Oxford City 1-3 Chippenham Town ( att : 366 )

March 7, 2020

Today is another visit to Court Place Farm, to watch the National League South match between Oxford City and Chippenham. I purchased my ticket online for £10, saving £2 on the pay on the gate charge of £12. Under 16s and students go free, and concessions are £5.

Yesterday, Oxford City announced the appointment of a new, permanent manager, with ex-Manchester City, Leicester, Oxford United and Luton midfielder David Oldfield taking over from interim managers Justin Merritt & Andy Ballard, although it was a bit vague as to when he would actually start.  Indeed, it is Merritt and Ballard in the dug-out at kick-off.

Not so long ago, Chippenham were flirting with the relegation places, but 4 wins out of 5 have moved them to the edge of mid-table obscurity, three points behind 12^th placed Oxford City.

Their squad includes Jack Self, until recently an Oxford City player, but who has moved in search of regular first team football. It was a bit of a mystery as to why he didn’t play more often, as he had struck me as one of City’s better players in their games I had seen over the last two seasons. Chippenham also have veteran lower league journeyman Chris Zebroski ( ex Torquay, Wycombe, Millwall, Cheltenham & Newport amongst others ), and goalkeeper Will Puddy had a loan spell with Oxford City in 2009 whilst a youngster at Cheltenham. Ryan Case,  whilst not quite having had had more clubs than Tiger Woods, has played for 9 different sides in the past 6 years, and was at Oxford City for a short time last season.

Oxford City’s recent form has been inconsistent, recording wins over promotion seeking Slough and Dorking Wanderers, losing to lowly Tonbridge Angels and Braintree, and drawing with relegation threatened St Albans and Billericay. On that form a win for Chippenham would be the most likely result today !

When the teams are announced, Self, Case and Zebroski all on the Chippenham bench.  Oxford City have the influential Zac McEachran back from injury, but he is only fit enough for a place on their bench. Chippenham have two youngsters on loan from Swindon ( Scott Twine & Luke Haines ) whereas City have three from Oxford United ( Nico Jones, Kyran Lofthouse and Kevin Berkoe ). There is no sign of Love Island winner Finn Tapp for Oxford City !

 In line with the directive from the FA to curb the spread of the Coronavirus there are no pre-match “fair play” handshakes, which I always thought was an unnecessary piece of political correctness anyway. Instead the teams just come onto the pitch together from the tunnel.

Oxford City start the quickest, forcing an early corner, and a free kick just outside the penalty area by the touchline, but these attacks come to nothing, and both sides are even with nothing particularly happening in the first twenty minutes.

City then give away a soft foul just outside their penalty area central to the goal, and Twine picks himself up to curl the free kick over the wall to open the scoring. The free-kick isn’t struck with a great deal of power and isn’t right in the corner, but City Keeper King, who has just been called up to the England C squad, can’t get anywhere near it. 0-1 after 20 minutes.

The game bursts into life. Chippenham have gained in confidence and immediately win two corners in succession, but City clear, and on the break create a half chance which goes into the side netting. Shortly after, the referee awards a penalty to City for a foul on Berkoe, and Ashby waits for Puddy to commit before calmly side-footing virtually into the middle of the net. 1-1 after 27 minutes.

Play continues to be frantic, Haines has a spectacular overhead kick go just wide, and from a corner a couple of minutes later, centre-back Parselle is the strongest and powers home a header from just outside the 6 yard box for Chippenham to regain the lead. 1-2 after 32 minutes.

The rest of the half is uneventful. There is one mildly amusing moment when Twine goes for a 50/50 ball and comes out worst. The ref waives play on as Twine lies on the floor looking seriously injured. 20 seconds or so later the ball goes out of play, only for Twine to jump up and stride towards the referee complaining about a free kick not being awarded, with nothing apparently wrong with him. Good to see the youngsters are being properly coached in the fine arts of the game !

The second half saw another great example of presumably, the professional coaching given at Swindon. This time it was Haines, lying on the floor close to the touchline, with what looked like cramp, and the ref allowing play to continue as it clearly wasn’t a head injury, nor was it caused by a foul. When play finally stops, rather than hobble the 5 yards off the pitch to receive treatment, Haines instead hobbles about 30 yards towards the centre of the pitch before collapsing. Play is held up for 2-3 minutes whilst he is treated, before finally being substituted. I’m sure his coaches would be proud.

Half-time sees the new Oxford City manager being presented and interviewed on the pitch. It can safely be described as dull and uninformative, so presumably Oldfield has been the recipient of plenty of media training during his professional career !

Chippenham control the early part of the second half, and Oxford City don’t look like creating the equaliser. It doesn’t come as too much of a surprise when the away side increase their lead. Again, an unnecessary foul is committed centrally just outside the City penalty box, and again Twine delightfully curls the free-kick into the same corner with King well beaten. 1-3 after 63 minutes.

McEachran had entered the fray just before Chippenham’s third goal, and he inspires a good passage of play for the home side. First, he plays a neat 1-2 to go clear, but Puddy saves well, a corner is then narrowly headed wide, a dangerous cross goes beyond the far post but the lay back is poor and intercepted, and then another cross is just too high of the incoming player at the far post. 

After this spell of pressure, Chippenham regain their control, and have a couple of more chances on the counter attack. In particular, with a 2 on 2, Twine unselfishly plays in Zebroski, whose shot is closed down. Twine also has a left footed volley from the corner of the penalty area, but it is straight at King who parries for a corner.

As the clock ticks down, City continue to play neat passing football but without any hint of creating any more chances. 

In the end, Chippenham are worthy winners, and go above City in the table on goal difference. City have a game in hand though, but on this showing Chippenham are the ones more likely to finish in the top half of the table.

Scott Twine was the outstanding player in the match, and looks to have a promising career ahead of him.

Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByxiqnSXXUo