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.

Match Report: City Starts Regional Campaign With Win

Oxford City v Gloucester Lions - 04.10.14
16-6 Win

Last year, Oxford United was narrowly beaten by Gloucester at home. However, after the successes of Bristol tournament, Oxford City was looking to play hard and start this season's regional league campaign with a win. Frank had travelled even further than our opposition to coach this opening match -- and, due to traffic, arrived before them.

Posts were in place. The ref was ready. All that remained was to follow Frank's plan.

We started well, slowly we made our way to 3-0 up in tense first quarter. The rest of the half saw goals from Dan, Paul and Ruth. Gaz held his ground in feed and got pushed through to the ground at one point for his trouble. Despite the whiplash he got up and played on. Pete slotted away two penalties with ease and we ended the half 6-1 up.

At the start of the second half a Gloucester penalty had narrowed the gap to just four goals. Claire had come on and responded with Alice to get a quick two goals. Rich subbed on to his regional début and used his height to secure numerous collects. Becca used her pace as part of the excellent defence and we won the ball back several times as Gloucester tried to pass out of defence giving us extra time in attack. Gaz has some exceptionally near chances but his dancing behind the post, to pull his marker out the game, took priority.

Gloucester kept trying to attack, scoring the occasional goal, but Ruth's gravity-defying long shots dominated the end of the game. Full time saw City victorious by a massive 16-6. 

Thank you to Frank for the inspirational coaching. Special mention to Paul who had a great match against very difficult opposition but player of the match has to go to Ruth.

Scorers - Ruth (5), Alice (3), Claire (2), Dan (2), Pete (2), Paul (2)

- Match report by Jo

Match Reports: City Prevails In Isis Double-Header

Oxford City 3 vs Isis 2 – 29.09.14

6-4 Win

“Team Awesome” got Oxford City off to a great start in the season with an excellent win against local rivals Isis, and featured club debuts from Theo and Laura that were great to see.  

The basis of the win was a great offensive display in the first half, followed by hard-working defensive shift in the second. Becca’s pre-match team talk and promise of team cake obviously did the trick! 

This was a really encouraging start by our third team, and what was especially impressive was the amount of movement and variety of attacks on display. All the things we’ve been practising in training were demonstrated in the match. Well done everyone – there was a very proud coach on the sidelines (aka Gaz)!

A special shout out goes to Theo, who not only made his debut for Oxford City, but also scored a great long shot in the first half, and then put on a sterling defensive effort in the second half when Isis brought on last year’s OKA player of the season against him. Considering Dan conceded five goals to him in the later City 1 team match, for Theo to only concede one was brilliant. I was also impressed with Becca’s captaincy and her nerves of steel when converting her penalty.

Official MVP – Becca “The Blaze” Bleeze

Scorers – Dan (2), Becca (1), Theo (1), Alice (1), Niall (1)

 

Oxford City 1 vs Isis 1 – 29.09.14

12-6 Win

With a large proportion of the squad still recovering from playing a lot of korfball at Bristol the day before, it was always going to be important to get off to a strong start before legs became tired later on. And we did, racing into a four goal lead quickly after Becca kicked off the scoring.  

The match continued in this vein, with City reaching the break seven goals ahead after a great variety of attacks. Gaz’s tactics were paying off, utilising the strengths of our squad versus the opposition. 

Things changed after the break, with sore legs tiring, Alice disappearing to be sick (well done Blaze for stepping in!) and we also perhaps relaxed too much after dominating the first half. That, coupled with increased energy & pressure from Isis, resulted in a number of sloppy passes and rushed attacks, and this is something we need to cut out in future matches.  

However, we continued to create chances and score at key times, and the final score was much more comfortable than it felt at times.  

Personal highlights were the way we had a goal threat throughout the team, and also the way Niall slotted in seamlessly when making his full first team debut when he replaced Dave W in the second half.

Official MVP – Niall

Scorers – Gaz (3), Alice (2), Becca (2), Dan (2), Dave W (1), Dave E (1), Jo (1)

- Match reports by Dan

  

City on Tour 2014: Bristol Thunder Indoor Tournament

Ten of us (plus one Abingdon loanee, thanks Matt!) headed off to the Bristol Thunder indoor tournament to face off against a number of high level teams, including national league teams.  

All clubs sent out strong squads for what was billed as a future high profile tournament, and it was a good challenge for us. We weren’t one of the seeded sides, but in short, we were awesome, coming 7^th out of 13 after 6 30min games. Indeed, we were extremely unlucky to lose a match that would have put us into the play off for 5^th/6^th. 

Full results were:

Morning

10-2 Win vs Bristol Uni (great long shot by Rich!)

16-3 Win vs Bristol City  (featuring two long shots from Charlotte, and everyone chipping in)

7-6 Win vs Scratch (who had two international players)

Afternoon

Quarter-Finals - The morning’s brilliant results put us into a very tough quarter final against Bristol Thunder, who came out convincing winners, but we scored twice as many goals against them as we did in the final of the Bristol City tournament!

Play-Off 1 – 4-5 Loss vs Cardiff Celts.  After playing well in a tight game, and leading all the way through, we conceded two goals right at the end in what was the most gutting result of the day.  Still, it was a very promising display against a team that were seeded in the competition, and whom we will be matching up against in the regional league.

Play-Off 2 – 7-6 Win vs Cardiff Uni.  It was important to finish with a win and this was a great way to finish the day.  Cardiff Uni are another team we will be facing in the regional league, and we played really well, with Taissa scoring at towards the end to make victory safe.

To finish off the day (8 hours after our first match!), Alice played for Bearsted in the final of the competition, scoring an awesome long shot and setting up other goals in their tournament winning victory.  Well done Alice! 

All in all, a very successful day for Oxford City, with every single member of the squad scoring. Thanks to everyone that travelled down. 

Final scorers – Dan (13), Gaz (9), Becca (5), Claire (5), Jo (5), Alice (3), Charlotte (2), Matt (2), Taissa (1), Rich (1) 

- Dan Hibbs, chairman

Rich's Blog: My First Ever Weekend Of Sport

I took up korfball last year having played no sport for a decade. None. 

Getting out of bed early on a Saturday to spend most of my weekend running around was, frankly, ridiculous. But this weekend I did just that. My still-aching legs are proof that it wasn’t a dream.

On Saturday, I got up early and joined a happy band of City korfers on the trip to Bristol for the Bristol Thunder indoor tournament. However, no tiredness was in evidence as we won 10-2 in our first match against an energetic Bristol University side. We followed this with a 16-3 win against Bristol City 2 to top our group and secure some tough afternoon matches. 

I also shared glove tips with a girl who suffers similar finger troubles (see any of my other blog posts!). Honestly, this time next year everyone will be wearing them…

But even a pair of magic gloves wouldn’t have helped in our next match, against southwest regional champions Bristol Thunder and their team that includes several internationals. We managed to score two but were well beaten, to leave us looking at a best finish of 5th.

Sadly, that wasn’t to be as we suffered our most disappointing result of the day: a 5-4 loss to Cardiff Celts despite leading for most of the match. I know I learnt a big lesson: focus on the fundamentals and don’t try to rush things, especially when you’re in the lead.

We bounced back in our final match with a 7-6 win against Cardiff University, to finish 7th out of 14 overall, and headed home with aching bodies but heads high.

On Sunday, the bravest of us turned out at St Greg’s for the first weekend of the new OKA season for two matches against local rivals Isis. 

First, City 3 (aka ‘Team Awesome’) played Isis 2 and rushed into a three-goal lead, with a lead of 5-3 at half time, including a great debut goal from Theo.

The second half was more cagey with little ball-in-hoop action. I know I was feeling the effects of the Bristol tournament as my attacks could at best be called ‘glacial’. Even so, we kept calm, kept finding space, kept putting shots up — and kept missing them! But solid defence from Andy, Captain Blaze, Laura and Niall saw us to a 6-4 win.

And then City 1 played Isis 1. I know we won 12-6, but don’t know anything else about the match because I sloped off home to see my daughter. After a weekend of korfball, it was a relief to spend some time chasing around after something that isn’t purple and yellow.

- Rich Heap, web editor

Rich's Blog: Dragons Tournament Has Fired Me Up

Never let it be said that we at Oxford City are not intrepid. It is in this adventurous spirit that we made our way to our final outdoor tournament of the summer — just up the road, in Didcot.

Now, I must confess I’ve been feeling a bit down about my korfball in the last few weeks. This is partly because I aggravated one of my recurring finger injuries a couple of weeks ago; and partly because the prospect of stepping up to regional training is scary. Will I be able to hack it?

Thankfully, the Didcot Dragons tournament has gone some way to dispelling those doubts. We may not have rocked the Harwell Recreation Ground with our final position (I never found out), but it was a great chance for our newer players — me included — to get experience against strong opposition.

Here are the two main lessons I took from Didcot and my other two tournaments:

Players at higher level aren’t superhuman: International and regional players are usually taller or faster; definitely more experienced; and better at scoring than opponents I’m used to. That doesn’t mean they’re unplayable. Tournaments have helped shed some of this fear.

Get the right mindset: I don’t think of myself as sporty or competitive, and that’s probably one of my big problems. It turns out that I can be both if I want to be. My unusually angry and belligerent defensive showing against Bristol City was a highlight; and showed me the benefit of taking an irrational dislike to my opponent, at least while I’m on the pitch.

That doesn’t mean I think I’ve got this whole korfball thing sussed. I don’t. But, with effort in training in matches, it does give me the confidence that one day I might. And there are plenty of City matches to learn in this season, from League 2 to regional.

So after a tough few weeks, there’s only one way to greet the new season: bring it on!

Rich Heap, web editor

Rich's Blog: Oxford Tournament - A Genie's Story

It was a morning that made meteorologists of us all. While the rain hammered down we hunted for blue sky, discussed the wind direction, and felt dejected as the water breached our underwear. And we did all of this alongside 20 teams from the south and Midlands at the Oxford City 2014 summer tournament.

I must confess that I went into the day nervous. Partly, at the prospect of playing for City 1; but mainly at having to chaperone my collection of injuries through a full day.

Thankfully, I managed to set aside my first worry by scoring in our opening match, a 5-2 win versus Supernova. But as the rain got harder, so did our opponents. Our next two matches were a narrow loss against Gloucester Lions and a scrappy 0-0 against Southampton Spartans. We finished the morning with a 3-1 win against Abingdon 2, with me playing half the game at walking pace due to my tweaked hamstring — and to little detriment to the quality of my play.

After a quick lunch I carried on playing into the afternoon, despite the medical advice of most of my teammates. It seemed rude to stop now the sun had finally turned up.

And I’m glad I did as I got my second goal of the day in a 7-1 win against Oxford Uni; helped City 2 to win 3-1 against Supernova; and contributed a few assists throughout the day. I also learnt I need more practice at marking people who are taller than me.

We followed the korfball with a chilli-and-alcohol-fuelled fairy tales social where, to further ignore medical wisdom, I spent four hours dancing while dressed (or half-dressed?) as a genie. Which leads me on to a smattering of unofficial awards:

The Chessboxing Award for Brain and Brawn: Chessboxing is well-known for fusing the two contrasting disciplines of chess and boxing, and on Saturday we discovered something similar: korfematics. This is where you switch between playing korfball and working out complex mathematical calculations, to determine who is playing on which pitch and who the hell is refereeing. Only one winner: Taissa.

The “More Height, More Power” Award for Constructive Criticism: This goes to everyone who helped Jim on his return by reminding him of all those catchphrases he’s been barking from the sidelines. Ps. Great to see you back in action, Jim.

The Anton du Beke Award for Dance Commitment: Rich M brought the rhythm with dance moves based on korfball shots, dynamic stretches, and household chores. This climaxed with a dramatic ‘lift’ during What a Feeling from the the film Flashdance, appropriately-titled given that he ripped his shorts in the process. And who was his dance partner? Let’s just say the damage was done by a genie’s lamp.

Thanks to Taissa, Fi and Simon for a great day; to Mike for DJing from afar; and to everyone who came and made it a success despite the rain. See you again in 2015.

Rich Heap, web editor