FREELAND UNLUCKY IN DEFEAT

Stanton Harcourt 1 - 0 Freeland A

Freeland A made a drastic improvement from the past few weeks as they went toe to toe with Division 4 high flyers Stanton Harcourt. Freeland made changes from their defeat to Eynsham with skipper Panting moving back into the heart of defence alongside Paton with the return of Lee Tomas to the side. Lee Walton joined Tomas in the middle of the park, with Hardy moving to the wing.

The first ten minutes Freeland were completely under the cosh, Ben Kibble was the star of the show, and his mazy runs were causing Freeland numerous problems. One such run resulted in him flashing a shot just wide, Gerken doing the same moments later, and then Stanton had a penalty shout after a superb Tomas tackle.

" Holden, ever the entertainer, brought the ball down and shimmied his way past a couple of Stanton players"

Freeland eventually settled into the game more, but they did not threaten the Stanton goal, but Stanton were making less chances. Footitt had Freelands first effort on goal with an ambitious strike from thirty yards which floated a foot past the post. Freeland were starting to gain confidence, this showed when Holden, ever the entertainer, brought the ball down and shimmied his way past a couple of Stanton players, again his and Bowers partnership down the left was a big plus for Freeland.

With ten minutes of the half left Stanton broke the deadlock with a very scrappy goal. A nothing cross went straight across the Freeland defence, the ball hit Bowers foot and thus crept past Lee Tomas on the line and trickled into the corner of the net.

Freeland held firm for the remainder of the half and regrouped at half time. They made a couple of changes, bringing Pyrah on in central midfield for the tireless Parker, Lee Walton moved into attack, and Chris Hicks made his long awaited comeback after breaking his ankle. The changes had an immediate effect with Pyrah controlling the midfield battle with the ever impressive Tomas.

"media comparisons of Panting and Bobby Moore seem to become more justified each week"

Freeland went close when Cox made a good save from Footitt after Tomas played him through with an exquisite pass, the rebound almost falling to Hardy with an open goal, but he could not quite react quick enough. The game became more open, and Freeland had their skipper to thank for keeping them in the game, after another Kibble run he flung himself in front of the ball to stop a certain goal. Panting was superb throughout alongside beefcake Darren Paton. The media comparisons of Panting and Bobby Moore seem to become more justified each week, shown when he gave Kibble a taste of his own medicine by rounding him coolly in his own area before setting off on a mazy run.

Another classy Panting tackle was harshly judged to have been a foul right on the edge of the area, and Cox, who had played well throughout, crashed the ball inches wide. Freeland went looking for the equalizer and Walton went so close with a stinging volley that whistled aganisingly wide. Jamie Leach then made two superb saves from Kibble to keep the game interesting.

"a fairytale finish was not to be"

Paul Law then had five minutes of madness for the home side, a shame, as he was superb throughout the game, winning every aerial battle and charging from defence to set up Stanton attacks. After a couple of fouls he saw red when he stopped Footitt from bearing through on goal. Freeland wasted the free kick, but earnt another with seconds on the clock even closer when Hardy was stopped in his tracks. Keeper Jamie Leach raced up the pitch to take the kick, but a fairytale finish was not to be as he blazed his shot high over the bar.

At the final whistle Freeland can look upon this performance with pride, as they matched a very good footballing side throughout, and if they play like that for the remainder of the season they will fancy their chances of a top three finish, and hopefully better.