Teams

Mens 4th XI
Fixtures & Results | Reports

Reports

27.10.07 Not MUSH ROOM for Improvement Oxted Fourth XI 3 Sanderstead 1

Well what a week, no Captain, no vice, both missing in action, a distinct lack of players available, the midfield missing, the defence gone, dilapidated goal keeping kit, a keeper with no knee, an alien from another planet, two old skippers, more grey hair than you could shake a stick at, no practise balls, no match ball, no pre game plan, no list of players and the mantra  from the missing skipper of "what ever happens I know you tried your best" the new look (well except for a few wrinkles), old style Vintage Mushrooms took to the field !

Match Report by SkidZ

With Chucky and Skids reviving their old roles of Captain Chuckie and Manager SkidZ, and the vets making up the back line, and only 3 original players from this season's starting line up Oxted started the game against Sanderstead with nothing to lose.

So we lost the toss and the battle began.

A very well organised Sanderstead, using the famous Christmas Tree formation accompanied with steps from a very bad line dancing routine, started strong and moved the ball from one side of the pitch to the other and back again and round, now form a square……………………………...

Oxted took a while to find their feet and struggled allowing Sanderstead to run the pace of the game. However as time went on, experience kicked in and following some excellent work from Chuckie, Kinda NO Surprise and Sherwood, we started to hit back. We forced several short corners but were unable to convert and despite Ming's  threatening runs (strolls) the score remained nil nil. However toward the end of the first half Sanderstead caught a lucky break and got the first short corner of the game. Unfortunately for us this was converted following an excellent first time save by Slug, when the rebound was lifted over his diving, slightly floppy Knee !

With half time approaching it was down to Manager SkidZ to lead by example, he duly did this was being green carded after being warned not to say another word, unfortunately the word uttered, although very similar to one of our own player's nicknames  (although no playing at the time) i.e. TOSA was not well received and off he trudged.

The second half started with the arrival of Paul Luvvie Greenwood, the half time talk consisted of Luvvie telling everyone to give him the ball and he would do the rest. And with that Luvvie went out and single handily destroyed Sanderstead's midfield.

Luvvie and Chuckie were starting to really control the middle of the pitch and with Bernard, Norman (in joke) and the president (get it) ! at the back the ball stayed firmly in the oppositions half.

Following a goal month clearance and a few past the post misses, Oxted pressed for the equaliser. And sure enough through an excellent worked short corner Chuckie sneaked in at the post and slotted away what turned out to be the move that broke Sanderstead.

Oxted continued to press and now felt the game was there for the winning (unlike Meridian), with This Sherwood pushed forward and with no desire to pass to anyone else lifted a neat flick over a despairing keeper.

With the game over turned, Oxted's youngsters got into the fray with great work by Jamie and his magic stick ! Along with Blue Peter, Oxted started to run the show and move the ball around majestically.

The final whistle game, and Oxted went off the advise missing in action Skipper, Meridian we had done the impossible (his words!) and delivered the result that if true to his words allows free beers for the team for the rest of the season !

This was a truly fantastic result, and shows how with self belief and good basic hockey and the extras from Dad's Army (that one was Luvvie's) anything is possible, thanks for everyone that helped out on the day, it showed real club commitment.

The day was wonderfully capped off when a very depleted Third XI stocked with most of the forth XI pulled off an equally superb win.

Match Report by Bubbles - Sat 13th vs Woking 5s
The day started particularly well for our leader, Meridian, who was still grinning after meeting his love interest the night earlier (this has been toned down !). In contrast, the day wasn't going well for Rolfy, suffering one of his all time top 10 hangovers and winning the award for most unfit to play, Minther included.

It took us a short while to get into the game, not managing to get the ball out of our 25 for 10 minutes. In truth, despite what was said at half time, we were pretty awful first half. However we went in 1-0 up thanks to a cracking short corner strike from our talismanic front man, Minther. (we won't mention the snipers shooting him down with the goal at his mercy earlier, forcing what must now be known as an "embarrassment stoppage" or him blocking Tosser's undercut shot with his ribcage, much to the amusement of our "support" on the sidelines).

Second half we were much improved. Much better hockey, made them look as old as they were. Praise indeed. Soon enough we were 2-0 up and on the powerplay thanks to their centre back picking up a yellow for arguing his deliberate reverse stick in the D. Bubbles converted, and gets ever closer to winning his 3 pint bet (with housemate) to get 10 goals this year. 3 down.....

On the powerplay, the goals started to flow, Skidz picking up his first of the season after a great move involving Minth. and soon after it was 4-0 after Minth converted another excellent short corner. game won. Sam won dick of the day for his comedy miss, and their defence rounded it off with a neat goal own goal deflection near the end.

So at the moment it all looks pretty good fellas - the defence were excellent - Guppy and Meridian cutting out pretty much everything leaving Napalm without much to do. Kinder NO surprise did his usual thang on the left, and man of the match and new boy Tom deserves special mention for a great first game (nickname suggestions need to be put forward). 0 goals conceded this season. Midfield looks strong also, helping the defence and attack in equal measure and Tosser is settling in well in the centre mid. And up front, 10 goals in 2 games. Nuff said.