Oaks Denied Win By Brixton
JC MSFL Division Two
Oakwood B 2 Brixton Old Boys 2
Sunday, 4 May, 2008
What they got was a nervy start as Oakwood took time to get into their rhythm, while Brixton’s game plan saw them try and press Oakwood back with long balls over the top.
It took the best move of the match up to that point to open the scoring. Manson and Matt Geey conspiring down the left to release Dan Abrams whose cross was poked between the legs of the Brixton keeper by Robert Bloch.
Buoyed by the goal the Oaks played some of their best football of the campaign. Blank and Geey were settling on the ball in the middle of the park while Rob Davidson was causing havoc down the right. On the left Manson and Abrams were combining to real effect while Rob Bloch was his usual menacing self. Matt Geey (in for the absent Antony Kintish) was superb up front. Holding the ball up and harassing the back four he showed real quality at the end of stop-start season for him.
Oakwood could have added more with Daniel Abrams firing marginally over after a wonderful move that saw Blank and Matt Geey release Davidson down the right and into the box.
The start of the second half was much the same and was capped with an unbelievable goal from Matt Geey. Picking the ball up 30 yards out, he drove towards goal before unleashing an unstoppable drive into the top corner. The celebrations matched the goal – wild. (Thank g-d Jamie Beale is still away. Judging on previous celebrations Matt would have had no clothes on by the time Bealo had finished with him.)
It seemed that sloppiness or bizarre refereeing were the only things that could prevent Oakwood from winning – and so it proved. The last in a long line of innocuous fouls seen by the referee resulted in Brixton halving the deficit. It wasn’t a great strike but the wall blinked and the ball filtered through and into the back of the net.
Oakwood began to tire and Brixton’s best move of the game resulted in an equaliser. Oakwood gave possession away cheaply and Brixton capitalised with a smart one-touch move down the right and delightful cross into the box that was finished by Oakwood’s player manager Jonny Beilin. It was pure bad luck and he would be the first to admit that he wouldn’t be able to reproduce the looping finish that so eluded
Anthony Bloch if he tried.
The truth is that this goal should provide all those involved in the game with further evidence that real football is the best way to win football matches. Too often players are content to charge around the pitch without thinking about the game and being prepared to put their foot on the ball. The best teams at any level are the ones who move the ball accurately and quickly to a team-mate – not the ones with the
tallest players and dirtiest midfielders.
With that in mind, the Oaks rallied and should have been in front when the ball fell to Rob Davidson 10 yards out only for the Oakwood star to blaze wide. A delightful ball from Blank found Abrams at the far post who poked agonisingly wide. Gary Bloch did have the ball in the net only for the referee to see an offside that eluded everyone else.
Perhaps the title is not meant to be, but regardless it's been an amazing season. At Christmas 2006 the Oaks were bottom of Division Three. Since that day they’ve lost only two league games and find themselves in Division One. Credit must go to the players. On their day they can mix it with anyone - as the rest of Division Two will testify.
