Old oak's disappointing run of results continued with a 3-3 draw following and impressive second half come back by the homes side & some erratic reffering decisions.
Making two changes from the side who had been well beaten by AFC Marlow the previous week, Luke carter returning in place of Uni-bound Patrick Searing and Simon Hawken replacing Matt Burton in the defensive ranks. Manager Gunnell elected to change the formation to a 5-3-2/3-5-2 with Carpenter playing on the left hand side of 3 centre backs alongside the aforemetioned Hawken and Matt Gunnell. Shadbolt and wilkinson filling the wing back postions with Rodgriguez, JP & Ebberson completing the midfield trio. The starting eleven completed with Carter returning upfront to partner Coker.
The early exchanges should few chances for either side, Oak adjusting to the change in formation whilst the conditions no doubt made it difficult for both sides to string passes together. An early corner for eachside came to nothing as defences began the game on top. Shadbolt beginning the game in impressive fashion linked up well with carpenter and piercey to beat his man only to see his cut back cleared just before it reached Carter. Following more good work down the left hand side from shadbolt who forced a corner, produced the games first real chance, the lions keeper unable to collect the ball and following the ball taking several deflections it fell at the feet of centre back Gunnell who tried to scoop the ball over the two defenders on the goalline, unfortunatley the ball sail harmlessly over the crossbar. Oak gained control of the match in the 17 minute, following a break down the left the ball fell to coker who saw his shot deflected into the path of the on rushing wilkinson who swept the ball home from the penalty spot 1-0. Oak bouyed by the goal, gained control of the game with the midfield of trio in contol, however the pitch was continuing to not help either side with F C Lions best work being produced down the left hand side, simon hawken and tom wilkinson on the guard to deal with several attacks. A deserved second goal arrived on 34 minutes, following and excellent run from ryan coker who beat 3/4 defenders before rounding the goal only to be brought down as he was about to roll the ball into the unguarded net. Referee hurst had not option but to point to the spot, surprising that there was no card for the keeper(to the letter of the law it should have been a red card for stopping a goalscoring oppurtunity, that said a yellow would have been sufficient), following cokers discussion with manager Gunnell about penalty taking duties, Piercey calmly stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way 2-0. A third oak goal arrived on 37 minutes, Shadbolt picking up the ball just inside the lions half delived a support cross which beat two defenders reaching ryan coker who finished first time with a side footed volley 3-0. It must be added from my perspective, this was my best favourite goal this season, Superb cross and finish, well done lads. With the remaining minutes of the half being played out in the centre of midfield, Oak headed into the break with a seemingly comftable 3 goal advantage.
As per every week the message from the sidelines and also from Coker was the game wasnt over, never a truerer word spoke with what happened in the second half. Within a few minutes of the restart a ball down the right hand side saw the right winger cut inside and was clipped by the unfortunate caprenter, with the referee pointing to the spot for the games second penalty. The lions midfielder confidendently stepped up to send Summers the wrong way 3-1. The goal unsettled the oak and within seconds of the kick off Lions could have reduced the arrears further, a loose pass resulting in gunnell and hawken doing well to avert the danger, however trouble was not far round the corner, 6 minutes after the first penalty, the refferee awarded a second Lions penalty, the ball being played down the right hand side, Summers reacted well coming of his line to win the 50/50 challenge and deflect the ball away, there was a coming togehter with the momemtum of both players saw them colide, to everyones surprise Hurst who was back on the half way line awarded a penalty. This was an absolute howler of a decision, the fact that no Lions players appealed and even a number of supporters on the touchline could not believe it had be awarded. Despite the Old Oak's appeals for the decison to be overturned, again the Lions midfielder(this time number 10) stepped up to calmly slot home 3-2. With lions now in control, manager gunnell switched the formation to a 4-5-1, with Barlow replacing Carter and Ryan coker being asked to play as a lone striker. Intially the changes had no affect as following a ball not being cleared the ball feel again to the lions centre midfielder who shot through a crowd of players into the far corner despite the best efforts of keeper Summers 3-3. Once the third goal went in the game became more streached with both sides having equal share of the play, with final balls or crosses either not reaching the intended target or players narrowly failing to get on the end of them. Lions best chance came when the left sided midfielder/forward broke clear on a couple of occasions, once missing his kick in a good position & on the second occasion being denied by a last ditch challenge by Barlow. As the game that had been played in good spirit drew to a close, fruastration on both sides was in danger of boiling over( i happen to think reffering decisions where at the centre of this), Coker and Lions centre back where involved in a late scuffle which resulted in the ball being thrown at ryan, whilst barlow was on the end of a split lip following a stray elbow from a lions player. Jonny piercey recieved the games only yellow card for disent late on as an exiting game for the neutral ended in a 3-3 draw.
Well done to the lions who capitalised well following the penalty decision and forced a Liverpool champions league 2005 style comeback, and showed that they are a force to be recond with. I feel that without the ref's decision for the second penalty we would have one this game, that said as several of you mentioned after the game we need to stop throwing away decent leads as this has cost us a number of points in previous weeks.
Well done to simon Hawken who won man of the match voted by his team mates.
