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Hockey Blues truimph in gritty victory

 

The Oxford team looked relaxed and in good spirits warming up, as I set up stall pitchside with the few hardened hockey fans who braved the sharp winds down at Iffley Road. Talk of that evening’s crew date and past encounters brightened up an otherwise chilly afternoon, while, on the other side of the pitch, the Cardiff Metropolitan boom box kicked into action to get their own warm up started. The Blues were looking to capitalise upon their good form and undefeated start in the Southern Hockey League to invigorate their BUCS campaign, which had seen them pick up an impressive four points from their first three games. But this would not be easy, as they were up against an energetic Cardiff team who came to Oxford on the back of a solid result against Bath and were hoping to pick up more points on the road in their third consecutive away fixture.

The Blues started the game well with some good early pressure and quick play down the wing by LMH’s Paul Bennett. This led to a penalty corner, which was duly converted by Alex Stobbart. Another penalty corner quickly followed as the Blues looked to double their advantage, and Stobbart was unlucky to see his shot just knocked wide of the goal. They continued to pile on the pressure, and a good through pass, by captain Oliver Lobo, was tapped on to Tom Mullins in space at the edge of the circle, and he easily dealt with the bouncing ball to find the top left corner. 2-0 up after just 13 minutes played; it was Cardiff, rather than Oxford, who were looking decidedly blue this 5th week.
Cardiff got their first chance with a debatable penalty corner a few minutes later, but were denied by a good save. After this, the game began to settle down with both sides trying to utilise space and width with some long passing and expansive hockey. Oxford’s third goal, scored by Tom Jackson from another penalty corner after 19 minutes, as well as more examples of excellent goalkeeping created visible frustration amongst the maroon-clad Cardiffians and tempers began to fray after a few contentious decisions. The visitors were also unable to challenge the scorers despite a decent spell of possession after the third Oxford goal. Exeter College’s Joe Mills made some well-timed tackles and interceptions in defence to maintain Oxford’s advantage and the Blues were absorbing the pressure well. With this in mind, Cardiff probably deserved the overruling of their initially disallowed goal just before the end of the first half, and, with 3-1 the score-line at half-time, neither side could complain.
Oxford started the second half scrappily, whilst Cardiff were obviously keen to add to their late first half goal and were rewarded for their efforts with a penalty corner after just 2 minutes. The resulting shot was again saved by the Blues keeper but an unlucky ricochet led to another penalty which he was, this time, unable to prevent. The Cardiff forward sent the ball high into the roof of the net to make it 3-2, with half an hour still to play. This quick goal seemed to wake up the Blues, and they once again probed the Cardiff defence with some testing passes and quick shots.
As the half progressed, fatigue was evident on both sides and wayward passing and stick control meant that neither side really gained any kind of momentum. Dark clouds moved in overhead as the game entered the last 20 minutes and Oxford found themselves pushed onto the back foot by Cardiff’s increased efforts for an equalizer. A penalty corner with eight minutes remaining proved fruitless too, and despite looking dangerous through the middle, one got the feeling that it just wasn’t going to be their day. When Stobbart dribbled smoothly around the keeper, to make it 4-2 to Oxford, as the game entered the last 5 minutes, the result was all but confirmed.
In the end, the result was perhaps a bit flattering to the Blues but they were rewarded for a strong first half performance. Having said that, they will need to cut out the sluggishness that Cardiff capitalised on so easily if they are to continue their winning streak against upcoming opponents in the BUCS.

The Oxford team looked relaxed and in good spirits warming up, as I set up stall pitchside with the few hardened hockey fans who braved the sharp winds down at Iffley Road. Talk of that evening’s crew date and past encounters brightened up an otherwise chilly afternoon, while, on the other side of the pitch, the Cardiff Metropolitan boom box kicked into action to get their own warm up started.

The Blues were looking to capitalise upon their good form and undefeated start in the Southern Hockey League to invigorate their BUCS campaign, which had seen them pick up an impressive four points from their first three games. But this would not be easy, as they were up against an energetic Cardiff team who came to Oxford on the back of a solid result against Bath and were hoping to pick up more points on the road in their third consecutive away fixture.

The Blues started the game well with some good early pressure and quick play down the wing by LMH’s Paul Bennett. This led to a penalty corner, which was duly converted by Alex Stobbart. Another penalty corner quickly followed as the Blues looked to double their advantage, and Stobbart was unlucky to see his shot just knocked wide of the goal.

They continued to pile on the pressure, and a good through pass, by captain Oliver Lobo, was tapped on to Tom Mullins in space at the edge of the circle, and he easily dealt with the bouncing ball to find the top left corner. 2-0 up after just 13 minutes played; it was Cardiff, rather than Oxford, who were looking decidedly blue this 5th week.Cardiff got their first chance with a debatable penalty corner a few minutes later, but were denied by a good save.

After this, the game began to settle down with both sides trying to utilise space and width with some long passing and expansive hockey. Oxford’s third goal, scored by Tom Jackson from another penalty corner after 19 minutes, as well as more examples of excellent goalkeeping created visible frustration amongst the maroon-clad Cardiffians and tempers began to fray after a few contentious decisions.

The visitors were also unable to challenge the scorers despite a decent spell of possession after the third Oxford goal. Exeter College’s Joe Mills made some well-timed tackles and interceptions in defence to maintain Oxford’s advantage and the Blues were absorbing the pressure well. With this in mind, Cardiff probably deserved the overruling of their initially disallowed goal just before the end of the first half, and, with 3-1 the score-line at half-time, neither side could complain.Oxford started the second half scrappily, whilst Cardiff were obviously keen to add to their late first half goal and were rewarded for their efforts with a penalty corner after just 2 minutes.

The resulting shot was again saved by the Blues keeper but an unlucky ricochet led to another penalty which he was, this time, unable to prevent. The Cardiff forward sent the ball high into the roof of the net to make it 3-2, with half an hour still to play. This quick goal seemed to wake up the Blues, and they once again probed the Cardiff defence with some testing passes and quick shots.As the half progressed, fatigue was evident on both sides and wayward passing and stick control meant that neither side really gained any kind of momentum.

Dark clouds moved in overhead as the game entered the last 20 minutes and Oxford found themselves pushed onto the back foot by Cardiff’s increased efforts for an equalizer. A penalty corner with eight minutes remaining proved fruitless too, and despite looking dangerous through the middle, one got the feeling that it just wasn’t going to be their day. When Stobbart dribbled smoothly around the keeper, to make it 4-2 to Oxford, as the game entered the last 5 minutes, the result was all but confirmed.In the end, the result was perhaps a bit flattering to the Blues but they were rewarded for a strong first half performance.

Having said that, they will need to cut out the sluggishness that Cardiff capitalised on so easily if they are to continue their winning streak against upcoming opponents in the BUCS.

 

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