Report

Oakfield entertained GKN E.Cowes at home for their final game of the season. It was a bright sunny morning & having won the toss captain Jacob Jenner elected to switch ends & kick with the sun behind them. Having not played for just over a month it didn't take The Royals long to get into their stride as they almost scored inside the first minute. However, they didn't have to wait long for their first goal as a neat ball from Ben Gardner put Jaik Holton in the clear who made no mistake from close range. As the ball nestled in the back of the net Jaik wheeled away towards the touchline lifting his shirt revealing the message, "that one's for you Josh No.6" in recognition of his team mate Joshua Urry who fractured his ankle on Monday. Nice touch Jaik! (1:0, 3 mins). As GKN re-started, The Royals immediately won the ball with Kieron Evans putting the ball through to Jaik on the edge of the box. With his back to goal, Jaik turned the defender & hit the ball first time to score his & Oakfield's second, (2:0, 4 mins). Once again from the re-start Oakfield won the ball but as they pushed forward they lost possession & a quick counter attack from GKN saw a 1 on 1 situation arise but keeper Ryan Skipper advanced from his line forcing the striker to shoot wide. The possession stats were clearly in Oakfield's favour & this time it was Jaik's turn to become provider as a neat pass to Ben Gardner on the edge of the box put him in the clear which he finished with ease, (3:0, 6 mins). Moments later & Jaik went for the spectacular as from Ben's throw-in he struck a sweet volley which went just wide of the goal. With Oakfield enjoying so much of the ball a lack of concentration saw them all pushing forward in search of a goal & following a quick clearance from the keeper, GKN surged forward but The Royals managed to track back in the nick of time conceding only a corner. From the resulting corner, Ben gathered the ball & played it out to Jaik who darted forward towards the box, but with Ryan Winter free to his right Jaik opted to shoot forcing the keeper to put the ball behind for a corner. Moments later & following good work from Ryan Winter down the right, a whipped in cross was turned behind for another Royals corner as both Henry & Jaik closed in on the ball. Ben swung the resulting corner in from the left but unfortunately for the GKN defender he sliced his clearance managing only to flat foot his keeper & divert the ball into his own net, (4:0, 9 mins). Oakfield were dictating the game & were attacking well down both flanks as both Henry Spencer & Ryan Winter appeared to have the beating of their markers. The Royals almost added to their tally on 14 mins as a surging run from Ben down the right was followed by a lovely cross which found Ryan but his shot went wide.  But Ryan did not have to wait long to get his name on the scoresheet. A tricky little run from Henry Spencer down the left gave him enough space to square the ball to Ryan Winter & this time from inside the box he made no misktake, drilling the ball home, (5:0, 17 mins). Still Oakfield pushed forward in search of more goals with the closest being Jaik's cross shot which the keeper had to turn away for a corner. (H/T: 5:0). The Royals started the second half & a lovely passing move ended with Ben driving a shot towards goal low & hard but the defender managed to get in a last ditch block. The ball came back out to Tom Richards who laid it wide for Ben to cross in, but as Henry rose for the header the GKN keeper did well to catch the ball under pressure. With Oakfield having the lions share of possession & the majority of play being in the GKN half the visitors were being restricted to only half chances on the counter attack. On 26 mins, another forward run from Jaik, twisting & turning was stopped short as he was up ended a yard outside the box. Jaik stepped up to take the free kick but the ball flew high & wide of the goal. With Jacob Jenner in fine form at the back, keeper Ryan Skipper was becoming a mere spectator, but he needed to be alert to preserve his clean sheet with a save following a 1 on 1 situation. This time it was Oakfield's turn to go 1 on 1 as Jaik broke from the half way line but he dragged his shot wide as the keeper came out to close him down. Despite their attacking dominance The Royals just could not add to the goals they scored in the first half, but on 36 mins they were presented with another good opportunity as Jacob charged down the right before laying the ball off to Ben. Ben cut inside & was brought down just outside the box. Having dusted himself down, Ben stepped up to take the free-kick but the shot was blocked, resulting in the ball pinging around the box. It was finally half cleared to Tom Richards who was stood mid-way inside the GKN half, who hit the ball first time, only to see the it just go over the bar with the keeper beaten. That was to be the closest Oakfield would come to scoring in the half as the game fizzled out with The Royals ending the campaign with a convincing vistory. (F/T: 5:0). A solid performance boys which saw you as good as win the game inside the first ten minutes. Well played!