Crowmarsh Youth FC 6 v 1 Oxford Blackbirds – Sunday 7th February.

In their first game since midway through December Crowmarsh were hoping they wouldn’t be too rusty, but they made the slower of the starts with the first real chance falling to Oxford Blackbirds. In the 5th minute a scorching short from just outside the box looked destined to go in, but to Crowmarsh’s relief it was the side netting that rippled.

This woke Crowmarsh up and within a couple of minutes they were mounting their first serious attack. Sam Beaumont hit a shot from the edge of the box which was fumbled by the goalie, but with Matthew Stirling bearing down on him the keeper just managed to gather it safely back up.

2 minutes later and a great cross from Kai Thomas was just too far ahead of any of the advancing forwards, but Crowmarsh were starting to grow in confidence and could sense that a breakthrough would come soon. This came in the 18th minute when Ed Seares won the ball on the left wing before racing through 1-on-1 with the keeper and knocking an unstoppable shot into the back of the net.

This finally settled Crowmarsh down and just before half-time Sam Beaumont scored 2 goals in four minutes. The first was a cracking free-kick from 25 yards out which went straight into the top of the goal and then a clearance landed at Sam’s feet which he knocked past the defender before racing through on goal and coolly slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 3-0 to Crowmarsh.

Crowmarsh had one final chance in the first half and a winding run by Ed Seares saw him go past 2 defenders before hitting a stinging shot, but this time the Blackbirds’ goalie made a great save.

Crowmarsh began the second half as they ended the first, with Ed Seares going on another of his winding runs through the Oxford Blackbird midfield before laying a perfectly weighted ball into the path of Sam Beaumont who struck it calmly into the bottom corner to make it 4-0 to Crowmarsh.

If anyone thought this would finish the Blackbirds’ team off they were wrong! Within 3 minutes they made the perfect response, winning the ball wide on the left before passing it to Matthew Wild who hit a fantastic shot from the edge of the area into the top left hand corner, reducing the deficit to 4-1. This gave Oxford Blackbirds a boost and they started to create more chances, but a strong and confident Crowmarsh defence and midfield managed to keep them at bay.

The next ten minutes was end to end stuff until, in the 47th minute, Will Hayes received the ball on the left and headed for the Blackbirds’ goal, going past 4 or 5 defenders before being brought down in the box for a penalty. As a reward for his fantastic run he took the spot-kick himself and smacked it into the bottom left corner giving the keeper no chance, but the teams celebrations were cut short as the ref ordered him to retake the penalty because he hadn’t waited for the whistle. Everybody watched nervously as he stepped up again before thumping the ball just inside the right-hand post and this time it did stand, 5-1 to Crowmarsh.

With 5 minutes to go Sam Beaumont found himself racing through on goal again and he looked certain to claim his 4th goal as he knocked the ball past the advancing Daniel Jennings, but somehow he managed to get down and knock the ball to safety - just one of many great saves made by the Blackbirds’ keeper throughout this game. There was nothing he could do three minutes from time, however, when Sam Beaumont was played through again and this time he made sure he scored his fourth to make the final score Crowmarsh 6-1 to Crowmarsh.

This had been a great game of football which, at times, was closer than the scoreline suggested - very well done to both teams.