Report

Following their draw against title challengers West Wight last weekend, The Royals travelled to Newport looking to extend their unbeaten run to 3 games. It was a bright sunny morning & captain Kieron won the toss, electing to swap ends & play into the sun first half. The early stages saw the game being played out in the middle of the park with both Jacob & Ben battling hard to try & carve out opportunities for the front pairing of Henry Spencer & Jaik Holton.  The first chance of the game came after 4 minutes & fell the way of The Royals but Henry's shot was saved by the keeper. A couple fo minutes later & following a nice turn Henry created himself a half chance but unfortunately for The Royals the ball went wide of the goal. From the goal kick, Newport then posed thier first threat of the game as they went straight on the attack, but were bravely denied by Royals keeper Kieron as he dived at the feet of the attacker to claim the ball. With 10 minutes on the clock, Oakfield created 3 chances to open the scoring within a minute. Firstly, Jaik broke away before making a pass to Henry. Henry checked back before laying off to Ben who saw his shot well saved by the keeper. FRom the goal kick the fell to Ben who controlled the ball before driving in a fierce shot from outside the box which crashed off the crossbar & behind.  Again Oakfield applied the pressure from the goal kick & again it was Ben being denied, this time by the keeper pushing his shot wide of the post. Once more the game got a little bogged down in the middle as both teams looked to try & gain the advantage with Joshua & Jacob doing a fine job in preventing the home side any clear sight of goal. However, following a nice move Newport broke away with a 2 on 1 situation but as the attacker moved forward he showed just enough of the ball to Joshua who was able to make a decisive interception.  Moments later & Kieron was called into action having to save low down at the near post.  The last chance of the half fell again to the home side but the shot from outside the box went wide. (H/T: 0:0). Straight from the kick off Henry went on the attack but as he neared the penalty area the defender managed to nick the ball away & out for a throw. Just a minute later & Oakfield came the closest yet to breaking the deadlock. Tom & Henry worked themselves down the right flank by winning a series of throw-ins. Tom's final throw beat the jump of the Newport player to set Henry on his way. As he neared the bye-line Henry crossed in hard & low finding Ryan W at the far post who hit the ball first time from close range only to see the home keeper somehow save the point blank shot. Moments later & the deadlock was finally broken.  A route one pass sent the Newport striker free & as he raced towards the goal keeper Ryan S, now on for Kieron charged out & saved the shot. Unfortunately, the ball rebounded straight out to a Newport player who drilled the ball straight back past Ryan & into the goal. (0:1, 23 mins). Oakfield looked to bounce back immediately as from the re-start Henry charged forward but his shot went wide. Next it was the turn of Newport to attack but Ryan S got down well to save with his legs. A minute later & Newport hit the outside of the post, although Ryan appeared to have the shot covered. Finally Oakfield's hard work paid off as they deservedly equalised. Joshua took a quick throw in, finding Jacob who managed to flick the ball forward finding Ben. Ben surged forward beating 2 defenders, but just when it seemed he would be closed out he managed to get his shot away, beating the keeper to level the scores, (1:1, 28 mins). Having worked hard to get back on level terms, The Royals almost fell behind immediately but Ryan S did well to punch the ball away from a Newport corner. It was now end to end as the next attack came from The Royals as a counter attack saw a shot from Ben blocked, therebound fell to Jacob but his shot went wide. A minute later & a shot from Jaik forced a corner but Newport were able to clear. As the game entered the final 5 minutes a dangerous Newport counter attack was ended with a great interception by Ben tracking back.  From the Newport corner Jacob's clearance sent Jaik on his way from just inside the Oakfield half. Jaik enetered the penalty area one on one but as he took his shot the chasing defender managed to knock Jaik slightly off balance & his shot lacked the power to beat the keeper. With a couple of minutes left Newport counter attacked again which Ryan S managed to gather up the resulting low drive. Ryan's goal kick was long but the ball was pumped straight back into the Oakfield half. Joshua controlled the ball before beating the on-coming attacker as he moved forward. Joshua then laid the ball out wide to Jaik who fired in a cross but Henry was unable to get his head to the ball. With the last attack of the game Newport almost nicked it as yet another route one ball set the striker up one on one but the shot was weak & Ryan S gathered up with ease. Seconds later & the final whistle blew. (F/T: 1:1). Well played lads on yet another tremendous performance. You are staring to move the ball around really well & your shape today was good. A well done also to the Newport boys who contributed to a great game of football.