Didcot

Posted by ChrisB on October 27, 2007, 7:12 pm

With ten minutes left Didcot’s manager, Stuart Peace, might have thought that he had finally broken the derby hoodoo that has seen his team unable to beat local rivals City and Abingdon United since their arrival in the Southern League – but it was not to be.
In front of a good-sized crowd Didcot started strongly making good use of their tall front-men, and Michael Bartley in particular, and as early as the fourth minute were claiming a score after a goalmouth melee saw the City defence somehow manage to clear the ball from under the bar.
Jermaine McSporran was giving his marker a difficult time and was pulled down on the edge of the area after six minutes giving Jon Gardner a chance to curl in a testing free-kick which was just too high for Andy Gunn at the far post. Four minutes later and McSporran outpaced his marker on the Didcot right and chased down a long pass from Steve Davis and played the ball back neatly for Davis to deliver a great left-footed cross that Mark Jones, under pressure from Bicknell, headed beyond Michael Watkins to give City the lead.
Didcot continued to press with both Bicknell and Mulvany swinging several crosses into the City area from Didcot’s left flank, but Gunn and Cattell generally dealt with matters comfortably.
Mr Bird’s overfondness for the whistle was producing a rather stop-start affair and yellow cards blossomed around the end of the first quarter.
On the half-hour Jon Gardner picked out Darren Pond in space in the Didcot area and a goal-bound strike cannoned off Bicknell’s arm - very half-hearted penalty appeals only! - for a corner and as the cross was scrambled away Gardner returned the ball for McSporran to flick a header across Watkins and into the net.
Didcot almost pulled one back with their next attack when Bartley narrowly failed to get a toe onto an accurately threaded pass by Jack King, and a few minutes later an accurate dead-ball kick from Bicknell was headed past the upright by Witt.
City finished the half on the attack with two corners won in quick succession, and from the second Pond at the far post headed Davis’ cross into the side-netting.

HALF-TIME Didcot 0-2 City

Didcot attacked from the whistle and almost immediately Bartley made room for himself on the edge of the box and produced a strong shot that Smith held well, and then with just three minutes of the half gone the home side got the all-important third goal. Bicknell was again the provider and his deep cross was headed firmly home by Matty Jack. City were finding it hard to build attacks as the home side continued to press. Another Bicknell cross headed just wide; Mulvany found the side-netting with a low drive and Witt brought a save from Smith with a header. A Steve Davis pass did release Mark Jones on the City left but Stuart Cattell’s shot from the final cross was held by Watkins.
Didcot’s aerial bombardment paid off after 68 minutes when another high ball gave Ashley Vine an opportunity for a looping header that went in off the far post to level the scores. And with a quarter of an hour left Didcot got their noses in front for the first time when (yet) another accurate centre from Bicknell was put behind for a corner, and the resultant kick was cleared only as far as Jack King just outside the area who hit a cracking shot beyond an unsighted Smith and into the top corner.
City replied with a double substitution bringing Faulkner and Stewart on at the front, but the equaliser came from mid-field with ten minutes left when George Redknap picked up a misplaced clearance just inside the Didcot half and accelerated into the box. His shot was probably covered by Watkins but was pushed past the keeper by Richard Peirson for an own-goal as he raced back to cover.
As both sides looked for a late winner Smith pushed Witt’s powerful shot just over the bar; a Faulkner cross was fractionally too high for Stewart; and, with almost the last kick of the match, Vine struck a low shot that just beat both Smith and the far post.

FULL-TIME Didcot Town 3-3 Oxford City

City: Smith, Saulsbury, Davis, Gunn, Pond (Faulkner 76), Cattell, Gardner (Bell 86), Redknap, McSporran, Jones (Stewart 76), Malone.

So, another draw between these two sides, though the stalemate will finally have to be broken, one way or another, on Tuesday night when they meet in the errea Cup at Court Place Farm.