Match Report: City 2 Dominates In 26-3 Win

City 2 vs Reading 1 - 06.12.15

26-3 Win

Despite having a slightly depleted roster due to the double header in Cardiff, City 2 seemed determined to show that this would have no impact on the games final outcome. 

No slow starts this Sunday with David Sinclair scoring the first goal within 30 seconds of the game starting, and following it up a minute later with his second. The goals flowed for the rest of the half without Reading having an answer in either their defence or their own goal scoring ability. The half-time score was 16-1, and their one goal looked pretty well defended by Fi. 

Sadly, after the half-time break our heads went down a little and Reading scored two quick goals in succession. Spurred on by this lapse, City 2 stepped up their front defence and shut down any further attacks for the rest of the match. The whole team excelled at pressuring party balls out of attack resulting in a lot of turn overs and a very frustrated Reading. 

The goals started to flow again from both set pieces and in open play with a number of superb long shots going in. By the end of the match there were just too many goals to even hope highlighting the 'good' ones, but a special highlight was Theo bagging a none-too-shabby eight goals. Well done! It was as impressive to watch as it was easy to coach. A great display by the entire team.

MVP - Theo, though Taissa and Becca Bleeze both deserve a special mention for completely shutting down their best player 

- Match report by Jim

Match Reports: City Gets Scrappy Double Win In Wales

Oxford City vs Cardiff Raptors 06.12.15

17-14 Win

In the car on the way over we had played the classic pre-match fun guess-the-divisions game (it is a long drive!). There was some debate about what would happen but little did any of us know the Ruth Express had a fun plan to raise Frank's blood pressure. Her car's voice of reason (Claire) was over-ruled and they happily headed to the House of Sport and got kitted up. Thankfully, they realised and hot-footed it to the correct Cardiff Uni Sports Hall moments before the throw-off so we narrowly avoided playing short despite having 12 players in Cardiff.

Anyway, to the match...

We started strongly, quickly scoring the first three goals but the Raptors stayed in the fight. Looking at the other results this first match was supposed to be the easier fixture but you wouldn't have known it. Although we had the lead throughout, we didn't take control of the match as we should have done. The play was scrappy and the game had the most footballs I have ever witnessed.

Frank was clear about his disappointment at our first half. We gifted the Raptors penalties and free passes keeping them in the game. We all had penalties called against us. Dan supposedly contacted his marker with his whole body (impressive) and Claire over-enthusiastically ran down a free player at the post (I think that one was a foul). Two of our ideal goals of the back turned out to be off the court so tactics had to change.

Thankfully, Ruth's amazing long shots and brilliantly-timed runner settled the ship. This along with great defence made her the obvious choice for player of the match. Well done Ruth - you played brilliantly!

James defended a Raptor would-be goal (a leaning back veer that would have been their best goal of the game). Alice took defending to extremes, not afraid to take the fall to demonstrate being run into the feed.

Overall, the match alternated between quality and error. As an example, one moment James won and sunk a penalty, then mere moments later he conceded a penalty the other end. We won but it didn't feel like the solid victory we can produce so we knew had more work to do in the next match.

MVP - Ruth
Scorers - Ruth (5), Nick (4), James (3), Dave (3), Niall, Gaz

Oxford City vs Cardiff University - 06.12.15

14-8 Win

Dave was only on for the first 16 minutes but we had a lot to fix from the previous match and the way he played really did help us to raise our game. We scored the first four goals and kept a three-goal cushion but we had to keep working hard as Uni never gave up. There were crowds looking in from the end of pitch window and I like to believe it was because the game looked so damn good!

In attack we had something approaching shape and in defence we were disruptive to the nippy Uni players plans. It was tough to make good opportunities and Cardiff Uni had brought a giant with them. Nick did a great job keeping him very quiet on the scoring front. 

There were some poor passes/catches but we chased and pressured, often flicking it back in to play. Dan 'the bullet' was back to his glorious intercepting ways and Amy had several narrowly-denied goals. Jo got an assist from defence on a lovely runner from Gaz "25 seconds is 24 seconds too long" Clarke. Niall provided some great feeds and was unlucky on some defended calls. Becca as usual owned the post as the needed and Claire used her experience to out-match Dutch opposition.

So it was fast and we worked hard for each other. Great work everyone! A deserved victory and hopefully winning the double makes the long journey worthwhile. Thanks to Frank for the epic commitment today (and always) plus for making us raise our game.

MVP - Dave
Scorers - James (3), Nick (3), Dan (3), Dave (2), Gaz (2), Alice

- Match reports by Jo

Match Report: City Secures One Win In Bristol Double

Oxford City vs Bristol Thunder 1 - 21.11.15

11-17 Loss

The thing I remember most about this match was the tension in those first five minutes. It was fast and we were prepared to give it all. We looked amazing with our full squad and coach. This was the most positive I have ever felt before/during a match against Thunder 1, who didn't provided the pantomime villain, and we knew that we could provide real competition on their home turf.

In the first half, Ruth and Catherine both blamed shots, and Alice got the goal we are all aiming for off the back. We timed out Thunder's attack several times with fierce defending, and Dave Ewing got a sweet long shot from the side of the court.

Tied 6-6 at half time but getting tired, the second half wasn't as beautiful. It was just a bit odd in places and our passing didn't quite match up with our ambition.

Dave Ewing had a free pass called against him which strangely stopped a Thunder goal counting. Dan's quick and lovely runner was disallowed because the shot clock had not been correctly primed. Thunder got ahead in the last quarter and slowed down their passing out of defense to a near standstill. Also, they very nearly scored an own goal with a defensive pass over the post. We lost in the end by six goals but had been in contention for the majority of the match.

So we will just have to wait until next year to beat Thunder 1! It is good to still have some aims still to conquer. MVP was Ruth for a great all round match. She took lots of nice long shots from the sides which didn't all drop today but often reset the shot clock leading to the next goal having time to be scored. Well played Ruth.

MVP - Ruth

Scorers - James (4), Dave Ewing (2), Dan (2), Alice, Amy, Ruth

Oxford City 1 vs Bristol City - 21.11.5

15 - 14 Win

After Dave Ewing had been consoled about the earlier loss, we knew we needed to be calm and in control to beat a fresh squad of players some of whom seemed much taller than is strictly necessary. Frank was definitely not having us heading home without a victory, and he got almost the same workout as the players on pitch with some intense pacing and coaching. 

No one would want to let Frank down and there were great defensive moves from Becca, Ruth and Gaz which saved us conceding at least three sunk shots form Bristol City. Gaz even went so far chasing a ball down that he almost leapt the separating wall between pitches. Niall also used his speed to recover balls which would otherwise have been lost to those pesky sidelines.

David Sinclair had his first taste of regionals and provided some great feeds while adjusting well to the tempo of the match. Most importantly in this match Gaz started scoring again - how we have been missing it! After being fouled on a runner and personally sinking the penalty, it seemed whatever had been lacking was now all better. He scored another five during the match to end up with a Dave-Ewing-trademark five.

James injured his ankle late in the first half but recovered enough to rejoin play in the dying minutes. The Bristol City boys did comment, "They must have something magic in those ice packs" but, as I imagine Dan would say, it is just "something magic about Oxford City". It was great to see that determination to come back on and help secure the win. 

The second half included a period of play when we went five goals up. Bristol City then crept back reducing our margin to just one goal. It took real discipline and control to change tactics to prolong passing out and attacks to secure victory. It was incredibly tense but in the end we did enough for that victory. Hopefully next time on our home turf, without having already played a match beforehand, we will make it look a much easier win.

Despite not scoring, Frank awarded Jo MVP for consistency (I do hope that was not about the scoresheet). He had stressed it was about making those opportunities for the team so lets say that's what I did.

Thanks to everyone for travelling and putting everything into the matches. Huge thanks to Frank who keeps us working that little bit harder. Great to see an excellent squad at an away fixture. Go Oxford City!

MVP - Jo

Scorers - Gaz (5), Dave Ewing (2), James (2), Alice (2), Dan, Niall, Ruth, Amy

- Match reports by Jo

Rich's Blog: City Spirit Shows In Important Victories

The autumn chills may have set in but the hot streaks of City’s top teams have continued.

In the regional league, we have followed up a valiant 22-17 opening day defeat against last year’s champions, Bristol Thunder 1, with two wins. 

On 24 November, we got one of our best results in recent memory with a narrow 12-11 win against last season’s runners-up, Southampton Spartans. And, on Saturday, we secured a 19-10 victory in our match-up with Bristol Thunder 2 which, though technically a second team, is still packed full of height and talent. A special mention to James who came from a night shift to make his City regional debut in the latter match — and promptly scored seven goals!

In OKA league 1, we continued our strong start with a dominant 24-5 win against Oxford Uni. Our next OKA league 1 match, against Abingdon 1, is shaping up to be a huge one.

And in OKA league 2, City 2 also bagged two more wins — 14-4 against Isis 2 and 20-6 against Uni 2 — to set up a huge top-of-the-table clash against Isis 1. Isis 1 and City 2 are both gunning for a spot in league 1 next season, and the chance to beat our local rivals always adds extra spice! 

The match itself was a nip and tuck affair, with City taking and holding the lead, but never really accelerating away. However, City 2 held firm and came through with a 15-11 win. That’s now five wins from five and two of the toughest matches, against the newly-relegated Didcot 1 and Isis 1, out of the way as well. Next on the fixture list for City 2 is Team Tiger aka City 3.

After a strong start to the season, City 3 has faced a few tough matches, including losses of 5-10 and 7-17 against Isis 1 and Didcot 1 respectively. The goals have been dropping, though not in the numbers the Tigers would have liked, but there are some good battles coming up to put that right.

And finally, in the last month we have seen the first two matches for our newly-formed City 4, which followed up a 2-6 loss against Abingdon 3 in their first match with an 8-3 win against Reading Uni. 

So, all in all, it has been another strong month and we have been seeing great things from all our teams. Let’s keep this up for another month and go into 2016 on a high.

- Rich Heap, web editor

Match Report: James Bags Seven In Thunder 2 Win

Oxford City vs Bristol Thunder 2 - 14.11.15
19-10 Win

The plan was simple: defend tight and do what we trained on Thursday. This was a game we needed and expected to win, but that expectation was only because we have come so far from where we were last year. 

And, as it turned out, we all played brilliantly and as a team scored some beautiful goals, which were normally the result of some great teamwork. The height of the Thunder boys didn't even seem to be any issue and we kept a fast pace throughout the game. 

On the downside we were timed out in attack (but only once) and there was a period around half time where Thunder scored four or five goals in a row, although this was not really an issue in the game as a whole. We kept playing our game and, even with the divisions greatly changed by substitutions, we found ways to make it work.

We had a regional debut from James. As Amy said, if this is what he can do after a night shift just wait until next time. Seven goals is excellent and Frank was right to highlight the defensive work James put in. 

Gaz also deserves a special mention for a first half sliding ball intercept. Even hitting the wall is not enough to stop him going to get that ball back for us!

Becca scored her first regional goal of the season and generally showed off fine play to the crowd of supporters she had brought. 

Nick (or number 61 as the ref enjoyed telling him off with) had another solid performance and did not knock over any girls. He reached excellent heights on dynamic collecting jumps to ensure the ball belongs to City.

Ruth in the second half proved she is all over this shot clock thing with a lovely reset shot from just under the post.

Niall chased down numerous loose balls and used his quick turn of pace for a lovely runner.

Dan seemed to be persona-non-grata on the defended calls today despite being pretty damn close. A good come back game from numerous hip, ankle, shoulder injuries - here is hoping your new tongue injury won't affect your play to much next match.

There were many more moments during the game but it was too fast-paced for me to remember everything. To summarise the team was awesome!

There is one more key point in the game that I will mention, it happened towards the end of the first half. Unfortunately, Thunder went down to seven players and it took us a while to readjust to playing four against three. It has historically been very rare for Oxford City to be on the side with the plethora of players and how to best use the extra player is not an easy decision. On this occasion Catherine did us proud, making space and controlling the post in the face of confusing but oddly effective marking. This high work rate and finding the best way to support the division is why she is the MVP for this game. Well done!

MVP - Catherine

Scorers - James (7), Nick (4), Niall (2), Dave (2), Becca, Ruth, Amy, Jo

- Match report by Jo

Match Report: City Nails First Regional Win Of The Season

Oxford City vs Southampton Spartans - 24.10.15

12-11 Win 

On Saturday we secured our first regional win of the season in a close match against last year's Western Regional League runners-up, Southampton Spartans. Here are the particulars. 

The first half featured impressive defensive displays by both teams. The first goal came from Southampton about 15 minutes in. This was countered by lovely long shot from Ruth, before the Dan/Dave combo got a fairly quick pair of goals putting us 3-1 up. As well as defending hard we were also playing very fast and taking shots that unfortunately didn't even provide a reset of the shot clock. Having a score of just 3-4 at half time shows the strong defensive play happening. 

The second half contained an epic battle between Andy Nye and Nick, with the latter doing amazing work marking a crucial player out of the Southampton game. He also scored four goals into the bargain, and it is no surprise that Nick was named MVP. Excellent play and disciplined when decisions didn't always go in his favour. Playing to the whistle demoed brilliantly! 

Dave put away another couple of goals second half but, aside from Nick, it was all about the super subs. Niall straight on and scoring a beautiful runner. Amy had her regional team debut and got two fine goals. One of Amy's goals came towards the end of the game when it was 10-10, and that goal put us ahead and steadied the ship at a cruicial time. 

Southampton had made good use of their tall guys with long arms and gave us a tense game. They got two goals ahead and, after we caught up, they never made it easy. But we managed to take the lead an hold on in the tense last few minutes for our first regional win of the year. Hurrah!

MVP - Nick

Scorers - Nick (4), Dave (3), Amy (2), Niall, Ruth, Dan






- Match report by Jo

Rich’s Blog: City Starts Strong In All Three Leagues

When I joined City in autumn 2013, the club was pretty much at rock bottom. We had just finished bottom of OKA league one with no wins and were struggling to field a second team — but club spirit was still good! 

Even last year we were only able to field six players for an infamous and ill-fated trip to Basingstoke. 

But this season we’ve started strong in all three leagues to consign those dark days to history.

City’s regional team this weekend pushed last year’s champions Bristol Thunder close with a 22-17 loss in the Western Regional League. If the team plays like that all year we can expect some great wins.

City 1 has also come out of the blocks fast in OKA league 1. The team started the season with a 20-9 win against the newly-promoted Southampton City 1, which bulldozed its way through league 2 south last year and has very experienced players in the likes of Andy Nye and David Creed. 

City 1 followed this with a 14-14 draw against the rapidly-improving Farnborough Jets, though this was a slightly disappointing result given that we held the lead at half time. But the team roared back with a 23-9 win against the always-strong Basingstoke Bulls, which is our first competitive win against them in three years. At the time of writing, City 1 sits proudly atop OKA league 1.

Meanwhile, in OKA league 2, we are also top. City 2 has recorded 12-7 and 12-6 wins against Didcot Dragons 1 and 2 respectively to top the division.

And City 3 (aka Team Tiger) has also started tigerishly and shows that the club as a whole is gaining great strength in depth. We followed a narrow 13-15 loss to a strong Didcot 2 on opening day with a 7-5 win against Isis 2, and then a 5-10 loss against an experienced and promotion-chasing Isis 1. The fact that City 3 can now mix it with the first team of fierce local rivals Isis shows just how far we are coming.

The performances of all these teams show that there are plenty of reasons to be positive this year — and the first match for City 4 later this month is another indication of how far we are coming. Meanwhile, the atmosphere off-the-pitch is as good as I can remember it. The Oxford City spirit has always been strong, but the regular wins make it that much sweeter!


If we keep this up then we can expect many more successes in 2015/16. One, two, three… City!

- Rich Heap, web editor