Unflappable Cumnor Slide Past Harwell

The conditions were atrocious, the pitch slick and muddy but we were thankful to the Harwell management team for ensuring the match went ahead. In the circumstances, it was a remarkable performance from the boys at a place where we've come unstuck before.

In the recent months we've worked on the 3 P's: passing, pressing and possession. We feel as a coaching team, these three footballing principles best suit the style of football we want to play and fits the make up of our squad. Ok, we've played lower end A league opposition but when we click, as we did on Sunday, we can outplay teams who provide a sterner test. The boys are listening, the boys are thriving.

Another pleasing aspect is the strength we have in depth now. We are a squad where every player plays an integral part. Every single boy could confidently start and it is becoming increasingly difficult to select a starting 11. In fact, that 'starting 11' is a fluid concept because we have 16 boys regularly available who can easily make the starting 11. For us, it's a squad game, the boys know it it and they also know they'll get good game time.

From the off against Harwell, Cumnor held a high line with the defensive 4 of Toby, Michael, Tom and Fyn pushed on to squeeze the opposition front line by Harry, who is growing in confidence with each outing. Time and again Harwell found themselves stepping offside due to our aggressive defending, proof that the communication and awareness of our defensive unit is also improving. In midfield, Kyle and Joseph continued their excellent and instinctive partnership whilst Will and Adam sniped and threatened down the wide areas. Adam's powerful running and dangerous right - and left - boot, kept Harwell on the back foot. Just ahead of him Ben, growing in confidence in the difficult 10 role, is beginning to select his passes beautifully… and not just to Will. Nathan, buoyed by a hat-trick last week, was full of attacking threat choosing to run onto his favoured right foot.

Cumnor deservedly broke the deadlock after Adam smashed a left foot shot in from wide out. We made it 2 when Nathan jumped on a scrambled clearance and we deserving of our lead. Changes were made with Doddie, Finlay and Charlie coming off the bench and getting straight into the action. More goals followed with Doddie and Ben (thanks to Toby's nodded 'assist') both finishing off clever attacking moves.

We throughly deserved the win and played excellent, controlled football dictating the pace and protecting the ball. We should have scored more and certainly created chances, Will hitting the bar from a tight angle. Harwell too, played nice football and the game was a joy to watch despite the extremely tough conditions… and the bizarre observations of the Harwell asst manager. Congratulations to players on both sides for giving us such a wonderful spectacle.

Here's to a good outcome against old foes Ducklington and the continuation of our excellent run of form.

Player of the Week: Ben showed some lovely touches, Toby played valiantly in defence and in midfield, Adam's great form continued and Tom recovered well from his bad knock last week but POW again, is the ever excellent 'New Rory', Fyn.

Goal Glut at Lambourn

Scoring 15 goals against Lambourn was fun… but let's not get carried away. We have much tougher fixtures heading our way so it was important we played as a team and maintained our commitment to the passing game. What all those goals brought us was confidence and clinical finishing. It was also great to see some different boys get on the scoresheet. Towards the end of the match we went to 'three at the back' which was somehow interpreted as 'one at the back' (thanks Charlie!) and Lambourn were unfortunate not to score. The most pleasing aspect of the game was our playing out from the back with Harry's superb throws finding Doddie or Adam giving us great momentum going forward.

As for the goals, hat-tricks for Nathan, Finlay and Will, two for Joseph and one apiece for Adam, Doddie, Harry S and Fyn, who arguably scored the goal of the day finishing off a lovely team move with a crushing volley.

There was one unsavoury incident at the end of the match which somewhat marred the occasion when Tom was hacked down. The ref made the right call sending the opposition player off and both the Lambourn manager and the father of the boy involved, both apologised afterwards. Hopefully Tom will be ok and the matter is now in the hands of the Berks & Bucks FA.

Moving on, we now face a run of games which will define our season starting with Harwell on Sunday. Harwell out thought us last season using the ball over the top to their pacey striker to tear us apart. We must press their centre-halves and midfield hard and stop them playing. When we have possession, we need to be calm and confident. The signs from recent performances show we are very capable of achieving this and getting a positive result.

Player of the Week: easy choice, Charlie, for his effective and disciplined performance at full back.

Cumnor Advance Past Ardley

An excellent display from the boys to get past a committed Ardley. We were especially good in the midfield areas where Kyle and Joseph harried, pressed, tackled and distributed cleanly and expertly. In fact, it was probably the best 'closing down' display we've given and a number of boys had their best game of the season. Ben kept finding little pockets of space and orchestrated the attacks masterfully. Fyn, yet again, was strong and decisive at centre-half and Tom proved a towering and able partner.

We created some great opportunities as well, scoring three but it could have been more. As for the goals, Joseph showed delightful artistry before finding the roof of the net from just outside the box. Adam's free-kick came back off the wall before he smashed it in and Harry, proving yet again that he has a real knack of getting into goalscoring situations, forced the unlucky keeper into a mistake.

Tackling, passing and possession… great. Attitude, superb. The more annoyed and frustrated Ardley became, the better we played. The boys didn't react, didn't get involved in the aggro, they kept discipline and therefore, the ref.

A special mention too for Harry D in goal. He provided an extra dimension, playing on his 18 yard line and trusting his natural ball playing instincts to control and distribute.

Player of the Week
Joseph, Kyle and Toby provided energy and attitude but the pow went to Harry for his mature, all round keeping.