August 26, 2023
With a friend being a season ticket holder at Maidenhead United, today was the ideal opportunity to meet-up and take in my first Oxford City match of the season as the Hoops compete for the first time ever in the 5th level of English football.
These two sides last met in 2018/19, in an FA Trophy tie at Maidenhead, when the first attempt was abandoned after 75 minutes due to a waterlogged pitch, with Oxford City leading 1-0. When the tie was rescheduled, National League South Oxford City again had the edge over their National League opponents, winning 2-1 after extra time, thanks to two goals from Kabby Tshimanga, who is now at Peterborough United. Long serving midfielders Josh Ashby and Reece Fleet both appeared for The Hoops in these games, and the Magpies’ goal was scored by Nana Owusu, who went on to play for Oxford City for three seasons before joining Dulwich Hamlet at the start of last season.
The two sides played each other in the league for two seasons following Oxford City’s transfer from Conference North to South. In 2015/16 it finished in a 0-0 draw in Oxford although Maidenhead won the reverse fixture 2-1. Maidenhead did the double in 2016/17 on their way to becoming champions, winning 6-1 at home and 3-1 away.
The sides had also met in the 2013/14 FA Cup when Oxford City prevailed 1-0 at home, with Jamie Cook the scorer.
Oxford City won promotion to the National League via the complicated Conference South play-offs, overcoming Worthing 2-0 and St Albans 4-0, both at home, the latter in front of a record ground crowd of 3,100.
Although striker Klaidi Lolos left to join League Two Crawley Town, City were able to retain the core of their side from last season. The squad was strengthened with the arrival of Cameroonian striker Pierre Fonkou from Dartford, full-back Tafari Moore joined from St Albans, and ex-Blackpool and Tranmere midfielder Nya Kirby was part of the England squad that won the World U17 Cup in 2017.
Oxford City faced a tough start to the season, facing 4 former Football League sides in their opening 4 fixtures. Despite two goals from ex QPR, Red Star Belgrade and Wycombe Antiguan international Josh Parker they went down 2-5 at Aldershot, narrowly lost 0-1 at home to Rochdale, conceded in the 88th minute to go down 1-2 at home to Chesterfield ( Parker again on the scoresheet ), before clinching their first point of the season in a 1-1 draw at Halifax as Parker set-up Fonkou for a second half equalizer.
The Hoops start has not been helped by star midfielder Zac McEachran missing the 4 games with a virus but he was on the bench for today’s game although didn’t make it onto the pitch.
Maidenhead have featured once before in these diaries, in a 0-1 home defeat to Dagenham & Redbridge in September 2019, and my one other visit to York Road was 5 years earlier when they lost 0-2 at home to Whitehawk in Conference South.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2020/01/maidenhead-0-1-dagenham-redbridge-att.html
Last season, Maidenhead finished in 20th position, two points clear of relegation and at the start of the season this fixture might have been viewed as a battle between two candidates for the drop. However, the Magpies had made a reasonable start to this season, beginning with a 2-2 home draw with Fylde, then a 2-0 away win at Dorking Wanderers before going down 1-3 after the long mid-week trek to Hartlepool. Last week-end they triumphed 1-0 at home to Dagenham & Redbridge in front of a crowd of 1,132. Three points today could see Maidenhead into the top three !
Oxford City will be familiar with three members of The Magpies’ squad. In 2020/21, defender Zico Asare played a season for Oxford City after being released by Fulham, whilst centre-back Kevin Lokko and striker Harry Parsons both featured for Farnborough at Oxford City last season in a match covered by these diaries. Parsons was on loan from Swindon.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2023/03/oxford-city-1-2-farnborough-att-500-est.html
The rest of the Maidenhead squad is packed with players with Football League experience, including ex-Crawley and Southend attacker Ashley Nathaniel-George ( 7 caps for Antigua ), ex-Wycombe centre-back Will de Havilland, ex Newport, Southend, Forest Green Rovers & Colchester striker Shawn McCoulsky, ex Birmingham, Lincoln & Kilmarnock midfielder Charlee Adams, and ex Southend, Peterborough and Cheltenham Irish midfielder Kane Ferdinand.
Ex-Swindon & Ayr United midfielder Jayden Mitchell-Lawson was their most valuable player according to Transfermrkt at £175K, followed by ex-Sutton & Carlisle forward Tobi Sho-Silva at £100K. Ex-Palace youngster David Omilabu signed in mid-week with many on social media predicting he will “tear up this division” !
After a little difficulty I was able to purchase my online match ticket for £20, and paid £3.65 for a programme at the ground.
Bet365 made Maidenhead evens favourites, with Oxford City at 12/5 and the draw at 5/2.
The weather at the 15.00 kick-off time was around 20 degrees with showers forecast for later.
Maidenhead were in their familiar black and white stripes with black shorts and red socks, whereas Oxford City were not the Hoops today, playing in their all red change kit.
Maidenhead made two changes from last week, with Asare replacing Clerima at right-back, whilst on-loan Zambian Cardiff City striker Chanka Zimba replaced the injured McCoulsky. In contrast, Oxford City made just the one change, with Tafari Moore replacing Williams-Bushell for his first start of the season.
My journey to the ground was delayed by 45 minutes due to congestion on the M40 near High Wycombe. It wasn’t clear if this was due to an accident or to more traffic as a result of the train strike. As it was, I arrived at the ground only 15 minutes before kick-off and managed to get the last available parking space in the car park in Bell Street. It took me over 5 minutes to work out how to pay for my ticket though !
Oxford City had the first attack of the match but Parker’s turn and flick from close to the by-line was easily saved by ex-Woking keeper Ross. With 5 minutes played, Maidenhead won a free-kick in a dangerous position but Adams could only hammer it into the defensive wall.
Both sides were looking lively in the opening phases, and Ashby hit a 25 yard left-footed effort narrowly wide with 10 minutes on the clock.
The home side came close to taking the lead in the 16th minute as although fouled, Zimba was able to release Mitchell-Lawson down the right wing and his left-footed attempt after cutting back inside was pushed away with his right hand by Haigh, and before Smith could tap-in, Burley made an important slide to clear the ball.
A nice City move saw Coyle cross to Parker who unselfishly laid the ball off to Fonkeu, but another attempted lay off was crowded out by the Magpies’ defence.
The impressive Mitchell-Lawson was denied again by Haigh in the 20th minute with another diving save, at which point the sun burst through the clouds.
At the other end, Fleet’s flick behind the home backline found Moore is space but the ball into the centre was blocked at the expense of a corner. Ashby’s set piece found Carroll in space at the back post, but the header was weak and an easy save for Ross.
The first yellow card of the game was shown to Coyle in the 23rd minute for a foul on Asare, which was a little unusual as referee Kirsty Dowle had been reluctant to give fouls and was trying to let the play continue. Players going to ground at the slightest touch were rightly being ignored.
Maidenhead’s Beckwith then struck the TV gantry high behind the goal with a wild blaze from distance, then Pettit volleyed well over. The home side looked certain to score in the 27th minute. Mitchell-Lawson was again found in acres of space on the right and his inviting low ball into the 6 yard box looked to have presented Zimba with a tap-in, but somehow the ball ended up going wide of the post, and a corner was awarded. I couldn’t see from my vantage point, but perhaps Haigh made another vital save ?
The Hoops responded with Burley getting down the right-wing and crossing deep to Coyle, whose ball into the mixer was only cleared to the edge of the area to Ashby, but the midfielder could only screw his effort well wide. Parker then tried a snap-shot from 25 yards that bounced awkwardly in front of the keeper, who managed to palm the ball away, and Asare cleared before Coyle could pounce.
The last action of the first-half saw Mitchell-Lawson shoot over from 25 yards. Only one minute of added time was played, which was probably generous seeing there had been no delays for treatment to injuries as hardly any fouls had been given.
As the teams headed off for their half-time oranges, Maidenhead would probably have felt they had created enough chances to have taken the lead, but Oxford City had also had their moments.
The first substitution occurred in the 54th minutes as Potter replaced Fonkeu, which appeared to mean Oxford City were playing a 3-6-1 formation and looking to defend in depth. Indeed, the second half was much less open and there were fewer chances, despite the home side starting to dominate possession.
Adams sent another long-range attempt comfortably over, and in a rare counter-attack, Potter played in Moore, who after two crosses were blocked won a corner. The set-piece was delivered long to Carroll, who controlled but saw his goal-bound effort deflected off for another corner. Kirby then tried his luck from distance but the effort was straight at keeper Ross.
Magpie substitute Nathaniel-George then went on a jinking run but the final pass was poor and the danger was averted. In return Potter’s hanging cross was well claimed by Ross before it could reach Parker.
Nathaniel-George was then brought down by Kirby, who was duly booked, but interestingly, Beckwith, who was lying a couple of feet from the touch-line was forced to make his own way off the pitch to receive treatment rather than have the trainer come onto the field.
The heavens then opened and as we scurried for cover, Lokko was twice denied by a combination of good goal-keeping and brave defending by Fleet.
Nathaniel-George then went on another mazy dribble, but as a home supporter near to me said, he should have shot rather than trying to walk the ball into the net.
Smith looked to have made space on the right but Carroll made an important block, and when the ball was recycled, the Hoops centre-back made another important interception.
Mitchell-Lawson went to ground after a promising run, but predictably the referee allowed play to continue, then Zimba crashed to the floor after a challenge by Miccio, but again the ref was unimpressed, much to the fury of the home supporters.
After failing to get the better of Carroll after another robust exchange between the two, Zimba then patted Carroll on his bun, and received a yellow card from the referee for his troubles. Parker then failed to win a free kick for the Hoops as referee Pawle continued to be consistent in her decisions. In the 4 minutes added on, Adams saw yellow for a nasty looking tackle on Carroll, and when Parsons made an obvious dive in the Oxford City area, predictably play continued.
Maidenhead though did have some legitimate claims for a penalty when Ferdinand went down in the 4th added minute, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been given. However, again the referee was unmoved.
Oxford City had a chance to snatch a late winner, but Ashby’s free-kick went into the wall.
At the final whistle, Oxford City had picked up their second consecutive away draw, with keeper Haigh and centre-back Carroll taking the plaudits, and they seem to be slowly finding their feet at this level. Maidenhead will probably see this as two points dropped but they were not clinical enough in front of goal.
Finally, a word for the referee whose performance I enjoyed watching. It was refreshing to see fouls not given for the slightest touch, and attempting to keep the game flowing, and as a result the trainers did not come onto the pitch once. Had this been a Premiership game it would have been stop/start and nowhere near as entertaining to watch. Perhaps she had an early evening appointment, or had only paid for the car park up to 5pm, but when games are now finishing at close to 5.15pm, this was over just after 4.50…….
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gheAuxAM62k
Maidenhead United : Ross – Asare, Lokko, De Havilland, Beckwith – Mitchell-Lawson ( Parsons ), Ferdinand, Pettit ( Nathaniel-George ), Adams, Smith – Zimba
Oxford City : Haigh – Burley, Carroll, Miccio – Moore, Ashby, Fleet, Kirby ( Sanderson ), Coyle – Fonkeu ( Potter ), Parker
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