After a successful 2008 Oatlands had an opportunity to get 2009 off to a good start against Mytchett Rangers, a team with whom we are extremely familiar and who we usually beat at home, but often struggle against away

This week’s team was a strong one, despite having a few players away and Baynezy crying off the game with a sore ankle just before kick off.

The team; Sam, Ross, Furno, Fraz, Pete, Joe, Butler, Gravy, Clarky, Jim and Pod. On the bench: Andy, Harps, Jarv and James.

The game kicked off on a pitch that was probably just about playable and extremely wide and long and we started fairly positively despite the tricky playing conditions.

Last time out against these guys we really struggled against the long ball, particularly as it was a very short pitch, but it was pleasing to see that with Furno back in the heart of the OFC defence, the first long punt from the opposition keeper was met by a commanding Furno header which sent the ball right back to the Mytchett back line.

From our perspective there were few other positives to speak of in the first 20 minutes. Both teams clearly struggled to cope with the conditions which made trapping the ball difficult, judging bounces difficult and subsequently players from both sides were made to look foolish on numerous occasions. It would be fair to say that Mytchett probably had the best of the opening quarter of the game as they were able to keep their passes more simple and on the floor more often than us.

It was Pete who had our first chance of the game, latching on to a squared ball from Jim, he dragged a left footed shot from outside the box just wide. Less than 2 minutes later we had another opportunity which their keeper palmed away following a good passage of play down the right and a cross from Fraser.

While our chances were fairly limited, the opposition saw plenty of our goal and but for some better finishing and a disallowed goal they might have been a couple up before the 30 minute mark.

It was on the 30 minute mark that Mytchett took the lead. It was a defensive misjudgement from a long ball that allowed their striker to run clean through on goal and their striker made no mistake as he closed in on goal and finished superbly, burying the ball into the top corner of the goal. 1-0 Mytchett

Minutes later, OFC were again on the rack as another defensive error was lucky not to result in OFC going 2-0 down.

The list of problems on the pitch for OFC was mounting and we were unquestionably second best in every department on the pitch, beginning to panic and very lucky not to be at least 2 goals down. Half time couldn’t come fast enough and would provide an opportunity to re-group, analyze what needed to change and get ourselves back into to a game that probably should have been beyond us.

With Phil being away, half time was a bit chaotic and involved several peoples opinions but ultimately it was the break we needed.

Following half time we managed to pick ourselves up and were far more competitive than we had been for long spells during the first half and for the first time in the match we began to look slightly more threatening in front of goal.

Despite enjoying a bit more in the way of possession we simply didn’t offer enough up front and on many occasions we’d get near to a crossing position, but fail to deliver or get near to a shooting opportunity and fail to pull the trigger. To their credit, Mytchett defended extremely well and put in countless extremely well timed challenges to break up our attacks. Our most likely means of scoring almost certainly looked like it would come from a set piece.

In committing numbers forward and our attacks coming to very little, we had to endure a number of very fast counter attacks from Mytchett and only last ditch defending and wasted chances kept the score at just 1-0.

With the clock ticking down we made our first changes of the game and bought on Jarv at left back for Pete H and James Robertson on for Pod up front.

Bringing on James almost paid off immediately as his first contribution forced an outstanding save from the opposition keeper when the ball looked destined for the net and in the minutes following his introduction, James continued to be a thorn in the Mytchett defences side forcing them to make a number of vital tackles within their own area.

With time running out we bought on Chris Harper up front and switched Jim to the left, but we continued to pose a significant threat, were forced to defend yet more counter attacks from Mytchett and the closest we came was from a superb looking free kick from Jarv which looked to have shaved the post.

Overall it was a very disappointing performance and Mytchett were unquestionably the worthy winners and look a far better side than they have been in previous years.

For us there were a number of problems; we seemed to lack desire and on many occasions we seemed to back out of challenges. We weren’t positive enough and on many occasions we hesitated in going to meet the ball, giving time for our determined opponents to nip in and seize possession. Going forward we offered nothing in terms of creativity and its hard to remember any of our strikers having a shot on goal.

At the back we played reasonably well, the goal was simply one of those things that happens at this level, but generally speaking we defended well against numerous dangerous counter attacks.

For us it was difficult to pick a man of the match, but for Mytchett, their no.6 was outstanding and won everything in the centre of midfield, forcing us to play predominantly in wide areas.

We need to pick ourselves up from this bitterly disappointing defeat because we know we are far better than the performances we have delivered in recent weeks. The hard work needs to start on Thursday at training, if you can’t make it please let Jim / Phil know so that they can plan for Thursday, if you are available for next Saturday please let Phil and Jim know.

A big thanks to those that braved the icy conditions to cheer the lads on.