Villa surrendered their unbeaten start to the season with a poor defensive display against second placed Old Chelmsfordians which saw the two teams swap places in the table.
The three previous matches had seen Villa defend resolutely but a late withdrawal on the morning of the match saw an enforced change at the heart of the defence as well as a change in the forward line with Dave Cornwell and Jamie Cracknell being replaced in the starting line up by Sam Colley and Alex Milne respectively. However Gavin Woolfenden was back between the sticks for the home side.
Villa started slowly and OC’s looked threatening going forward albeit without creating any clear cut chances with their forwards not hitting the target when in good positions. Terling were frustrated by this and inexplicably and unusually were bickering amongst themselves which didn’t help in settling the home side into the game. Having said that the best chance of the first half was created by Villa when Alex Milne broke clear of the defence only to drag his shot wide of the goal when well placed.
More chances fell for the visitors, one a particularly good header at the far post which grazed the crossbar before Tris Woolfenden was denied by a fantastic save by the visitors keeper. As was similar in the weeks previous fixture, goalkeepers were to play a big part in this game also but unfortunately albeit both for mistakes.
The bickering and negative comments were still audible to all and OC’s were to take advantage of this when Woolfenden was guilty of losing concentration when handing out a verbal volley to a teammate when the ball was still in play. OC’s quick thinking midfielder noticed the home side keeper out of position before lobbing the ball from fully 30 yards over him and albeit for all his efforts the ball nestled in the net.
With half time soon approaching it was important for Villa to get back on terms and that was achieved through the ever reliable Woolfenden whose free kick from 20 yards was too hot to handle for the OC keeper as it squirmed through his grasp and into the net.
The second half started with a belief that Villa could get back on top of their opponents but that belief was short lived when a poorly uted offside trap was breached with Daz Douglas unable to track his man after being found the wrong side of his man, for all his efforts he couldn’t retrieve the situation and Villa were 2-1 down.
It seemed now that every time one of the sides attacked both sides looked vulnerable and when a long hopeful punt up field found Woolfenden his strength in holding off two defenders brought Villa another equaliser as he rolled it past the oncoming keeper.
However that proved to be the last time Villa were to be level in the game when a seamlessly safe situation cost Villa another soft goal. Ben Agar Hutton broke up an OC attack and in giving the ball to Scott Winning in a central position there looked to be no danger. However the Villa man inexplicably tried to turn in a dangerous area only to have his pocket picked and OCs were in on goal. Gav Woolfenden did well in saving the initial one on one effort but unfortunately for Winning and his team mates and on rushing OC forward was on hand to place the loose ball into an empty net.
3-2 soon became 4-2 when an OC free kick evaded everybody and ended up in the far corner of the net with no Villa playing reacting in an attempt to clear.
Woolfenden was on a one man mission to not give up on the situation however and when he tricked his way into a yard of space from his marker his wicked cross was missed at the far post when Steve Webb had an easy tap in to reduce the arrears. That miss proved costly as Woolfenden grabbed his hat trick goal minutes after when shooting through the goalkeepers legs to make the score 4-3.
Villa were forced into a number of changes soon after and it was one of these subs who should have secured a point when AJ Samuels found himself at the far post with the ball at this feet. Air kicking his first effort, his second should have really found the net but alas the ball went high and wide and that condemned V
