Twin Oaks FC U12's V Old Dorkinians U12's
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8th Oct 2005 Time 24 Ltd |
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Twin Oaks FC U12's 4
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Old Dorkinians U12's 4
West Humble Playing Fields
Twin Oaks third away game of the season saw them up against a so far unbeaten Old Dorkinians side. The match was played on a dry Saturday morning on a smaller than average sized pitch with matching smaller than average sized goals.
With Twin Oaks on a high from the previous week’s performance against Billingshurst, they were soon brought back down to earth as Old Dorkinians scored after only 2 minutes with the very first attacking play of the match. This early wake up call seemed to kick start Twin Oaks into action and during the next 10 minutes of the game they started to dominate the midfield play and apply some attacking pressure on the oppositions defence.
On 12 minutes Twin Oaks were soon back in the game with an excellently taken goal from Luke. The lack of width in the pitch meant that a lot of the play was confined to the middle of the park and a resulting ball from the centre of the midfield was chased down by Luke who moving into the box was then able to expertly lob the ball over the keeper and into the net. 1-1 the score.
The next phase of the game saw both sides regularly mounting attacks and it seemed only a matter of time before another goal was scored, but by which team. Twin Oaks had several near misses and Old Dorkinians managed to hit the bar before a Twin Oaks attack towards the end of the first half resulted in a penalty kick.
On 25 minutes, Ben, attacking down the right hand side of the pitch was tripped by a defender as he entered the area and the referee had no option but to award a spot kick. Ben picked himself up and took the resulting penalty, calmly placing the ball past the keeper to make it 2-1 to Twin Oaks.
With time running out in the first half it seemed that the away side were going to go in at half-time in the lead. However Old Dorkinians, kept pressing forward and with only a couple of minutes left, were able to squeeze in an important equaliser. 2-2 at half-time.
Twin Oaks started the second half well and seemed to now be controlling the game. Like the first half you knew that another goal was coming but this time you felt it must be Twin Oaks that would score it. Midway through the half they obliged. A ball played into the Old Dorkinians six yard box, from the right was cheekily clipped into the net by Harry. Advantage Twin Oaks, 3-2 ahead.
Old Dorkinians continued to battle away but it was Twin Oaks who now had the upper hand. A fourth goal scored in a similar fashion to his first by Luke had surely wrapped up the points for the away side and at the same time inflicted the first league defeat of the season on the home team. Luke’s well taken lob over the keeper had now made it 4-2 to Twin Oaks.
With some 12 minutes left of the game Twin Oaks suddenly seemed to take their foot off the pedal and this ultimately proved to be their downfall. Although 4-2 down Old Dorkinians never gave up and with Twin Oaks seeming happy to just play out the rest of the match the home team managed to break through, what had up until now, been a strong Twin Oaks defence and score a third goal. The score was now 4-3 with some 8 minutes left.
Even at this stage Twin Oaks still looked likely to hold onto the win, but Old Dorkinians never give up attitude resulted in a period of late attacking play. One such attack resulted in a highly debatable penalty kick being awarded. An attacking player running onto a ball played into the area had seemed to have played the ball too far ahead of himself but as his run took him past the last defender he fell as if tripped by the last defender. The referee pointed to the spot and with less than 5 minutes of the game left the penalty taker slotted the ball into the net.
4-4 the score.
Twin Oaks realising the game had slipped from their grasp pressed forward in search of a winning goal. They came close on a couple of occasions and they were very unlucky not to score in the dying seconds when a thunderous long range effort from Grant was just tipped over the bar by the keeper.
The final result was 4-4 in a game that Twin Oaks know they should have won.
You could blame the size of the pitch, or the referee’s decision to award the late penalty to the home side, but I think the moral of this story is that you have to realise that the game is not over until the final whistle is blown.
Goalscorers - Luke 2, Ben, Harry
M.O.M - Liam & Tim