Tuesday 7 October 2014

Match Report: City Wins Point In Tough Abingdon Test

Abingdon 1 vs Oxford City 1 - 05.10.14
11-9 Loss



The second City 1 game of the season was up against last year's OKA League 1 runners-up Abingdon 1. In two matches against them last year we lost twice, both times by four goals or more, so this match was a good opportunity to see how we matched up now.
 
While Dave E, Niall and Ev were absent, Claire W came into the starting eight to make her Oxford City debut in the OKA league and, fresh from his regional league exploits, Rich H stepped up at short notice from the 2nd team to continue his tradition of representing every single City squad.
 
The match started off at a fast pace, and we quickly moved into a three goal lead that included another cracker from Ruth, and a long shot from Rich. This shocked a confident and strong Abingdon side, who increased their efforts, focusing mainly on running in attempts from their quick players and Alex B's typically trickery in and around the post.

Despite some strong defence, Abingdon broke through our resistance to pull the score back to 4-4. Unfortunately, this led to a silly phase where we lost our way somewhat, giving away penalties to obvious tactics, and losing concentration occasionally.  We ended the half five goals behind after having a three-goal lead, which was massively disappointing.  
 
To be honest, this time last season that would be have been an insurmountable score difference to come back from, especially with the way we'd collapsed, but we genuinely felt (well, I did at least!) that we had a chance to pull it back in the second half, despite the strength of the opposition. Abingdon made it hard for us in the second half, and we were struggling to score -- but so were they. 

After trading a couple of goals each way (including another brilliant long shot from Rich) we then moved into the ascendancy, scoring three further goals un-answered to pull within two of Abingdon with 36 seconds left to play.  We then held on to secure a bonus point in defeat, which was well-deserved considering how we recovered from a very shaky period. It says a lot about the mental belief we've developed over last season and this summer.
 
One thing that was pleasing was the way we spread goals out throughout the team again, and Gaz continued to add provider to his existing mantle of goalscorer. I also thought Claire and Becca did well to keep the dangerous Alex F quiet.  

However, in this instance I really want to highlight the contribution that Rich in particular made. First, he sank two brilliant long shots that could grace any level of korfball, despite being marked by (and marking) a player of Alex B's 20 years' experience. Second, with a minute left of a long and tiring match, he sprinted after a shot and out-collected Alex in a collect he had no right to win, before setting Dan up with an easy goal straight from collect.  And third, ten seconds later he sprinted back and made a last-minute successful defence of an Alex B shot when the rest of us had switched off. Considering Alex's shot went in and was disallowed, those two interventions in the final minute of the game single-handedly won us a point, and you really can't ask any more of a player, especially when they are stepping up from the 2nd team. That's the difference that showing 100% commitment makes.  
 
Yes, it was a loss, but gaining that point felt like a mini victory. If we continue to play in this spirit then we'll we'll have a good chance.
 
Official MVP (these are named by the opposition BTW) - Rich
Scorers - Rich (2), Ruth (2), Dan (2), Alice (1), Gaz (1), Dave W (1)

- Match report by Dan.

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