finest display they've seen from our boys. It was certainly the cause of a few viscous hangovers the next day. Earlier this year, confidence high in the ranks, we welcomed Horspath to Appleton and they absolutely ripped us apart. Stefan gave a masterclass in match play and Noah knocked them in for fun. But we went to Cowley confident, with a 100% record under our belts.
As usual, well laid plans were altered because of absence and injury. No matter, Finlay and Kyle stepped into the full back berths with barely a whisper of complaint. Adam joined Fyn in central defence. Doddie and Will started wide flanking Tom and Ben with Nathan up front. Joseph was given the unenviable task of stopping Stefan.
The wind blew, the ball bobbled and Horspath certainly had the best of the early exchanges playing neat little triangles and patiently hitting the right areas. Cumnor were a little disjointed and soon we fell behind. The boys may have bowed but they didn't buckle. They tried to play football but passes were mis-timed or forced and Horspath soon grabbed a second. Will, however, his magic out left getting to the byline before hitting a perfect cross into the 6 yard box for a thundering Nathan to slam home. Half time due, 2 - 1 down, game on.
The half-time talk went something like: 'right boys, get on this from the start, don't fall asleep. Predictably, Horspath scored. 3 -1. With personnel swapping and changing, Michael and Harry S heavily involved, we went three at the back. Suddenly the game opened up. Kyle came into midfield and tightened proceedings. Finlay continued to find useful pockets of space, Tom ran the hard yards and Ben battled his heart out. At the back, Harry D made some excellent saves and Adam and Fyn threw themselves at every ball. Then we started counter attacking. Will, Nathan, Doddie and Harry S raced towards the Horspath goal with pace and intent, forcing the opposition backwards. Chances kept coming. Adam struck a wonderful corner, Horspath defended the corner like we do, and Will headed home. 3 - 2.
The final quarter and it was anyone's game. Will hit the bar with a header and just failed to hit the target with a free-kick. Horspath kept coming but Joseph stayed with Stefan and manfully tried to negate his influence. The game went right down to the last kick. Unfortunately, we didn't quite do enough.
We didn't deserve the win but a draw would have been very, very sweet. The boys gave everything they had… and then some. We couldn't have been prouder. Congratulations to Horspath, you are a very good team. But we really can't wait to welcome you to our place.
Player of the Week: Captain Fantastic, Joseph. No question, he was quite superb
Tuesday 21 October 2014
Tuesday 14 October 2014
Not as Ole as last week!!
A hard fought victory for Cumnor over a team that played to its
strengths, challenged us to defend well and kept pushing to the end.
Although Cumnor had the balance of the play and created more chances than
Milton, a few missed opportunities and some fairly scrappy play meant this cup
game was very tight.
Setting up in the traditional 4-4-2 (Tim
didn't have the guts to implement his ridiculous plan), we played well enough
for the first 20 minutes, Finlay making some good runs on the right wing, Doddy
and Will doing likewise on the left wing and Joseph putting in some eye-catching
passes. Cumnor deservedly took the lead when Fyn smashed home a bouncing
ball after Milton failed to deal with a corner. Things then got a bot
scrappy, and with our control letting us down all across the pitch, Milton
created a chance and the striker gave Harry no chance. Five minutes
later, a carbon copy for Cumnor as Fyn again smashed home a loose ball from a
corner. He must be the most free-scoring centre back in the league.
Unfortunately we then fell asleep, letting the Milton striker in for a
gift of a goal by failing to pick up a run from a throw in. 2-2 at half
time.
Fuelled by Jaffa Cakes, the performance in
the second half was better. We managed to control the ball better and
started to string some good passes together. After a break that was
worked through Ben and Nathan, the ball fell to Will, who smashed home with his
right foot. Having taken the lead for a third time, we looked much more
assured. Adam and Tom were strong at the back, Joseph made his tackles
count and we started spreading the ball nicely, with Harry S coming to the fore
on the right wing. James E made his first appearance of the season and
did a good job alongside Joseph.
Eventually, a well-deserved win, but in
Chris's words, "not as good as last week (expletives deleted)".
Player of the week came down to a choice between two - Harry D for brilliantly
judging when to come off his line and snuff out the long ball, and Toby, who
must be the most annoying player ever if you are a forward - there is just no
getting past him. The award went to Toby.
Monday 6 October 2014
Ole Cumnor
Since the start of the season we've been drumming into the boys some basic football truths.
1. Pass and move
2. Don't do too much on your own
3. Keep the ball on the grass
4. Be patient
5. Talk to each other
Yesterday, against Ardley… the boys put a big tick against 4 of those truths. Maybe (with the exception of both Harrys) the rest of the boys will use their voices next week?
In all fairness, they were superb against Ardley who were, for large sections of the game, reduced to chasing shadows. We started with Nathan and Harry S on the bench bringing Tom into centre-half to partner the reborn Fyn. Charlie and Toby offered solid, no nonsense defending at full back. Adam and Doddie instructed to torment and tease out wide whilst Joseph and Kyle told to keep the engine ticking over. Ben, nursing a bashed up knee, was joined by Finlay up front. Nathan was given a watching brief to see how he could harm the defence when he came on.
From the first whistle, Cumnor played football. There were neat little touches, triangles, lay offs, pick ups and players working the ball from side-to-side. Mostly, the boys were composed, not rushing or panicking, trusting their teammates in posession. Ardley have some excellent players, especially at the back, but Finlay was finding lots of space in dangerous areas. Growing in confidence he hit a shot from distance which the Ardley keeper unfortunately fumbled. 1-0.
The longer the half wore on the more accomplished we grew. Charlie had a great game on the flank linking up with Doddie. Tom was a real imposing presence at the back. Ben battled with his injury and would have kept going but it was wise to bring Nathan on despite finding himself with a bloodied nose minutes later. We went in 1-0 up but were completely in control.
In the second-half, Will - fresh from his rugby exploits - came on and smashed the ball into the back of the net with his first touch of the game (as he does). Then Cumnor went into overdrive. The realisation of how good these boys actually are, hit them. Whether it was Toby staying focussed and disciplined, Adam's dead-ball delivery, Joseph's desire, Kyle's neatness and work rate, the trickery of Will and Doddie… we have genuine footballing talent throughout the squad. Nathan, bloodied but not broken, terrified the Ardley defence racing at them, forcing them backwards. Twice on one raid he could have gone down but he didn't, he stayed on his feet and set up Harry S who made the perfect box run to score. 3 - 0.
There could have been more goals… Will did something mind-boggling to make space but lashed the ball over the bar with his wrong foot. Fyn, yet again outstanding, hit the angle from 25 yards and Adam hit a screamer from even further out that just shaved the bar.
The boys were challenged as well to maintain a clean sheet for the first time in months. And they did. Despite Tom doing his best to jinx it by saying we're not going to concede just as Ash hit the bar.
We know when we've seen good football and we saw good football yesterday against a really good team. Dane said: 'it was like watching Barcelona' and even Doddie Snr was impressed. And how often does that happen?
Player of the Week: outstanding all round with special mentions to Charlie, Fyn and Fynlay but POW is Kyle for an excellent all round display.
1. Pass and move
2. Don't do too much on your own
3. Keep the ball on the grass
4. Be patient
5. Talk to each other
Yesterday, against Ardley… the boys put a big tick against 4 of those truths. Maybe (with the exception of both Harrys) the rest of the boys will use their voices next week?
In all fairness, they were superb against Ardley who were, for large sections of the game, reduced to chasing shadows. We started with Nathan and Harry S on the bench bringing Tom into centre-half to partner the reborn Fyn. Charlie and Toby offered solid, no nonsense defending at full back. Adam and Doddie instructed to torment and tease out wide whilst Joseph and Kyle told to keep the engine ticking over. Ben, nursing a bashed up knee, was joined by Finlay up front. Nathan was given a watching brief to see how he could harm the defence when he came on.
From the first whistle, Cumnor played football. There were neat little touches, triangles, lay offs, pick ups and players working the ball from side-to-side. Mostly, the boys were composed, not rushing or panicking, trusting their teammates in posession. Ardley have some excellent players, especially at the back, but Finlay was finding lots of space in dangerous areas. Growing in confidence he hit a shot from distance which the Ardley keeper unfortunately fumbled. 1-0.
The longer the half wore on the more accomplished we grew. Charlie had a great game on the flank linking up with Doddie. Tom was a real imposing presence at the back. Ben battled with his injury and would have kept going but it was wise to bring Nathan on despite finding himself with a bloodied nose minutes later. We went in 1-0 up but were completely in control.
In the second-half, Will - fresh from his rugby exploits - came on and smashed the ball into the back of the net with his first touch of the game (as he does). Then Cumnor went into overdrive. The realisation of how good these boys actually are, hit them. Whether it was Toby staying focussed and disciplined, Adam's dead-ball delivery, Joseph's desire, Kyle's neatness and work rate, the trickery of Will and Doddie… we have genuine footballing talent throughout the squad. Nathan, bloodied but not broken, terrified the Ardley defence racing at them, forcing them backwards. Twice on one raid he could have gone down but he didn't, he stayed on his feet and set up Harry S who made the perfect box run to score. 3 - 0.
There could have been more goals… Will did something mind-boggling to make space but lashed the ball over the bar with his wrong foot. Fyn, yet again outstanding, hit the angle from 25 yards and Adam hit a screamer from even further out that just shaved the bar.
The boys were challenged as well to maintain a clean sheet for the first time in months. And they did. Despite Tom doing his best to jinx it by saying we're not going to concede just as Ash hit the bar.
We know when we've seen good football and we saw good football yesterday against a really good team. Dane said: 'it was like watching Barcelona' and even Doddie Snr was impressed. And how often does that happen?
Player of the Week: outstanding all round with special mentions to Charlie, Fyn and Fynlay but POW is Kyle for an excellent all round display.
Thatcham Re-match
We don't normally play the same team in consecutive weeks but we welcomed Thatcham to Appleton for the first time last Sunday. It could have been a bit of a banana skin with the boys from Berks on a revenge mission. Fortunately, a hot day and a squad of 14 to choose from meant we had the advantage despite going a goal behind to a lovely finish.
Cumnor dug in and went into the break 1-1 after Will, coming straight off the bench, leapt onto Nathan's corner and headed the equaliser. The boys anticipated an easier second-half, believing their passing would break Thatcham hearts. However, no-one told Thatcham of this plan and they managed to frustrate Cumnor, breaking up moves, forcing us into a long ball game, spoiling all the good work of the first 35 minutes. We had some chances but again, the Thatcham keeper made some outstanding saves. Eventually Will raced through and slid our second into the net. Final score 2-1. We need to improve for next week.
A special mention to Rory who had a great game in the unfamiliar position of left-back. We took him off because he looked tired from rugby. However, after 3 hours in A&E our sponsor informed us that it wasn't tiredness causing the problem. It was playing with a broken hand. Go on Rory…. get fit soon.
Player of the Week: Ben worked hard, Will is in terrific scoring form, Kyle battled manfully with Joseph but for the second week running, Fyn deservedly took the plaudits.
Cumnor dug in and went into the break 1-1 after Will, coming straight off the bench, leapt onto Nathan's corner and headed the equaliser. The boys anticipated an easier second-half, believing their passing would break Thatcham hearts. However, no-one told Thatcham of this plan and they managed to frustrate Cumnor, breaking up moves, forcing us into a long ball game, spoiling all the good work of the first 35 minutes. We had some chances but again, the Thatcham keeper made some outstanding saves. Eventually Will raced through and slid our second into the net. Final score 2-1. We need to improve for next week.
A special mention to Rory who had a great game in the unfamiliar position of left-back. We took him off because he looked tired from rugby. However, after 3 hours in A&E our sponsor informed us that it wasn't tiredness causing the problem. It was playing with a broken hand. Go on Rory…. get fit soon.
Player of the Week: Ben worked hard, Will is in terrific scoring form, Kyle battled manfully with Joseph but for the second week running, Fyn deservedly took the plaudits.
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