Cumnor End 2014 On A Winning Streak

A great way to go into the Christmas break with a convincing 2 - 0 win against a strong Kidlington side. We had more depth than 2 weeks ago and rotated well, allowing the boys to play at maximum intensity. Will and Nathan were strong and forceful up front, working hard for each other and creating space. Kyle, Adam and Doddie pressed hard forcing Kidlington onto the back foot. Joseph was given the tough job of man-marking Kieran which he did exceptionally well. With Joseph dragged into defence, we re-organised pushing Tom into midfield and leaving an excellent back three of Charlie, Fyn and the returning Rory.

Good midfield work from Tom found Will who played a delicious ball into Nathan to score another excellent goal. It's great to see our centre-forward playing with such confidence. With Kidlington scrapping for everything we started subbing and instantly Ben, Harry and Finlay made telling contributions. Ben using his instincts to move the ball sweetly - as did Kyle who is growing in stature and confidence each week. Harry S and Finlay complement one another and added a new threat to the opposition. Toby entered the fray and brought all his stubbornness and determination to firm up the defence, especially with Rory flagging after his long lay off.

The second goal was another well worked piece of play through the midfield and out to Will who slipped his marker and crossed well. Harry S, as he has shown a few times this season, has an ability to be in the right place at the right time and met the cross to hammer home the winner. 2 - 0.

Of course, all this outfield play is a joy to watch but the boys can express themselves because they have confidence in the player doing the most important job of all: goalie. Harry D just gets better each week and against Kidlington he showed his full array of skills with a series of excellent saves which secured the win.

That's it until the New Year. Let's keep the momentum going into 2015 and grab a top 2 League position and a cup winners' medal or two.

Player of the Week: Nathan and Will combined well, Fyn was excellent again, Kyle and Joseph worked hard in their differing midfield roles but the award went to Harry D for being there when needed.

Cumnor Leave It Late

In a bizarre twist of fate, this week Cumnor were the full strength squad facing a battling visiting side with only 11 available players. Rotating and changing meant Cumnor never really established a pattern of play and the coaches tinkering didn't help. But, it was important to get the win and we did, 3 - 2… despite leaving it very, very late.

Starting the way we finished last week, we never quite gelled in the first-half in the way we did at Kidlington. The fight was still there but there was a carelessness to our play and a worrying lack of composure on the ball. Too many times we forced the pass and conceded possession to an organised Thatcham. Some of the boys had been ill in the week and it was taking a toll. In fairness to the boys, the pitch was cutting up badly and the ball was difficult to control. It wasn't entirely unexpected to see Thatcham go in 2 - 0 up at half-time.

After a bit of a half-time rollicking the boys picked up the tempo in the second-half. Kyle grew ever more influential in the middle and Harry S and Finlay combined nicely in attack on the right wing. A busy Ben took a knock and was forced to leave bringing Will and Nathan together up front. The pressure mounted, we went 3 at the back and pushed Fin forward as well. The chances started coming and Nathan produced a calm finish after an excellent through ball. 1 - 2. Thatcham tried to hang on, the 11 boys growing weary. Nathan burst through again and got a second. 2 -2.

We could have gone to 4 at the back and pushed for extra-time but with momentum with us, we pressed on. Will then produced the defining moment of the match tracking left and throwing himself in a full-blooded, full-bodied tackle before jumping up, beating a defender, finding the byline and floating an inch perfect cross for the unmarked Nathan to head home. 3 - 2. A quick re-jig to 4-4-2, final whistle, win. And breathe…

Player of the Week: Harry S and Fin looked sharp linking together, it was great to finally have Rory back, Will changed the course of the match, Nathan grabbed an excellent hat-trick but pow Kyle for his commanding and intelligent midfield display.

Cumnor Put The Skids Under Kidlington

If ever the boys put a 'backs to the wall' performance in, it was last Sunday when we travelled to Kidlington and beat them 3 - 2. The odds were stacked against us: we were down to a bare bones 11, Kidlington were on a high after beating Hosrpath and pushing Ducklington close in recent weeks. They had also recruited strongly over Summer and had a fit and available squad of 16 to choose from. The instruction from the sideline to our boys was simple: fight. And fight they did.

Playing with the slope in the first half Cumnor attacked and Nathan almost scored in in the opening minute. There was a speed and directness to our attacking play which put Kidlington on the back foot. Nathan relentlessly stretched their excellent centre-halves and, as instructed, looked for support inside from Adam, Ben, Kyle and Fin. The workrate paid off with an electric Adam charging a clearance down and bundling the ball over the line. 0 – 1. There was no thought of Cumnor sitting on a lead with Adam again thundering down the flank, finding space and somehow bending his cross into the goal to continue his superb run of goalscoring form. 0 - 2.

It was an all round team effort, Fyn and Tom organised enough to allow Charlie and and makeshift left-back Harry S to get forward. And all the time, Joseph and Kyle were in the middle of a dogfight. Suddenly Ben found some space just outside the box and played a perfect through ball for Nathan to calmly slot home. 0 - 3. Half-time.

The coaching team were stunned by the first-half performance and the boys took their drinks with plaudits ringing in their ears. The instruction for the second-half was simple: fight harder! Looking at the boys, exhausted, carrying knocks, struggling to get air into their lungs… they knew they’d have to play the half of their lives to secure an unlikely win.

As expected, Kidlington went straight for us unleashing the quite excellent Kieran from the bench. But our boys dug and dug and dug, finding strength and energy we didn’t think they had. Kidlington got a goal back after a legit call about the ball going out of play didn’t go our way. 1 – 3.  Still Kidlington came at us, earning a free-kick and somehow squeezing it in, 2 – 3. Looking at the wreckage of the boys there was nothing we could do from the sidelines except encourage and implore them to keep going. We switched Adam and Ben from wide to midfield, rotating to get in there and help Joseph and Kyle. Tom took a knock and started hobbling. Harry's heel was restricting his running. The pressure was intensifying. And then, it happened: the boys looked into themselves and into the eyes of each other and took a collective decision that they would not lose. They started playing football and went on the attack with Harry and Finlay linking beautifully down the left and putting the pressure back onto the home team. Harry D in goal grew more authoritative, Fyn kept looking for passes, Tom ran strongly, Kyle tried to unpick the defence with some beautiful passes. We kept hold of the ball and used it wisely. The final whistle went with Cumnor on the up again. 2 -3.

The boys were heroic, Joseph typified how shattered the boys were and his face embodied the effort all the boys had put in. There was no wild celebration just sheer exhaustion and pride at a job very well done. This is the match we will refer too when we ask the boys to show their fighting spirit. Well done lads, well done indeed!

Player of the Week: we couldn’t choose because it was a collective performance of sheer determined brilliance.

Quack Quack Oops

There's little point looking for excuses, Cumnor were handed a bit of a beating against Ducklington. 5 - 1 was a fair reflection of a match that saw us out thought, out fought, out run, out passed. We say well done to our local rivals and congratulate them on the standard they set.

But…

If we had played better we could have given them a real match. The second-half saw us restrict the goal tally to just the 1. Positives included Toby digging in, Will taking the fight to the heart of the opposition and Adam scoring again.

We'll do better next time. Won't we, boys?

Player of the Week: he took one for the team but Toby