Chinnor Sports - League (18/01/2009)
2008 - 2009 Season, Afc Hithercroft



It was cold but sunny for this home match against Chinnor Sports who played in an all-blue kit which necessitated Afc Hithercroft to play in all red. The referee, Mr Robert Reid, was not happy with the lining-out of the pitch and so Des went over the lines before the kick-off. There were many absentees for Hithercroft who were without keeper Neil Stretton, Tyrone Francis, Ryan Forbes, Ross Drabble, Niko Catigoudis, Mark Charman, Jason Guy and coach Brian Lewis. Luke Revell took the goalkeeping duties, Harry Young began running the line and Dan Allman was the other sub.

The game kicked off at 10.39am with Afc Hithercroft playing from right to left when viewed from the clubhouse. After 4 minutes the Chinnor No.9 pushed the ball across to their No.4 who hit the ball into the net from close range. Three minutes later Pat Vaughey took over the linesman’s duties from Harry. On 22 minutes Luke Revell hit his goal kick directly to the Chiinor No.10 who ran forward and hit a shot from about 10 yards out but Luke deflected the ball round the post. Chinnor went 2-0 ahead on the half-hour mark when their No.4 hit an angled shot into the far right-hand side of the net. Four minutes later Frank Smith, from out near the left-hand corner, crossed a ball to the near post and the Chinnor keeper, standing on his line, fumbled the catch and the ball ended up in the back of the net. On 35 minutes Harry Young went on to replace Jamal Blake, followed three minutes later by Dan Allman replacing Shakib Latif who had injured his knee. Just before the half-time whistle the Chinnor No.4 hit another angled shot to score his hat trick and give his side a 3-1 lead.

Four minutes into the second half, which began at 11.30am, Chinnor’s No.5 crossed the ball in from near the bye-line and, despite Luke’s call, Dan Allman’s attempted clearance header saw the ball go into the Hithercroft net. One minute later Hithercroft came close when Zeesham Ullah centred the ball and Harry Young tried to chip it over the keeper but failed to send it high enough. Pat Vaughey then injured his ankle and so Des Ife took over as linesman for the rest of the game. In the 61st minute Hithercoft sent the ball down the middle of the field and Harry ran through to successfully lift the ball over the keeper and narrow the scoreline to 4-2. Three minutes later Chinnor won a corner kick on the left and their No.14 put the ball into the Hithercroft net. Hithercroft began to pressurize their opponents and were awarded a number of free kicks, corner-kicks and throw-ins but were unable to gain any advantage from them. In the 87th minute Frank received the ball from the right and hit a shot at goal The keeper went down on the ball but failed to grasp it, the ball rolling into the net to bring the score to 5-3 in favour of the visitors. However, in the 90th minute the Chinnor No.11 scored to make the final result 6-3 to Chinnor Sports.

Once again this had been a match that Hithercroft could have won had they not left wide open spaces in defence and squandered many of their scoring opportunities.

Pat Vaughey announced that he was resigning as manager with immediate effect and this was the final game for the team which will now be disbanded.

Hithercroft scorers: Frank Smith (34m, 87m), Harry Young (61m)

Hithercroft team: Luke Revell (GK), Batiste Lopez, Kris Clark, John Harry, Michael Louise, Frank Smith, Zeesham Ullah, Shakib Latif, Jamal Blake, John Openshaw, Jahmel Sutton (capt)
Hithercroft subs: Harry Young replaced Jamal Blake (35m), Dan Allman replaced Shakib Latif (38m)