Written by Dave Chapman, Saturday 24th September 2011.
Whilst the scoreline might flatter St Clements slightly, the fact is that both sides played their part in an excellent game of passing football, the like of which is rarely seen by two teams at this level.
Ultimately, the difference was that the Oxford team had a sharper cutting edge up front, and although the St. Andrew's defence generally coped well with whatever came their way, it was two glorious goals from the St Clements No.20 and a fortunate deflected effort that gave the scoreline a more one-sided look than was actually the case. Indeed, St. Andrew's had probably the majority of possession in this game, with their new philosophy of passing up the field from the back being both attractive to the eye and suiting the skills of the new look squad for 2011/12.
Nonetheless, the first half started with St. Clements setting the tempo and they took the lead with a sublime chip from 25 yards out from the left-footed St. Clement's striker who caught Dave Chapman off his line. The goal didn't affect St. Andrew's but whilst they looked inventive going forward, there was little danger inside the St. Clement's penalty area, and the only meaningful effort of the half was a header from Scott Chapman off a corner that went over the bar.
HT 0-1
Two substitutions were made at half time, with Sam Druce coming on for Zack Keenan, and Alex Churn swapping with Wamz Kasambala. The second half was a more open affair, with a greater number of chances at both ends, however at no point were St. Andrew's ever under the cosh and they created a number of decent chances - Scott headed straight at the keeper from a corner, Alex shot just wide from distance and soon after coming on, Martin Officer almost crept the ball past the St Clement's keeper when well placed in the middle of the box. In the end, the St Clement's defence was simply better at handling whatever the opposition could throw at them than St. Andrew's were.
The second goal was a cruel one, as it followed a spell of decent pressure from the home side - the ball broke kindly following a free-kick to a St. Clement's midfielder 15 yards out whose shot was probably covered by the keeper, but caught a wicked deflection off Liam Rackstraw and looped into the top corner. St. Andrew's continued to press forward in search of the goal that would make the last 15 minutes interesting, however it was the opposition who looked more like scoring - Dave saved two shots that struck the post and St Clement's canny No.5 also hit the crossbar with a overhead volley.
St. Andrew's were however eventually floored by a sucker punch - the visitors' talented No.20 (Danny), saw the ball sit up following a breakdown and hit a stunning 30-yard volley over the head of the keeper who was on his 6-yard line, a terrific goal to finish any match.
In truth, St.Andrew's deserved a goal and will play worse than this over the season and win, so some encouragement to be had. All in all, the game was a great advert for the Chiltern Church Football League, played in a good spirit with barely a bad tackle or word over the 90 minutes.
Perhaps the highlight of St. Andrews' performance today would have been the part Josh Caine played. He was virtually flawless in defence.
FT 0-3
