Thursday evening was a chance to get to my 25th and final Southern Region game of the season. The last few games have all been crucial clashes. In March I was at the Penn v Beaconsfield game that effectively put Penn out of the title race (No Love Lost). Next up was the game that confirmed The Rams as Division One winners, victory at Abingdon (Rams Take A Step Up). Then the Oxfordshire Cup Final between Oxford City and Kidlington (Sweet Sixteen For City), followed up by Fleet Town claiming the Division One South title at home to Bursledon (Premier In, Fleet). Phew!
Now it was time to see if Oxford City could claim a second cup of the season and win the Chairman's Cup for the second time, following their 3-2 defeat of Winchester City Flyers in 2018. However, to do that, they first had to get past Division One North side Abingdon United Development, who'd had an up and down season but had finished very strongly. Reaching a cup final in only their second season at this level, was an achievement in itself.
The road to Holloways Park saw Abingdon kick off with a first round destruction of QK Southampton, winning 10-0. City were awarded a walkover against Woodley United. The second round saw both sides scoring plenty of goals. Abingdon won 9-0 at Caversham United whilst Oxford put 7 unanswered goals past Wimborne Town. The semi-finals were closer affairs with both teams being drawn away from home. City edged past Bournemouth Sports Reserves by a goal to nil. Abingdon also won by the odd goal, defeating AFC Stoneham 3-2.
Fittingly the final was taking place at Beaconsfield Town, who were current holders and, as luck would have it, would also be presented with the Division One Championship trophy at half-time.
City made four changes from the team that started at Thame in the Oxfordshire Cup Final. Billie Bough-French, Bailee Latimer, Ellie Walecki and Kaitlyn Crouch were out and, in fact, only the latter was on the bench. in came Amber Le-beau, Amelia Davis, Anna O'Leary and Lucy White. Abingdon were playing the majority of the team that started their final league game last weekend. Mimi Hodges and Millie Hodge came in, both of whom have 20+ appearances this season for the first team in the National League South-West. Jess Southey also came into the back-line along with Maisie Moore in goal.
Now it was time to see if Oxford City could claim a second cup of the season and win the Chairman's Cup for the second time, following their 3-2 defeat of Winchester City Flyers in 2018. However, to do that, they first had to get past Division One North side Abingdon United Development, who'd had an up and down season but had finished very strongly. Reaching a cup final in only their second season at this level, was an achievement in itself.
The road to Holloways Park saw Abingdon kick off with a first round destruction of QK Southampton, winning 10-0. City were awarded a walkover against Woodley United. The second round saw both sides scoring plenty of goals. Abingdon won 9-0 at Caversham United whilst Oxford put 7 unanswered goals past Wimborne Town. The semi-finals were closer affairs with both teams being drawn away from home. City edged past Bournemouth Sports Reserves by a goal to nil. Abingdon also won by the odd goal, defeating AFC Stoneham 3-2.
Fittingly the final was taking place at Beaconsfield Town, who were current holders and, as luck would have it, would also be presented with the Division One Championship trophy at half-time.
City made four changes from the team that started at Thame in the Oxfordshire Cup Final. Billie Bough-French, Bailee Latimer, Ellie Walecki and Kaitlyn Crouch were out and, in fact, only the latter was on the bench. in came Amber Le-beau, Amelia Davis, Anna O'Leary and Lucy White. Abingdon were playing the majority of the team that started their final league game last weekend. Mimi Hodges and Millie Hodge came in, both of whom have 20+ appearances this season for the first team in the National League South-West. Jess Southey also came into the back-line along with Maisie Moore in goal.
Abingdon defended stoutly throughout Both sides were wearing their change kits for this game, Abingdon in all blue and Oxford in all red, with United kicking towards the clubhouse end of the ground in the first half. Oxford were starting with what looked like quite an attacking line-up, including Ellie and Lucy White up front, with Emily Harris on the left. Add to that attacking midfielder Isobel Bradley and the energy of Emma Donohoe, who seems to play in all positions at once, the United defence were probably expecting a busy evening.
Having said all that, it was Abingdon who struck the first blow early on. A fifth minute through ball sent top-scorer Charlotte Bigmore clear, and she showed why she was averaging almost a goal per game with a lovely calm finish. 0-1.
City immediately tried to react to going behind, but eight minutes later, found themselves two down. Once again it was Charlotte Bigmore with the goal, this time showing great strength to hold off a challenge before lashing the ball past Keira Maskell. 0-2
So far, Abingdon's game plan appeared to be working perfectly. Two goals to the good and, despite not seeing that much of the ball, goalkeeper Maisie Moore was yet to be called into any serious action. This pattern continued to be applied throughout the half. United happy to let Oxford have the ball, but showing a resolute back-line when required. City, for their part, were knocking the ball around nicely, but finding it difficult to find a weakness in the Abingdon defence. Their passing style of play is great to watch but, this evening, the final ball was not there, either due to the solid defending or through City trying to force that killer ball.
With Oxford pushing forward at every opportunity, they were in danger of leaving themselves exposed again. This was almost the case in the 36th minute when Bigmore had a half-chance to grab her hat-trick, this time firing wide of the mark.
When the half-time whistle blew, City's bench and players headed for the changing rooms at a sprint. Clearly a lot to discuss at the break.
HT Oxford City 0 Abingdon United Development 2. The Hoops dominated possession, but couldn't find a way past a resolute Abingdon defence. Two breaks, and two classy finishes were the difference.
Having said all that, it was Abingdon who struck the first blow early on. A fifth minute through ball sent top-scorer Charlotte Bigmore clear, and she showed why she was averaging almost a goal per game with a lovely calm finish. 0-1.
City immediately tried to react to going behind, but eight minutes later, found themselves two down. Once again it was Charlotte Bigmore with the goal, this time showing great strength to hold off a challenge before lashing the ball past Keira Maskell. 0-2
So far, Abingdon's game plan appeared to be working perfectly. Two goals to the good and, despite not seeing that much of the ball, goalkeeper Maisie Moore was yet to be called into any serious action. This pattern continued to be applied throughout the half. United happy to let Oxford have the ball, but showing a resolute back-line when required. City, for their part, were knocking the ball around nicely, but finding it difficult to find a weakness in the Abingdon defence. Their passing style of play is great to watch but, this evening, the final ball was not there, either due to the solid defending or through City trying to force that killer ball.
With Oxford pushing forward at every opportunity, they were in danger of leaving themselves exposed again. This was almost the case in the 36th minute when Bigmore had a half-chance to grab her hat-trick, this time firing wide of the mark.
When the half-time whistle blew, City's bench and players headed for the changing rooms at a sprint. Clearly a lot to discuss at the break.
HT Oxford City 0 Abingdon United Development 2. The Hoops dominated possession, but couldn't find a way past a resolute Abingdon defence. Two breaks, and two classy finishes were the difference.
United threatened rarely, but made the most of their chances Oxford were back out early for the second half, going through their warm-up paces well in advance of Abingdon or the officials. Once the game restarted, they set about trying to reduce the deficit and, very early on, Emma Donohoe cut inside from the right before sending a strike in, testing that Maisie Moore was alert after the interval. She was.
Oxford continued to have the lion's share of possession, but were increasingly being tested by Abingdon. Mimi Hodges latched onto a throw-in and flashed a 49th minute strike only a few inches past Maskell's left-hand post. Six minutes later, Hodges again tried her luck, this time from 25 yards, seeing her dipping strike clear Maskell but skim the roof of the net. Those two attempts sparked Oxford into a flurry of activity. Kaitlyn Crouch, who had replaced Lucy White at the break, shrugged off a challenge before bursting up the right side, just failing to hit the target. Just past the hour, Crouch was again trying her luck, this time from further out and not missing by too much. Oxford were taking some confidence from their dominance and it really felt like the goal had to come at some point, but Abingdon continued to hold fast at the back. This was epitomised by Maisie Moore's excellent flying save to keep out another Crouch effort with 20 minutes remaining. Time was running out on Oxford, but they were carrying a fair bit of momentum now.
At this point, referee Simon Cook went down in the centre circle, clearly in some kind of pain. After some treatment he clearly couldn't continue and fourth official Robert Folly took over in the centre. The timing of that break in play was a little unfortunate for Oxford who, after the restart, had lost a little of the impetus they had beforehand. They were still seeing more of the ball than their opponents, but the chances were not presenting themselves.
With three minutes of normal time left on the clock, Abingdon put the final nail in the City coffin. Mimi Hodges picked the ball up some 25 yards out before delivering a blistering, swirling drive, that was always moving away from Maskell's despairing dive. Great strike! 0-3
To be fair, even though the game was now up, City didn't throw in the towel. Ellie White, who had herself looked to have picked up a niggle earlier, showed great skill and strength to get down the right flank, before sending over a low ball across the face of goal. Unfortunately for Oxford, the ball just evaded their on-rushing strikers. A passage of paly that sort of summed up Oxford's evening. They did, however, manage to muster up a consolation goal in the 97th minute, Yasmin Edwards finally managing to fire past Moore, 1-3, before the referee drew a close the game.
FT Oxford City 1 Abingdon United Development 3. Massive congratulations to Abingdon on an excellent all round performance. Fantastic game management from the team, boosted by those early goals. They then defended like lions, but always posed a threat when they did get forward. Oxford will have to content themselves with the Oxfordshire FA Cup and a very creditable league campaign.
Oxford City: Maskell, Hume, Davis, Le-Beau, Donohoe, Bradley, Tayman(c), O'Leary, Harris, E.White, L.White. Subs: Wellington-Faissall, Lester, Gorman, Crouch, Edwards
Abingdon United Development: Moore, Hughes, Ives, Southey, Hodge, Gray, Hawtin(c), Bigmore, Hodges, Sadler, Ward. Subs: Lopez-Catalan, Dyke, Pearce, Owen
Oxford continued to have the lion's share of possession, but were increasingly being tested by Abingdon. Mimi Hodges latched onto a throw-in and flashed a 49th minute strike only a few inches past Maskell's left-hand post. Six minutes later, Hodges again tried her luck, this time from 25 yards, seeing her dipping strike clear Maskell but skim the roof of the net. Those two attempts sparked Oxford into a flurry of activity. Kaitlyn Crouch, who had replaced Lucy White at the break, shrugged off a challenge before bursting up the right side, just failing to hit the target. Just past the hour, Crouch was again trying her luck, this time from further out and not missing by too much. Oxford were taking some confidence from their dominance and it really felt like the goal had to come at some point, but Abingdon continued to hold fast at the back. This was epitomised by Maisie Moore's excellent flying save to keep out another Crouch effort with 20 minutes remaining. Time was running out on Oxford, but they were carrying a fair bit of momentum now.
At this point, referee Simon Cook went down in the centre circle, clearly in some kind of pain. After some treatment he clearly couldn't continue and fourth official Robert Folly took over in the centre. The timing of that break in play was a little unfortunate for Oxford who, after the restart, had lost a little of the impetus they had beforehand. They were still seeing more of the ball than their opponents, but the chances were not presenting themselves.
With three minutes of normal time left on the clock, Abingdon put the final nail in the City coffin. Mimi Hodges picked the ball up some 25 yards out before delivering a blistering, swirling drive, that was always moving away from Maskell's despairing dive. Great strike! 0-3
To be fair, even though the game was now up, City didn't throw in the towel. Ellie White, who had herself looked to have picked up a niggle earlier, showed great skill and strength to get down the right flank, before sending over a low ball across the face of goal. Unfortunately for Oxford, the ball just evaded their on-rushing strikers. A passage of paly that sort of summed up Oxford's evening. They did, however, manage to muster up a consolation goal in the 97th minute, Yasmin Edwards finally managing to fire past Moore, 1-3, before the referee drew a close the game.
FT Oxford City 1 Abingdon United Development 3. Massive congratulations to Abingdon on an excellent all round performance. Fantastic game management from the team, boosted by those early goals. They then defended like lions, but always posed a threat when they did get forward. Oxford will have to content themselves with the Oxfordshire FA Cup and a very creditable league campaign.
Oxford City: Maskell, Hume, Davis, Le-Beau, Donohoe, Bradley, Tayman(c), O'Leary, Harris, E.White, L.White. Subs: Wellington-Faissall, Lester, Gorman, Crouch, Edwards
Abingdon United Development: Moore, Hughes, Ives, Southey, Hodge, Gray, Hawtin(c), Bigmore, Hodges, Sadler, Ward. Subs: Lopez-Catalan, Dyke, Pearce, Owen
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