On Saturday Oatlands were engaged in their 4 th game of the season and this week we were playing Emmanuel, a team we know little about as they came up from the division below us.

Although we got a win last week, it was clear that much improvement is needed and this week would be another opportunity to put things right.

Our team: Sam, Fraser, Bainsy, Sonny, Furno, Joe, Pete, Ted, Steve C, Jarv and Gravy. Andy, 2-Gun, Dan and Pete H on the bench.

Even in the warm up it looked as though we were going to struggle. It was far too lethargic, static and in the short sprints shortly before kick, some of our players lacked the vigour to sprint from the touch line to the edge of the box.

The poor and lethargic looking warm up soon manifested itself in the game as we started by playing the worst 30 minutes of football that I have seen the club play for about 2 years. At the back we simply weren’t strong enough in the challenges, resulting in opposition players wandering around in our box with the ball. We also got caught in possession while trying to dribble the ball out of defence when 6 yard pass was available. It was so bad that the players on the Emmanuel bench were pissing themselves with laughter and if it wasn’t for Sam we would have almost certainly conceded.

The poor play wasn’t entirely at the back. In midfield we got caught in possession on numerous occasions when the simple pass was on. We also failed to win anything in the air in wide areas and going forward we didn’t offer any width. Up front we created nothing.

After about 30 minutes we began to wake up and suddenly we were more competitive and began to push the opposition on to the back foot. Pete Butler came close with a couple of shots and we looked like we might pose a threat.

There was controversy at around the half hour mark. After a tussle near the touchline with Jarv, the ginger haired left back clearly head butted Jarv and I think everyone was expecting a straight red. We felt somewhat disappointed when the referee only produced a yellow - which at half time he explained was because there wasn’t sufficient contact. The referee also did little to protect our linesman who was subject to quite a bit of abuse from Emmanuel bench after an incorrect decision.

The Emmanuel bench were soon silenced though when we absolutely carved them open with our only decent piece of play all afternoon. It was a move that was started and finished by Pete Butler. After a passage of play down our left hand side, the ball fell to Pete in the centre of midfield. He spotted Joe’s run down the left and played the ball nicely into the path of Joe. Joe squared nicely across the box and Emmanuel could only half clear it to the penalty spot where Pete, who had continued his run from midfield, was waiting. He finished well with a low shot to the keepers right. 1-0 Oatlands.

Going toward half time there was little to comment on, the game was ugly to watch, full of moaning at the ref from both sides and it was at times a fairly physical encounter.

The second half didn’t really bring much else to write about either. Generally speaking, the game was fought out in midfield, neither team could manage much in the way of continuous possession and the general standard of play was also pretty low from both teams. For Emmanuel, their number 7 was probably their best player and he caused us no end of trouble with his pace and movement but he wasn’t that well supported and generally succumbed to overwhelming numbers in the OFC penalty area when he was on the ball.

Emmanuel could probably claim to have the better of the play in the second half and were looking the more likely to score. We had to defend a number of corners, they hit the bar and no.7 went close. We had a few glimpses at goal, but not really anything that could be counted as a genuine chance.

Emmanuel eventually got the goal their efforts probably deserved. I believe it was as a result of losing possession in midfield when we were pushing forward that allowed them to run at our back four, the ball was slipped through to an Emmanuel striker who was just onside, he ran at Sam and finished well with a low shot to Sam’s right. 1-1.

We changed things round a bit after they scored and Jarv, Joe and Steve Clarke were replaced by Dan, 2-Gun and Pete Hallam. This did little to change the way we were playing although we probably looked a bit more threatening and had a couple additional peeks at goal, the best of which was another Pete Butler shot which just brushed past the post.

There were a couple of mildly amusing moments in the back half of the game involving Pete Hallam doing a rugby tackle and Ted being accused of racially motivated marking by an Emmanuel player.

It wasn’t until the last minute of the game that something further to write about occurred. Pete Butler gained possession near the corner flag on the left side and after cutting inside he put one of those low “awkward to deal with” type of crosses to the back post. After eluding everyone else in the box, the ball fell to Dan at the back post who bundled it in and we were over the moon at our luck. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. The linesman held his flag aloft and despite several claims that there was an Emmanuel defender on the line the decision stood and the game finished at 1-1.

Overall it wasn’t a good performance by Oatlands and I don’t think anyone would disagree that the first 30 minutes were among the worst the club has played in a long time. Fortunately and shortly after we managed to raise our game slightly we scored with the best move of the game. From an attacking perspective we offered little in the way of creativity and didn’t make the most of the space out wide. We were unlucky to have our goal disallowed but it probably wouldn’t have been a fair result if we had won.

On the plus side, despite us collectively playing about 45 minutes of good football in the whole season, I glanced at the table this morning and we are miraculously up to 3 rd. It’s also worth noting that despite another poor performance, we didn’t lose.

Next week we play Guildford City Weysiders. We know them well and recent results between the 2 teams suggest that we usually lose the first fixture and win the second fixture against them each year. That said, last week they conceded 9 goals and this week they scored 9 goals, so in actual fact we don’t know what to expect.

A big thanks to all those that came along to support on Saturday.