Oatlands were away to AFC Gomshall in the season opener this weekend and it was a glorious late summer’s day in which we all hoped that we would start the new season in the manner in which we ended the last campaign.

Our last 2 games against Gomshall have both produced lots of goals, with us winning 4-1 away and then scoring an equaliser at the death at home to earn a 3-3 draw. Hopefully today would be another entertaining affair for all the supporters from both sides who came to watch.

This week’s starting 11 contained 6 changes from the team that last faced Gomshall. Out from the starting 11 were Sam, Fraz, Mike Taylor, Gravy, Clarkey and Harps and their respective replacements were Will, Sonny, Pricey, Moo, Tom L and Baynezy.

The starting 11. Will, Tom, Sonny, Furno, Baynezy, Pete, Ross, Moo, Tom L, Jiz, Jim. On the bench were Fraz, Sean, Jamie N, Jamie B and Jordy.

We started brightly and pressed Gomshall from the start and it wasn’t long before Butters had the first sighter on their goal – a shot from just outside the box that when just wide and just over.

Across the pitch we looked strong. In midfield Ross and Moo won plenty of challenges and Butler worked his way around the pitch picking up the ball and delivering it to other OFC players. Down the left hand side we looked particularly strong with Tom, Jiz and Jim all linking well.

About 15 minutes in, we had a great opportunity to take the lead. More good work in midfield meant that Jiz was able to get in behind the Gomshall back four and breaking into the box from the left hand side he was just left with the keeper to beat (PIC), although there were options from in the form of Tom and Butler (PIC), Jiz could not be blamed for wanted to take the keeper on. But the Gomshall made a great save (PIC) with his feet and the danger was averted.

Although we were probably enjoying the better of the first half, Gomshall always looked dangerous and had a pacey attacking line up. But good defending from our back line kept the danger and Will’s involvement to a minimum.

Much of our good work stemmed from midfield and it was new boy Moo who probably got through the most work as he flew into challenges, won numerous aerial battles and chased Gomshall players down all over the pitch.

We thought we had taken the lead through Jim Beckram 30 minutes in. A ball into the box resulted in a bit of a melee and Jim managing to get his new born chick like head on to the ball to direct it into the corner of the net. But it was not to be as the referee blew to indicate that an infringement had taken place in the box – of course this sparked off all the usual cries of innocence and wild protests from our players.

As the first half drew towards a close there were few chances for either side except for a few corners which saw the defences of both sides winning their respective battles.

Half time saw us make a couple of changes. Tom L, who had a strong first half came off for Fraz and up front Jiz, who did a lot of running and was unlucky not to score was replaced by Jamie B.

We again started quite brightly in the second half, and again we were thwarted early on by the Gomshall keeper who reacted well to stop Jamie’s overhead kick from close range. Unfortunately although we did start well, we quickly lost the upper hand in the game and 10 minutes in it was a very even and open game.

About 15 minutes into the second half Gomshall got the breakthrough. They hit us on the break and had a man over on the right. The player received the ball just outside our box, took a touch and finished well with a low shot that beat Will and found the bottom corner of the net. We were left to rue our earlier missed opportunities and plot our way back into the game.

We very nearly got an immediate response when Mark Jordan, now on for Baynezy down the right, put Jim Beckram clean through. Jim probably had too much time in which to pick his spot and wasn’t decisive enough and struck his shot directly at the keeper who had taken the opportunity to come out and narrow the angle well.

Gomshall might well have made it 2-0 shortly after scoring, again they broke free down our left and it was left down to Will to prevent them scoring again, Will did a good job and was out quickly making a good stop to save our skins.

To be honest it looked like it wasn’t going to be our day in front of goal. Jordy put in some great crosses from the right hand side but there was no one at the back post to sweep up and the day was pretty much summed up when Pete Butler took a very quick direct free kick and missed the target.

As the game progressed some of the OFC players seemed to tire and the game had a bit of an end to end feel about it. Despite the rather gloomy outlook there were a couple of reasonably amusing moments particularly the theatrical diving antics of both Moo and Fraz, although the referee did buy both of them it was clear from the side that if either player wants to be earning the top marks available for diving, they will need to perfect the accompanying Jim Beckram squeal.

The final minutes of the game were played out with neither team creating any clear cut opportunities and Gomshall looking fairly composed in holding on to their valuable one goal lead.

Overall the result was extremely disappointing. The performance, particularly in the first half was ok, but we failed to make the most of chances that came our way and Gomshall capitalised on theirs.

There were some good debuts for Moo and Jamie B. Moo played in centre midfield and was excellent throughout the game and Jamie made a positive start up front and on another day he might have nicked a goal.

Next week we play Windlesham. This will be a tough fixture as they have come down from the league above and will be used to dealing with a higher standard of opposition. We need to make sure we are properly up for this or our season will be over before it has even started.

Thanks to all those that made the long journey to Shere to show their support and thanks to Jamie N and Sean who didn’t get a game on this occasion