April 18, 2022
Easter Monday saw Oxford City make the 65 mile or so journey to Chippenham looking to maintain their bid for a top 3 finish, and home advantage in the play-offs. Have an Easter break in Lacock, myself and Mrs Fatbear were able to make the short journey to attend the match.
Chippenham have been mid-table for most of the season and entered today’s encounter in 12th place, possessing a 7-3-7 home record that Boeing would be proud of, which included impressive wins over Dorking Wanderers ( 4-1 ) and Dartford ( 4-2 ). Remarkably in a tight division, they were just 3 points off 7th place and a play-off place with 5 games remaining but were 15 points behind Oxford City.
Manager Mike Cook left the club on April 9th by “mutual agreement”, with Gary Horgan, an ex-Chippenham player, stepping in as interim manager for the rest of the season. The general feeling on Chippenham’s Bluebirds Fans Forum was that Cook had done a decent job with limited funds and a small squad suffering from injuries, to achieve a respectable position in the league, and to be well clear of any relegation worries.
Chippenham had lost their only game under Horgan, a 0-3 reverse at second placed Dorking Wanderers, and before that had lost 1-2 at home leaders Maidstone United.
The reverse fixture between the two sides in December finished 1-1, which was also the score in the only encounter between the two sides in the abandoned 2020/21 season, as well as Oxford City’s last visit to Chippenham in 2019/20. Chippenham’s visit to Court Place Farm that season, which was just before the pandemic, was featured in these diaries, as inspired by on-loan Swindon Town teenager Scott Twine, Chippenham deservedly won 3-1. Twine clearly looked destined for a higher level, and after a subsequent successful loan spell with Newport County, joined MK Dons on a permanent basis and has so far scored 16 times as they press for promotion from League One.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2020/03/oxford-city-1-3-chippenham-att-366.html
This was my first ever visit to Hardenhuish Park, or the Thornbury Surfacing Ltd Stadium as it is now officially known as, which has an official capacity 3,000 and is part of a sports complex including the town’s Cricket, Hockey, Bowls and Tennis clubs. Arriving 40 minutes before kick-off, the small car park for the football club was already full and cars were already starting to park on the main road. Instead, we went to the cricket club and parked in their small car park and walked over to the football ground.
Entrance was £13 for adults, concessions £9 and under 16s went free if accompanied by an adult. Programmes were £3 from a shop before the turnstiles, but there was a 10 minute queue to get into the ground as only one turnstile was in operation.
Once inside the stadium, a tea/food bar was immediately in the left-hand corner, with a club shop to the right, beyond which were covered seats behind the goal. The main stand was next to the food stall and beyond that was the bar, with a small terrace in front of it. For a while we stood in front of this terrace by the wall by the side of the pitch but were informed by a steward that once the game started we weren’t allowed to lean against the wall for health and safety reasons, as it collapsed a couple of years ago. Also, drinks were allowed outside the bar, but only in the small area in front of the bar entrance.
Another tea-hut was in the far corner so we headed there for a pre-match tea and coffee, and watched the first half on the far side of the ground under a cover that stretched down the full length of the pitch. Despite the haphazard nature of the ground, I thought it to be quite charming.
The other notable feature of Hardenhuish Park was the distinct slope, which not only went down but also into the right corner from the top end.
After two very warm days, the weather at kick-off had dropped to 13 degrees, but by the end of the game had risen to 15 degrees.
Oxford City played down the slope in the first half, and had the better of the early exchanges. First, Iaciofano forced a good close range save from Chippenham keeper Henry, and from the subsequent corner, was first to react to a knock-down to score from 6 yards, but the effort was chalked off for offside.
Chippenham then had most of the possession in the first half but were mostly restricted to half chances. Striker Jordan Young shot well over from a good position, Russe headed straight a the City keeper, Young then headed harmlessly over the bar and Mehew shot a few feet wide from outside of the penalty area. The closest to a goal was a powerful 20 yard shot from the lively ex Bristol Rovers and Yeovil Town Brazilian midfielder Santos which brought a superb save from Dudzinski to fingertip over the bar.
City’s best response came in the 28th minute when Iaciofano was put in space down the left, and his cut-back found Harmon on the edge of the Bluebirds area, who had the vision to see Benyon free on his right and laid the ball off, but unfortunately for City the shot crash down from the bar but not over line. McEachran then ran from half-way to the edge of the Chippenham area but sliced his effort high and wide.
Chippenham though continued to have the edge, with the tussles down the left between full-back Spencer Hamilton and Iaciofano being one intriguing aspect of the match, and whilst ex Bristol Rovers youngster Luke Russe looked a talented player, he was clearly a very poor referee as all of his complaints to the officials were so hilariously incorrect. Not that any side with Iaciofano in their line-up can take the moral high ground when it comes to moaning about refereeing decisions !
With the game goal-less at the interval, Chippenham would have felt they had been the better side, but the best chances had fallen to Oxford City. We headed for the bar at half-time, and despite being pretty crowded I was able to get served almost immediately, with a glass of white wine and a pint of East Coast IPA coming to £8.30.
The game had a dramatic start to the second half as Chippenham scored within two minutes of the restart. Welshman Alex Bray, ex-Swansea, Plymouth, Rotherham and Forest Green, ran at the City defence, but they backed off and allowed the Chippy midfielder to send a shot into the top corner leaving Dudzinski no chance.
For the
neutral this effectively ended the game as a spectacle. Although Iaciofano had
one half chance with a header that was deflected over, the Hoops struggled to
break-down a well-organized defence, and keeper Henry did not have a single
shot to save in the second half. After taking off McEachran, City lost their creativity from midfield, and looked ill-at-ease attempting to play a long-ball game.
Chippenham were content to sit on their lead and play possession football, although Santos came close 12 minutes from time with a fierce shot that cannoned back off the crossbar. Otherwise, it was a sterile half, and City probably wouldn’t have scored if they had played to midnight. Not that Chippenham would have cared about that, as on the day they were the better side and fully deserved the three points. Chippenham’s sponsors gave the man-of-the-match award to Hamilton for his sterling defensive efforts, and I wouldn’t disagree with that decision.
The result saw Chippenham climb up into 8th in the table, but still 3 points off a play-off place as Havant and Waterlooville took advantage of three red cards for Eastbourne Borough to snatch three late goals to win 3-0. Although Dartford lost at home to Maidstone, Ebbsfleet’s 2-1 win at Concord Rangers meant that Oxford City are now 5 points off third place with 4 matches still to be played.
Chippenham Town : Henry – Hamilton, Richards, Parselle, Greenslade- Russe, Mehew, Hanks, Santos, Bray - Young
Oxford City : Dudzinski – Dasilva, Asare, Rowan, Harmon – Coyle ( Bancroft ), Ashby, Fleet, McEachran ( Potter ) – Iaciofano, Benyon ( Owusu )
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZqTG6DbAkY
No comments:
Post a Comment