I know there's no logic to being speechless when writing a report but this was one of our worst performances in my time at Tring. Although missing Paolo Bagatti, Connor Church, Will Bisney and James Shaw through injury and with Les Barkers-Obua having moved on this squad was more than good enough to deal with our opponents.

Having been told that if we do what we do well and so do Oxhey we will win. Unfortunately apart from Ross Hazel who had a decent game we were extremely average. We had a decent shout for a penalty on Ollie Ruttle turned down in the 2nd minute and missed another good chance but from then till half time we won very few first and second balls, made too many poor passes and only determined defending kept as at 0-0. Very few tackles were won and every ricochet and poor touch resulted in our opponents regaining possession .

Playing into the breeze in the second half we started to get the ball out wider and for 10 mins looked a decent side which resulted in a Tom Shaw cross going straight in the net after good work by Ollie Ruttle who forced the keeper to take his eye off the ball.

In fairness Oxhey reacted well and too many of our more experienced players failed to get the game by the scruff of the neck and another feeble attempt at a tackle resulted in a break and a deserved equaliser.

For the rest of the half although on the back foot we looked relatively comfortable and with 10 mins to go after a peach of a pass from Callum Gregory ,Tom Shaw through on goal took one touch too many and allowed a match saving tackle.

In extra time the pitch got heavier and heavier and apart from odd free kicks neither side created much till not for the first their right winger cut in and this time paced the ball across custodian Mark Richardson.

For the second half of extra time we changed to a 3-2-1-4 but essentially lacked quality on the last ball deliveries and in the last 2 mins Oxhey sealed a semi final place with a goal on the break.

It seems that when we are underdogs we cope quite happily but this was a golden opportunity for a semi and possible final thrown away.

This Saturday we face Redhill in the League Cup last 16 and will be looking for a response not to see our season peter away.

M Richardson, J Byerley (L Gorman), N Holden, J Butler, G Terrablanche, R Mcmahon, R Hazel, C Gregory (K Goldberg), T Shaw, O Ruttle (F Hercules), J Naylor, Sub unused M Bulpit.

Tweet