After a great comeback against Elstead last week, Oatlands would be looking to build on that and hopefully put in a similar display against FC Shepperton. This week there were a couple of changes to the line up with both Ryan Kent and Jamie unavailable for selection. As a result Jamie N and Dom started. Sonny also made his second start this season.

The team: Will, Sonny, Dom, Furno, Baynezy, Pete, Moo, Tom L, Jordy, Jamie N and Jiz. On the bench. Spooner, Pod, Sean, Simon.

I missed the start, but thankfully I didn’t miss much in the opening five minutes. Upon arrival we were playing badly and Shepperton were dominating. From our perspective it looked like we didn’t know how to pass the ball in a straight line and with the correct application of power over the relatively short distance of ten yards and within 10 minutes of being at the game we must have made about 10 completely unforced poor passes to the opposition to put ourselves under pressure.

Shepperton were dominating the possession early on for 2 reasons; firstly, we kept giving the ball to them when we had possession and secondly, they were under literally no pressure at the back when in possession, they then easily bypassed our midfield like water going through a sieve and then thankfully they would run into one of our defenders.

There are some places where silence is important like in a library, during an exam or at a funeral or wedding. One place where silence isn’t good is on a football pitch. Again, like our ability to keep possession or put in a meaningful challenge our on pitch communication was non existent.

In spite of all our problems there were a few glimmers of light. Tom was playing well down the left and the defence had pretty much ensured that Will was a spectator for most of the first half.

Our best spell of the game was just before the break. We strung a few passes together and it looked like we may have realised the shortfalls of the rest of the half and would wake up and make a real fight of it in the second. It was during this period of the game that we took an underserved lead. A disastrous moment of indecision by the Shepperton keeper allowed Jiz to nip in and toe the ball away, before setting himself up to score in the unguarded net. 0-1 Oatlands.

The second half started in a similar way to the start of the first half with Shepperton on top and OFC playing poorly.

Again we were just getting it wrong in every aspect of the game. In a game where the referee was going to let just about anything go, we just could motivate ourselves to get stuck into the opposition and too often when players lost the ball it looked like there was little desire to go and win the ball back.

While Oatlands performance was not in the least bit amusing, the performance of the referee was absolutely spot on. He may have been better suited to a Dads Army uniform than a referee’s kit, but I can’t recall a single mistake being made and that was despite the fact there seemed to be some form of invisible fence that kept him in the centre circle for the whole game. Most amusing was the moment when he simply shouted out to both teams to stop their bloody whinging.

10 minutes into the second half and Shepperton were level. There was a bit of a melee in the OFC box and the ball broke loose on the edge of the area. With time and space available, the Shepperton player picked his spot and finished with a nicely taken looping shot which beat Will. 1-1.

15 minutes into the second half and we were all but done in an attacking sense and it was now a case defence vs attack and seeing if Shepperton would snatch another.

Will saved us once with a brilliant stop in a one on one, Baynezy and Sonny both heroically cleared off the line, but it looked like the writing was on the wall for Oatlands who were now playing the majority of the game in their own half. It was a corner that saw the home team take the lead. The ball went into the area and was only partially cleared. The ball dropped at the feet of a Shepperton player who had time to turn and finish well with a shot that was drilled into the corner of the net. 2-1 Shepperton

We made some changes toward the end bringing on Pod, Sean and Simon, but it made no difference at all and with about 5 minutes left Shepperton killed us off with a 3 rd.

Overall it was an abysmal team performance by Oatlands and we were well beaten by an industrious, tidy and determined Shepperton side. From our perspective, we failed to get the basics right with some extremely poor play in possession, lethargic efforts to win the ball and a total lack of meaningful communication. It was probably the worst we have played in over a year.

We need to move on from this. We are clearly better than our efforts today and let’s just hope that this was a one-off.

Next week we are at home to Lightwater United. We need to win, but if we don’t up our game it’s going to be another tough and disappointing week.

Thanks to all those that came down to watch and cheer on the lads. Next week there will be eggs, gravel, cabbages and old fruit that you can throw at the players who play badly.