Taunton
City 2-0 Taunton Town: A View From The Terraces
For their first home match for five weeks City took on Taunton Town who on the only two previous occasions that they had visited Court Place Farm had taken all the points back to Somerset with them.
Putting the mid-week loss to fellow contenders Fleet behind them the home side got off to a good start and Ikechi Anya produced a couple of lively runs on the right wing that took him to the goal-line within the first two minutes, though his crosses caused no major difficulties to the Taunton defence.
The visitors seemed keen to test Steve Smith’s reflexes and three times in the first ten minutes long-range shots were attempted, by Stone, Faux and Fisher, but all sailed harmlessly wide.
Jon Gardner, cutting in from the left, had a clear sight of goal and got away a fair shot, but Nathan Whatley, making his debut in the Town goal, held it cleanly.
City were pressing hard now, attacking on both flanks, though Smith had to leave his line quickly to clear as Darren Stone latched on to a through ball.
James Saulsbury found Anya wide on the right and his excellent cross was bundled to safety by Nelson, and Anya caused problems again a minute later when his pace allowed him to get beyond Charlie Welch and deliver a cross just beyond the reach of Gardner.
City deservedly took the lead after 18 minutes when Gardner spotted a good run by Darren Pond and found him with a precise pass into the box and Pond finished well with his right foot from an angle that was not the easiest.
For the next 15 minutes or so City played some of their best, passing football. Anya put in an inch-perfect cross to Gardner, unmarked on the far side of the box, who, perhaps unaware of how much time and space he had, fired a first-time volley spectacularly high over the bar. Anya, again, picked out Liam Malone on the edge of the area and his shot drew a fine save, low and to his left, from Whatley. Gardner saw his free-kick shave the top of the Taunton bar; Jermaine McSporran cut in from the right and unleashed a powerful shot that Whatley could only parry, but unfortunately not to a blue shirt; and then Whatley, having a really excellent game, produced his best save of the afternoon as he clung on to a well-directed header from McSporran.
With ten minutes of the half remaining City should have stretched their lead as Steve Jones’ ill-timed challenge brought down Gardner as he raced into the box, but McSporran’s spot kick was rather too close to the in-form Whatley and the keeper pushed the ball to safety.
With a few minutes left to the break Taunton were awarded a free-kick close to the City box as the referee overruled an offside-flag from his assistant, and Smith had to stretch to palm Matt Beadle’s shot behind for a corner, and the City keeper showed good reactions to the subsequent corner as well when he caught cleanly among a forest of City and Taunton players.
HALF-TIME: Oxford City 1-0 Taunton Town
City restarted the quicker and an early corner taken by Jon Gardner came back to him from a clearing header, and his low shot was gathered well by Whatley. From his clearance a defender was dispossessed by McSporran whose curling shot from distance slid off the top of the bar with Whatley looking on confidently.
Taunton were now coming back into the game more, and the introduction of Shaun Anthony after ten minutes heralded a period of rather more concerted attacking. A pass from Alex Faux released Anthony to test Smith, but his shot was well caught; and Anthony spun well off his marker a little later but his shot was held cleanly by Smith moving to his left. Darren Stone twice drove hard, low balls across the face of the City goal, but each was knocked behind for a corner.
City withstood the pressure well and pulled themselves back into the game as twice in as many minutes McSporran’s runs didn’t draw an offside-flag. On the first occasion Whatley narrowed the angle well blocking with his knees, and then forcing the next shot into the side-netting.
Mark Jones, on for Anya, produced a terrific lofted ball to the far post where Jon Gardner’s goal-bound volley was blocked by a defender just before City increased their lead with eight minutes remaining. McSporran timed his run onto a defence-splitting pass to perfection and looked as though he would put in a shot, but elected instead to pass to Gardner who went down under a heavy tackle but not before he could feed Alex Stewart who, so reliable from such a position, made no mistake with a hard, low shot.
The visitors still had chances to narrow the gap as Kearley picked up a bouncing ball that had cleared Andy Gunn and shot past Smith’s right hand to hit the base of the post; and Welch’s well-directed cross just eluded the waiting attackers.
The game finished with City on attack as Mark Jones reached Alex Stewart with a long pass, but Whatley was equal to his shot; and Stewart hit a free-kick from twenty yards that cannoned off the defensive wall bringing a gasp from the defender and the final whistle from Mr Bird.
FULL-TIME: Oxford City 2-0 Taunton Town
Oxford City: Smith, Saulsbury, Woodruffe, Gunn, Pond, Avery, Gardner, Malone, McSporran, Redknap (Stewart 70), Anya (Jones 65).
Posted by ChrisB on December 22, 2007, 8:17 pm
For their first home match for five weeks City took on Taunton Town who on the only two previous occasions that they had visited Court Place Farm had taken all the points back to Somerset with them.
Putting the mid-week loss to fellow contenders Fleet behind them the home side got off to a good start and Ikechi Anya produced a couple of lively runs on the right wing that took him to the goal-line within the first two minutes, though his crosses caused no major difficulties to the Taunton defence.
The visitors seemed keen to test Steve Smith’s reflexes and three times in the first ten minutes long-range shots were attempted, by Stone, Faux and Fisher, but all sailed harmlessly wide.
Jon Gardner, cutting in from the left, had a clear sight of goal and got away a fair shot, but Nathan Whatley, making his debut in the Town goal, held it cleanly.
City were pressing hard now, attacking on both flanks, though Smith had to leave his line quickly to clear as Darren Stone latched on to a through ball.
James Saulsbury found Anya wide on the right and his excellent cross was bundled to safety by Nelson, and Anya caused problems again a minute later when his pace allowed him to get beyond Charlie Welch and deliver a cross just beyond the reach of Gardner.
City deservedly took the lead after 18 minutes when Gardner spotted a good run by Darren Pond and found him with a precise pass into the box and Pond finished well with his right foot from an angle that was not the easiest.
For the next 15 minutes or so City played some of their best, passing football. Anya put in an inch-perfect cross to Gardner, unmarked on the far side of the box, who, perhaps unaware of how much time and space he had, fired a first-time volley spectacularly high over the bar. Anya, again, picked out Liam Malone on the edge of the area and his shot drew a fine save, low and to his left, from Whatley. Gardner saw his free-kick shave the top of the Taunton bar; Jermaine McSporran cut in from the right and unleashed a powerful shot that Whatley could only parry, but unfortunately not to a blue shirt; and then Whatley, having a really excellent game, produced his best save of the afternoon as he clung on to a well-directed header from McSporran.
With ten minutes of the half remaining City should have stretched their lead as Steve Jones’ ill-timed challenge brought down Gardner as he raced into the box, but McSporran’s spot kick was rather too close to the in-form Whatley and the keeper pushed the ball to safety.
With a few minutes left to the break Taunton were awarded a free-kick close to the City box as the referee overruled an offside-flag from his assistant, and Smith had to stretch to palm Matt Beadle’s shot behind for a corner, and the City keeper showed good reactions to the subsequent corner as well when he caught cleanly among a forest of City and Taunton players.
HALF-TIME: Oxford City 1-0 Taunton Town
City restarted the quicker and an early corner taken by Jon Gardner came back to him from a clearing header, and his low shot was gathered well by Whatley. From his clearance a defender was dispossessed by McSporran whose curling shot from distance slid off the top of the bar with Whatley looking on confidently.
Taunton were now coming back into the game more, and the introduction of Shaun Anthony after ten minutes heralded a period of rather more concerted attacking. A pass from Alex Faux released Anthony to test Smith, but his shot was well caught; and Anthony spun well off his marker a little later but his shot was held cleanly by Smith moving to his left. Darren Stone twice drove hard, low balls across the face of the City goal, but each was knocked behind for a corner.
City withstood the pressure well and pulled themselves back into the game as twice in as many minutes McSporran’s runs didn’t draw an offside-flag. On the first occasion Whatley narrowed the angle well blocking with his knees, and then forcing the next shot into the side-netting.
Mark Jones, on for Anya, produced a terrific lofted ball to the far post where Jon Gardner’s goal-bound volley was blocked by a defender just before City increased their lead with eight minutes remaining. McSporran timed his run onto a defence-splitting pass to perfection and looked as though he would put in a shot, but elected instead to pass to Gardner who went down under a heavy tackle but not before he could feed Alex Stewart who, so reliable from such a position, made no mistake with a hard, low shot.
The visitors still had chances to narrow the gap as Kearley picked up a bouncing ball that had cleared Andy Gunn and shot past Smith’s right hand to hit the base of the post; and Welch’s well-directed cross just eluded the waiting attackers.
The game finished with City on attack as Mark Jones reached Alex Stewart with a long pass, but Whatley was equal to his shot; and Stewart hit a free-kick from twenty yards that cannoned off the defensive wall bringing a gasp from the defender and the final whistle from Mr Bird.
FULL-TIME: Oxford City 2-0 Taunton Town
Oxford City: Smith, Saulsbury, Woodruffe, Gunn, Pond, Avery, Gardner, Malone, McSporran, Redknap (Stewart 70), Anya (Jones 65).
posted by Julian at Thursday, February 07, 2008
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