Chinnor Exiles Res - League (04/05/2008)
2007 - 2008 Season, Afc Hithercroft



Baz, Tyrone and Jason failed to appear at the meeting point before this game and after Pat had phoned them Brain Lewis collected Jason from his home and Des went to the ‘turnpike’ to pick up Baz and Tyrone. Come 10 o’clock Des returned to the Pedestal as Baz & Tyrone had failed to show but another phone call confirmed that they had since arrived so Pam & Des went back for them. As Hithercroft had arrived with little time to spare they were unable to warm-up properly before the start. Afc Hithercroft needed to win or draw this match in order to finish in 4th place in the Division. They were without Frank Smith, keeper Neil Stretton, Luke Revell, Mark Charman, Dan Birch and Josh Peters. The weather was overcast and a few spots of rain fell at the start but in the latter stages the skies brightened up but a strong cross-wind continued throughout the game. The referee was Mr D. Hook and Ken Johnson ran the line for Hithercroft.

The game began at 10.38am with Dan Allman taking on the goalkeeping role. Just before three minutes had been played Chinnor were ahead when Danny Warner struck the ball from the edge of the 18-yard box over Dan’s head into the Hithercroft net. In the 23rd minute Hithercroft played the ball down the middle, Ryan Forbes touched the ball on to Baz and Baz hit the ball past the Chinnor keeper to put the visiting team back on level terms. Chinnor made a substitution in the 28th minute, replacing one of their players who appeared to have pulled a leg muscle. On minute later the referee had words with the Chinnor No.15 and Ryan following an argument over a Chinnor tackle. In the 39th minute Kevin Howell gathered the ball on the half-way line, took it forward and jinked round a number of defenders before hitting the ball inside the right-hand post for a great individual goal and so put Hithercroft into a 2-1 lead. Two minutes later the Chinnor goalkeeper, who had sustained a rib injury earlier when he went down on the ball as Tyrone was about to play it, left the field and a replacement came on to take up the goalkeeper’s role. One minute before the half-time whistle Danny Warner hit a powerful short-range shot at the Hithercroft goal but Dan reacted well to tip the ball over the crossbar.

The second half began at 11.31am and in the 47th minute Baz tried a 25-yard shot that passed just over the crossbar. The keeper’s subsequent goal-kick went straight to Kevin, he took the ball out left, came back inside through the defenders and sent the ball into the far right-hand side of the net to give Hithercroft a 3-1 lead. On 51 minutes Tyrone came off for attention to a leg injury but, after returning for a few minutes, was unable to continue and so Ken Johnson came on as his replacement in the 54th minute with Pat Vaughey taking over as linesman. Baz hit the crossbar with a 25-yard shot before, on the hour-mark, Danny Warner gathered the ball on the left, avoided Jason as he came across and hit the ball past Dan into the net to reduce the deficit. Four minutes later Dwayne Blake sent the ball forward, Kris Clark took the ball to the left but sent his shot outside the top left-hand corner of the net. Ten minutes before the end of the game Chinnor sent a long ball down the middle, the Hithercroft defence stopped as two Chinnor players appeared to be off-side but Mat Bragger ran on to hit the ball into the Hithercroft net as no off-side flag was shown. Three minutes later Dan Allman denied Chinnor from scoring again when he used a foot to deflect a goal-bound shot out of play.

With the result being a 3-3 draw Afc Hithercroft finished in 4th place after a season that contained some excellent results but even more disappointing ones.


Hithercroft scorers: Baz David (23m), Kevin Howell (39m, 48m)

Hithercroft’s M.o.m: Kevin Howell

Hithercroft team: Dan Allman (GK), Kris Clark, Jason Guy, Dave Ebberson, Dwayne Blake, Jamal Blake, Michael Louise, Baz David, Kevin Howell, Tyrone Francis, Ryan Forbes
Hithercroft subs: Ken Johnson replaced Tyrone Francis (54m)