Sat 7th Mar 2020
Spartan South Midlands Premier Division
Oxhey Jets 2-0 TAFC First team
Oxhey Jets (1)2.Tring Ath (0)0
First of all the excuses/reasons. In the 24 hours before the game we lost Kevin McManus, Stepen Ebonine and Paolo Bagatti. On top of that Connor Blake and Will Salmon played whilst not being 100% fit.
We were also on the wrong end of 2 penalty decisions not given, one in each half.
Having said all that the players were told before the game we had no more "free hits" and though there is an amount of goodwill remaining if they expect to play at this level they have to prove they can. Unfortunately, too many didn't!
Oxhey Jets are one of a number of strong well set up teams in this Division who had beaten Colney Heath and this was their 6th straight win so confidence was high.
Over the 90 mins Oxhey were good value for the win and in the first half they started well and scored in the 5th minute when they outflanked down our right hand side and although Dave Saunders parried the initial shot he could do nothing about the follow up. Within 10 mins we had a couple of chances to equalise when Clem Asante just failed to lift the ball over the keeper and then had a strong shout for a penalty turned down. Joe Naylor then cut in and curled a shot over the junction of the far post and crossbar. But that was it for 45 mins.
To be fair Oxhey were much better than us for the first 25 mins and either dragged us up the pitch when playing short from ex-Tring Ath custodian, Matty Evans in goal, or when they went long we weren't decisive enough in winning first and second balls and either moved the ball too slowly or played across a pitch which was, not surprisingly, sticky. Our opponents made far more correct decisions and having hit the bar they were very good value for a half time lead, indeed potentially we could have been 2 or 3 behind. We had improved after the half hour but all this did was stem the tide.
Having asked questions of ourselves as a Management team we asked the team to press high onto the Jets defence and this together with the fact they were leading meant they were longer on virtually every occasion.
We now had our fair share of possession and were a touch unfortunate when a Joe Naylor cross was spilled only for it to go just past 2 forwards waiting for a tap in. We certainly weren't dominating but also restricted Jets to the odd cross or long distance strike.
To show how new this team is we introduced 2 Club debutants, Melvy Nsomi and Callum Shortt who both did well and Callum set up a good chance for Jack Sunderland who scuffed his short wide.
With 10 mins left we combined to give a second goal away when a clearance was played down the middle, instead of wide, we failed to, win the first ball and their lively centre forward scored. Score 2-0.
Ollie Butler who filled in manfully at the back put a header over the bar and Jack Sunderland wasted a good opportunity to put in a decent cross with 2 forwards waiting and the referee blew the whistle on our poorest performance to date.
Write this one off, hopefully after 4 consecutive away games we can turn a receding corner at home on Tuesday against Wembley.
Team: D.Saunders. M.Habashi, O.Butler, L.Barkers-Obua, J.Cowan, W.Iroegbu (J.Sunderland), W.Foley (C.Short),C.Blake, W.Salmon (M.Nsomi); J.Naylor, C.Asante.