Saturday, 26 July 2025

Risborough Rangers 1-1 Biggleswade United ( att : 126 ) – 2025/26 Spartan South Midlands Premier Division

July 26, 2025

The new non-league season started today, with the step 5 Spartan South Midlands Premier Division being one of the few leagues playing this weekend, ahead of most of the leagues, who recommence one or two weeks later. This gave the opportunity to make a fifth visit to Risborough Rangers, who were hosting Biggleswade United.

Risborough Rangers Update

These diaries’ last visit to Risborough Rangers was in March 2024, when they beat Milton United 4-0 and were looking at potentially making a late run towards the promotion play-offs of the Combined Counties Premier Division North, but the season fizzled out and Rangers finished in 10th place.

Manager Mark West and a number of players left in the following close season, leaving new manager Mark Jones, who had previously been in charge of Banbury United, Hemel Hempstead and Oxford City, to build a totally new squad. Unsurprisingly results were poor and Jones left the club in December 2024 to be replaced by ex-FC Romania coach Kevin Christou, and Rangers ended the season avoiding relegation only on goal difference.

Christou left the club at the end of the season and in May Rangers announced that Sam Pateman, formerly assistant manager at Leighton Town and Bedford Town had been appointed as the new manager. However, without a game being played, an announcement was made that due to unforeseen circumstances, Pateman would be unable to continue as first team manager, and instead ex-Beaconsfield Town, Northwood Town and Rayners Lane manager Gary Meakin would be taking over.

For this season, Risborough were level transferred from the Combined Counties to the Spartan South Midlands, returning to the league they played in during the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons.

Risborough Rangers Pre-season

News of Risborough Rangers’ pre-season fixtures had been scant, with just the result being notified, losing 0-1 at step 6 Buckingham FC, winning 2-1 at step 4 Thame United, losing 1-4 at step 4 AFC Dunstable then drawing 1-1 at home to step 5 Harefield United.

Risborough Rangers Squad

Details of this season’s squad were slowly being released on Risborough Rangers’ social media outlets.

The first to be announced was 35 year old striker Elliott Buchanon, who was a substitute in the 2011/12 FA Trophy Final at Wembley for Newport County as they lost 0-2 to York City. More recently he had been playing for Rayners Lane and Beaconsfield Town, so would be familiar to coach Meakin.

Ex-Rangers defender Jordan Ajanlekoko was the second announcement, returning after playing for Rayners Lane, Beaconsfield, Northwood, and Ascot United, with whom he won the FA Vase at Wembley in May 2023 in a 1-0 victory over Newport Pagnell Town.

Striker Alex Cathline, who appeared in these diaries playing for Hertford Town in 2022, was also announced as signing, having played most recently for, yes you guessed it, Northwood Town and Beaconsfield.

Pen pictures had been posted on the Risborough Rangers website, which revealed young defender Scott Walsh was the only player to have played for Rangers last season. Two more players who had previously appeared for Rangers had returned to the club, defender Fabien Etienne, who had recently played for Marlow and Holyport, and 43 year old Sierra Leone striker Manny Williams ( 1 cap ), who had enjoyed his most prolific spells with Maidenhead United, Basingstoke and Slough.

Six more of the new signings had either played for Raynes Lane, Beaconsfield or Northwood Town, defenders Oliver Sprague and Keano Robinson, midfielders Aaron Minhas and Stefan Powell, winger Mihai-Andrei Chiriac, and forward Hassan Jalloh.

Keeper Ben Bridle-Card had joined from Chatham Town and numbered Maidstone United and Sittingbourne amongst his former clubs, and midfielder Harry Stratton was ex-Aylesbury United.

Biggleswade United

This is the first appearance of Biggleswade United in these diaries. Biggleswade FC were covered in November 2022 at Thame United leading to the below comment, which is still applicable :

“The Bedfordshire market town of Biggleswade, population just over 20,000, must hold some kind of record in being the smallest town to host three football sides at Step 5 or higher, with FC and Town at Step 4 in the Southern League Division One Central, and United in the higher echelons of the Step 5 Spartan South Midlands League. All three have average crowds of at least 130. The only other town I can think of with a comparable number of clubs at this level is Eastbourne ( Borough, United and Town ), which has a population of nearly 100,000 !”

Home for Biggleswade United is Second Meadow, which is now named Verdant Stadium, which has 260 seats and a 2,000 capacity. The club were reformed in 1959 and have been playing at step 6 or higher since 1995, and have a nickname of The Commoners. Spanish journalist Guillem Balague, a regular on Sky Sports or whoever is showing a Spanish side on TV, has been chairman since 2014.

Iin 2022/23 United had their best ever run in the FA Vase, winning 5 games to get to the 4th Round Proper. Last Season United finished 8th in the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division, Striker Liam Smyth scored 21 goals, whilst Scott Metcalfe scored 14 times and Kit Brown, who has been name checked in these diaries for Barton Rovers and Hertford Town, scored 12 goals. Their average attendance was 138, with the highest of 288 being for the last game of season vs Potton United.

Biggleswade United Squad

Biggleswade United had been active on social media in June and July in announcing their retained list and new signings. In addition to Smyth, Metcalfe and Brown, 12 further retentions were announced including captain Jaiden Irish, midfield/winger Mekhi Angol, last year’s player of the season centre-back Freddie Laraman, and keeper Josh Mollison

The new signings were the return to the club of Joe Hankins after spells with Crawley Green and Dunstable Town, ex-Berkhamsted and Harrow Borough midfielder Jeremiah Luwero who was most recently with Risborough Rangers, whilst brothers Blue Joy and Will McNeill had been dual registered from Hitchin. There were two other signings, Faris Angol, brother of Mekhi and young full back/midfielder Harry Chetwood.

Biggleswade United Pre-Season

Biggleswade had been very active in pre-season, playing seven matches. They began with an underwhelming 2-3 defeat at step 6 Stotfold Development, who had been playing at step 7 last season, but responded with an 8-1 victory at Peterborough FC, another step 6 side. A 3-3 draw was played out with step 5 Moulton from the United Counties League Premier Division, who are Risborough Rangers first opponents in the FA Vase, and this was followed with a 0-0 draw at step 6 Ampthill Town.

Biggleswade United completed their pre-season preparations with three wins, a 2-1 victory at step 6 Letchworth Garden City Eagles, a 5-1 win at step 5 Yaxley United of the United Counties Premier South, and a 2-1 win over step 5 Saffron Walden Town from the Essex Senior League.

Matchday Information

The journey from Biggleswade for Princes Risborough is 60 miles and should normally take 1 hour 20 minutes down the A1M and the A 41.

The weather at the 15.00 kick was dry and overcast with some threatening rain clouds overhead. Fortunately, the rain stayed away and the game was played in pleasant conditions with a temperature of 21 degrees.

Admission was £8 for adults and £5 for concessions, and an online programme was produced for the game. A cup of tea was £1, whilst cans/bottles of beer and lager were advertised at £3.50 and a small bottle of wine £4. Hot dogs were £4 and burgers were £5.

Parking inside the ground was full, forcing Fatbear to park in the lane to the Kamtech Stadium close to the next-door cricket ground, where a game was in progress. Space in the car park had been reduced, as the tennis club had built two extra tennis courts on part of the parking lot since my last visit !

Risborough Rangers were playing in their usual all red kit, whilst Biggleswade United where in blue shirts with white sleeves, with blue shorts and socks.

Biggleswade United live streamed the match on their Facebook page.

Matchday Report

Biggleswade kicked off down the slope and immediately launched a long ball towards the Risborough left-back position. After picking up the loose ball, Metcalfe crossed towards the near post, where the ball was scrambled away for a corner. The set-piece was delivered beyond the far post where Laraman was only able to head high into the air and the ball was punched away by keeper Brindle-Card.

There was no obvious pattern to the play in the early stages as both sides struggled to make an impact.

Risborough’s first attack occurred in the 8th minute when Manny Williams got past Chetwood on the left-hand touchline and then Chiriac showed skill to get past his marker and release Etienne to the byline. Bizarrely, the bouncing cross towards the near post was headed off for a corner by keeper Mollison rather than using his hands ! The corner was played short and wasted.

The home side had a great chance to open the scoring four minutes later. A long ball was played in the direction of Cathline, who under pressure from Laraman, played a dummy, and Chiriac was able to run free onto the ball and had only the keeper to beat. Unfortunately for the home supporters, the ex-Beaconsfield winger screwed his left-footed shot horribly wide of the far post and a glorious opportunity was spurned.

Rangers were getting on top and Williams did well to bring a long ball under control and played an inside pass to Chiriac, but the shot from 25 yards was easily saved. A cross from Exauce Kifwasima was then a fraction too high for Jalloh and the ball rolled off harmlessly for a goal-kick to Biggleswade.

For a brief moment it looked like the visitors had created a good chance, but although Metcalfe flicked the ball past Risborough centre-back Sprague, the touch was a little heavy and the ball went through to the keeper before Metcalfe could latch onto it.

The referee, Joanne Harwood, was allowing a few challenges from both sides to go unpunished so there was now a nice tempo to the match, although one or two players were prone to going to ground a little too easily and squealing for free-kicks.

United captain Irish produced a cultured pass to release Metcalfe on the right but the cross from the byline was at the first defender and cleared.

A drinks break was taken on the half-hour with Risborough at this point looking the more dangerous side, and Biggleswade were yet to create a decent chance.

Stratton then tried his luck from long range but his effort sailed a couple of feet over the bar before United finally had a shot on target. Smyth took a free-kick from around a distance of 30 yards, and sent it over the defensive wall, but keeper Brindle-Card dived to push the ball away, although frankly, it was a save he should have been expected to make.  

Chetwood won another corner for United from which Carney’s header was cleared off the line. When Biggleswade reworked possession a scramble ensued inside the Rangers’ six-yard box but the home side eventually cleared. A long cross-field ball was intended for Metcalfe but Brindle-Card was alert to punch away for a throw-in.

With 5 minutes to play before the interval, Risborough had a free-kick on the left-hand side 20 yards from goal but Stretton hammered the ball into the defence wall. Biggleswade looked to break but Sam Day was outmuscled by Chiriac, who headed into the United penalty area whilst one or two Biggleswade players appealed for a free-kick. Chiriac’s shot was blocked but the rebound fell to Cathline who smashed the bouncing ball left-footed past Mollison from around 12 yards. 1-0 after 41 minutes.

The visitors forced two corners as they sought an equaliser before the break, the second after Luwero ran from close to the half-way line and played in Will McNeil, whose low driven cross was put out at the near post.

It remained 1-0 to Risborough Rangers at half-time which on the balance of play was a fair score, but Biggleswade United had got more into the game in the last 15 minutes of the half.

The home side nearly doubled their lead four minutes into the second period. Jalloh skipped past Chetwood on the left and played a ball across the goalmouth from close to the byline but the ball wouldn’t fall kindly for Cathline, who was crowded out.

A quick Biggleswade break led to a foul a couple of yards outside the Risborough 18 yard line. Smyth stepped up to side-foot but whilst he was able to curl the ball around the defensive wall, it also curled a couple of feet wide of the post.

A minute later Stratton was put clear on the United goal, but Mollison made a close-range block although a raised linesman’s flag made the save irrelevant.

The lively Chiriac went on another good run but after passing to Stretton, Laraman read the return pass and was able to clear for a throw-in to the home side.

With 54 minutes on the clock Metcalfe was well tackled by Etienne close to the corner flag. The Biggleswade made appealed in vain for a free-kick.

Three minutes late it was the visitors’ turn to waste a great chance. A flowing passing moving involving Luwero, Metcalfe and Chetwood saw a cross to beyond the far post where Day played the ball back across the goalmouth, but Smyth could only blaze over the bar from around 10 yards.

A good press from United then forced a turnover of possession deep inside the Risborough half but Irish shot over the bar from 20 yards.

Biggleswade were getting on top but a drinks break on the hour mark might have slowed their momentum. However, they were back on level terms almost right from the resumption of play. Metcalfe crossed deep from the right wing, McNeil turned the bouncing ball back across the goalmouth, but this time the ball found Day, who slammed the ball into the roof of the net from 10 yards. 1-1 with 61 minutes on the clock.

The game was now very open and Irish well to win possession and regain it back again after being dispossessed, to release Metcalfe, but the dangerous looking cross was cleared. Biggleswade then got the ball into the Rangers net as Metcalfe played a pass to Chetwood, whose low ball was turned in by Smyth, but the linesman flagged for offside against Chetwood.

The only yellow card of the game arrived in the 67th minute after Day pulled back Etienne after the Risborough left-back looked to run past him. Etienne had then attempted to kick-out at Day after being fouled, but escaped sanction for this.

Biggleswade United continued to be on top, perhaps their extra pre-season games had made them fitter at this point of the season. That said, the next good chance went to the home side as substitute Caleb Bolton weaved past Chetwood and played an inviting pass across the 6-yard line. Jalloh slid in but didn’t make a decent enough contact and could only steer the ball wide of the far post.

A long ball from Biggleswade centre-back Newman Carney promised to put Metcalfe clear but Brindle-Card came out of his area and attempted to make a clearance. His contact was poor but did enough to confuse Metcalfe, and the keeper was able to take possession and walk the ball back into his area and dive on the ball.

Day then shot wide from the edge of the Rangers area after Metcalfe did well to prevent the ball from going out of play.

 The home side appeared to get a second wind as the game entered the final 15 minutes. Chiriac sent a 30-yard free-kick well over the bar. Kifwasima then went on a good run on the left and found Chiriac, who played in Stratton, but the finish from a good position went wide of the far post.

Debutant Chetwood then had to leave the field after a short delay due to a cut above his eye, following which Stratton sent a first time 25 yarder well wide.

With 6 minutes of normal time remaining, Rangers’ keeper Brindle-Card came out of his area to deal with a long ball out of the Biggleswade defender, but his clearance was mishit straight to Smyth 35 yards from goal. With an empty net in front of him, the Biggleswade marksman could only slice the bouncing ball over the bar.

Back at the other end, Carney’s poor clearance went straight to Chiriac, but the long-range attempt was partially blocked and Mollison made a regulation save.

The visitors thought they had snatched a dramatic late winner. Substitute Angol’s shot from the edge of the area bobbled slowly goalwards with the keeper wrong footed, but the ball struck the post, and Brindle-Card dived on the ball before it could cross the line.

Seven added minutes were signalled but despite strenuous efforts neither side looked like grabbing the winner. For Risborough, Kifwasima crossed straight to the keeper after a nice pass from Walsh and Bolton sent a 25-yard effort straight at the keeper who easily saved. For Biggleswade, Angol made a pathetic dive to try and win a free-kick near the corner flag, and was rightly ignored by the referee.

Honours were even at the final whistle, and a draw was a fair result at the end of an entertaining game. Risborough had looked the better side in the first period, but Biggleswade had edged the second half :

Online Programme : https://www.risboroughrangersfc.co.uk/news/biggleswade-united-programme-26725-2929774.html

Risborough Rangers : Brindle-Card – Kifwasima, Robinson, Sprague, Etienne – Chiriac, Jalloh ( Walsh ), Ajanlekoko, Stratton – Cathline ( Bolton ), Manny Williams ( Chukwama )

Biggleswade United : Mollison – Chetwood ( L. Williams ), Laraman, Carney, Baker – W. McNeil ( Angol ), Day ( Hankin ), Irish, Luwero – Smyth, Metcalfe ( Owusu )

 

 










 

Saturday, 19 July 2025

Oxford City 5-2 Charlton Athletic XI ( att : 185 ) - 2025/26 Pre-Season Friendly

July 19, 2025

The 2025/26 pre-season friendlies continued as a Charlton Athletic XI visited Oxford City. With Charlton’s 1st XI squad on a trip to Slovenia, today’s opposition would comprise of players from their Under 21/Under 18/Development Squads. Looking at both Charlton’s official website and their Twitter account, there was no mention of this game today, just the friendly against HNK Gorica in Slovenia, so it was unlikely there would be any Charlton supporters watching the game…….

Charlton Athletic

Charlton were promoted last season after winning the League One Promotion Play-Off with a 1-0 victory over Leyton Orient at Wembley, so will be playing in the second tier Championship this season.

Home is the 27,111 capacity The Valley, which at one time was the largest ground in England. However, financial issues forced Charlton to leave The Valley early in the 1985/86 season to groundshare with Crystal Palace, before finally returning to a refurbished Valley in December 1992.

In the meantime, homeless Charlton, who are also known as The Addicks, had remarkably achieved promotion to the top level of English football for the 1986/87 season. Play-offs were introduced for the first time that season, and involved the side that had finished third from bottom against the third, fourth and fifth placed sides in Division Two. After beating Ipswich Town 2-1 on aggregate in the semi-final, Charlton survived against Leeds United thanks to two extra-time goals from Peter Shirtliff in the third match between the two sides.

Charlton were eventually relegated at the end of the 1989/90 but returned to the Premier league after a dramatic penalty shoot-out against Sunderland in the 1997/98 play-off final after a 4-4 draw. Charlton were immediately relegated but bounced back with promotion at the end of the 1999/2000 season.

Under the leadership of Alan Curbishley, Charlton became a solid premiership side, and finished 7th in 2003/04. After Curbishley left the club, Charlton were relegated at the end of the 2006/07 season

Charlton Squad For Today

The most experienced players in the Charlton line-up were 19 year old midfielder Henry Rylah and Fijian Under 20 defender Joshua Laqeretabua, both of whom had made 8 appearances for the first team. Midfielder Alan Mwamba had made one appearance in the EFL Trophy.

Defender Ollie Hobden had been on loan to Chatham Town in 2023/24 and keeper Lennon MacLorg had joined The Addicks from Rochdale.

Watching Charlton

Fatbear had been to The Valley on one occasion, watching Brighton and Hove Albion win 1-0 on New Year’s Day in 1985, with Gary O’Reilly scoring the winner.

The fixture at the Goldstone Ground in October 1985 saw Charlton win a remarkable game 5-3. The one notable feature was a young Martin Keown, on loan from Arsenal, having to play up front for Albion due to an injury crisis, and despite looking totally out of his depth, managed to score a goal. The return at Selhurst Park in February 1986 was an entertaining 2-2 draw, with Robert Lee and Mark Aizlewood on target for Charlton, and Dean Saunders and Steve Penney scoring for Brighton.

Further visits to Selhurst saw Ralph Milne inspire a 4-3 victory for Charlton over Watford in April 1987, which went a long way to securing the relegation play-off slot despite goals from Luther Blissett and Mark Falco for Graham Taylor’s side, and in May 1989, Charlton beat Wimbledon 1-0 as a goal from Carl Leaburn moved the Addicks out of the relegation zone.

The final visit to watch Charlton at Selhurst Park was a 2-1 win for Brighton in February 1991 with Robert Codner and Mike Small on the scoresheet for The Seagulls, with Charlton’s goal coming from Alex Dyer.



 

Oxford City Update

Oxford City had announced that they would be moving to training sessions during the day for the 2025/26 season, which had led to the departure of a few key players whose occupations had meant they would not be able to commit to these sessions. Consequently, Reece Fleet and Canice Carroll had left and joined National League South side Chippenham Town, Lewis Coyle had joined newly promoted Bedford Town to also play in National League South, and striker Corie Andrew had also left to join another National League South side, in his case Maidenhead United.

Defender Aaron Drewe had joined National League side Woking, whilst talented teenage defender Phil Croker had signed for League Two Crewe Alexandra. Guyana internationals keeper Kai-Mckenzie-Lyle and centre-back Jalen Jones had also left the club, with the destinations currently unknown but there was also no news over defender Andre Burley.

Oxford City’s retained list consisted of Josh Ashby, Zac McEachran, Tom Scott, Jacob Roddy, Jayden Carbon, Josh Parker and Alfie Potter.

New signings announced so far were striker DJ Campton-Sturridge, who had played in National League North last season for Farsley Celtic and Hereford United, and winger Jack Bearne from Hednesford United. Home grown midfielder Latrell Humphrey Ewers, who had impressed two seasons ago in the National League for The Hoops had rejoined the club after spells with Bath City and Taunton Town.

Oxford City were yet to announce the signing of a new goal-keeper for the season, which had meant 17-year-old Max Treml had played every minute of the pre-season so far, having been with Easington Sports last season.

The pre-season games had also heavily featured several of last season’s promising Development side as well as the predictable number of trialists. Brayden Daniel, Josh McDonnell and Charlie Bacon had all enjoyed successful loans at step 4 sides Thame United, Didcot and Kidlington respectively last season, so may be added to this season’s first team squad.

Three pre-season friendlies had been played so far, with a 4-0 win at step 5 United Counties League South Premier Division side Easington Sports, a 2-3 loss against a QPR XI, and 3-2 victory over step 3 Banbury United. Today was The Hoops first home friendly.

Charlton and Oxford City Links

There have been a small number of links between the two sides.

The Hoops’ veteran Antiguan striker Josh Parker had played 13 games for The Addicks in 2019 including starting the 2018/19 League play-off final victory over Sunderland at Wembley, whilst two Charlton youngsters were loaned to Oxford City to help with their bid for survival in the National League in 2023/24.

Jacob Roddy signed on loan in December 2023 for one month, which was subsequently extended to the end of the season. He played at left-back, centre-back and left midfield and looked lively going forward, and after being released by Charlton late in 2024 joined Oxford City on a permanent basis.

Defender Seydil Toure signed on loan at the start of January 2024 and looked to be a very promising right-back. However, strangely he was recalled by Charlton after two games but didn’t seem to go anywhere else or play for their first team.

Maybe one or two of today’s Charlton side might return to Marsh Lane on loan later this season !

Matchday Information

According to AA Route Planner, the journey from The Valley to Marsh Lane is 94 miles and should normally take 1 hour 50 minutes. However, the kick-off was delayed 10 minutes due to the late arrival of the Charlton team bus.

Tickets for today’s game had been reduced to £5 for adults and £1 for concessions. A large cup of tea cost £2.40.

The morning rain had subsided so on arrival the skies were overcast and the temperature was 24 degrees. However, just as the match was about to start it started raining again.

Charlton were playing in their traditional red shirts with white shorts and red socks. Oxford City were in their change kit of all green.

It was a busy day for the Trialist family. Oxford City started with four trialists, a goal-keeper and three defenders, with two more on the bench. Charlton had one trialist starting and five as substitutes.

Matchday Report

The opening minutes were cagey, with the first action coming in the third minute when Parker headed on a long ball but Charlton right-back Ethan Brown was alert and headed back to his keeper. Bearne then cut-in from the right-wing onto his left-foot but his goal-bound effort was headed off for a corner by Charlton centre-back Max Kuczynski.

Oxford City should have opened the scoring in the 7th minute. McEachran weaved his way into the Charlton area but saw his shot parried by keeper MacLorg. The ball fell to Bearne but the winger could only put the ball wide from 10 yards with the goal gaping.

Charlton were then first seen as an attacking force when Brown released Rylah down the right wing, but the pull-back went behind Emmanuel Sol Loza. Toby Bower kept the move alive, but when the ball bounced across the City penalty area, left back Trialist B headed away from Rylah.

Bearne and Roddy then combined nicely but Bearne’s blasted low cross was blocked by a Charlton defender. When The Hoops reworked possession, McEachran’s low 25 yarder was held by MacLorg.

In the 13th minute the lively Bearne got to the byline but his cross was too close to the keeper. However, the ball slipped through MacLorg’s hands, but the keeper was able to recover before the lurking Parker could prod into the net.

Three minutes later it was Parker who got to the byline, but his pull-back went behind Bearne. Back at the other end Mwamba played Rylah into the right-hand channel but the shot went well wide.

Oxford City continued to put the Charlton defence under pressure and eventually Trialist B won a corner.

With 21 minutes on the clock, Oxford City won possession near the half-way line and swiftly moved forward, but Bearne’s pass intended for Potter was intercepted and Charlton were able to clear.

Rylah then produced a delightful cross-field pass to send Brown raiding down the right wing but his cross was blocked for the first corner to Charlton. The delivery from Bower was overhit and the ball rolled out for a throw-in to the home side.

A pass from Potter found Roddy near the right-hand touchline. The ex-Charlton player cut back onto his left-foot and crossed towards the penalty spot, where Parker’s glancing header gave the keeper no chance. 1-0 after 25 minutes

At this point the falling rain became noticeably heavier.

Charlton nearly produced an immediate response when MacLorg’s long kick looked to have put Keenan Gough clear, but the Charlton captain had used his arm to control the ball and the referee awarded a free-kick.

Rylah disposed Scott in the middle of the park and ran towards the City penalty area, but Trialist D ( number 18 ) shielded the ball back to the Oxford City keeper and Rylah was injured in the process.

In the 35th minute, Mwamba played a splendid reverse pass to give Rylah a sight of goal, but the effort was fired across the goal and went wide of the far post. Rylah tried his luck again a minute later, but this time his 25-yard attempt went a yard wide of the post.

With half-time approaching McEachran and Parker linked up, resulting in McEachran’s shot from just inside the area being blocked.

Rylah continued to pose problems for the Oxford City defence, and his low cross from the right went across the face of the goal but with no team-mate up in support to apply a finishing touch. The last action of the half saw Brown’s low cross mis-kicked by one of the Oxford City centre-back trialists but the ball looped high into the air for the keeper to claim.

Oxford City led 1-0 at the break and may have felt they could have scored more goals, but Charlton had also had their chances.

Charlton made three changes for the start of the second half, with Rylah and Brown, probably their two most impressive players in the first period being taken off, along with Bower. These substitutions quickly had an impact but not in the way The Addicks were hoping for !

City won the ball in midfield and the ball was worked to McEachran inside the Charlton area. McEachran could have shot but instead drew the defender and slipped a pass to Ashby. Likewise, Ashby beat a sliding defender before sending the keeper the wrong way. It was a classy goal, and Oxford City now led 2-0 after 47 minutes.

McEachran then waltzed past some static defending, including sending Kuczynski the wrong way, before slamming the ball into the top corner. It was now 3-0 with 49 minutes played.

The rain had just about stopped as Charlton kicked off again. The visitors enjoyed a good period as Trialist A made a good run down the left, forcing City’s Trialist B to made an important defensive header, after which Ashby cleared the danger.

Charlton substitute Paris Lock then ran at the retreating City defence, but his shot from the edge of the area was straight at the City keeper, who saved low down at this near post. Sol Loza then saw a shot blocked for a throw-in before Lock shot weakly wide from a good position after good build up play. Charlton then made four more substitutions and lost some of their momentum.

 

City substitutes Campton-Sturridge and Daniel combined to find substitute trialist number 9, who turned on the edge of the area but his shot was blocked for a corner. Bearne’s delivery bounced across the goalmouth and with two City players diving in an attempted to make a header, the keeper was deceived and the ball rolled into the corner of the net. 4-0 after 70 minutes.

Charlton’s response was to make two more substitutions, making it 9 in total, and City quickly nearly added a fifth goal but Campton-Sturridge put the ball wide after a substitute trialist had crossed from the right.

Charlton grabbed what appeared to be a consolation goal, when Trialist A, who had a decent game overall, put in a good left-wing cross and another trialist ( number 15 ) side-footed home from 6 yards. 4-1 with 79 minutes played.

Charlton were finishing strongly, but a free-kick from just outside the area was slammed into the defensive wall by Lock, who shortly after made a run into the Hoops area. Roddy and a trialist dived in attempting to tackle Lock, but the ball trickled into the opposite corner with the keeper wrong footed. The announcer gave the goal to Lock, but from where I was standing it looked like an own goal. In any case, Charlton had now pulled the score back to 4-2 with 89 minutes with the scoreboard clock showing 89 minutes played.

It wasn’t the end of the scoring though, and in added on time Campton-Sturridge ran from just inside the half-way, beat two defenders, and was slightly fortunate that a rebound fell into his path, but Campton-Sturridge rounded the keeper and prodded into the empty goal from a reasonably tight angle. 5-2 after 91 minutes.

The referee’s whistle to end the game blew to end a very entertaining game.

Oxford City : Trialist A – Roddy, Trialist C ( Moir ), Trialist D, Trialist B ( Trialist ) – Scott, Ashby, McEachran ( Daniel ), Potter ( Campton-Sturridge ) – Bearne ( Bacon ), Parker ( Trialist )

Charlton Athletic XI : MacLorg – Brown ( Laqeretabua ), Findley ( Trialist ), Kuczynski ( Trialist ), Bower ( Trialist ) – Rylah ( Lock ), Gough ( Hobdon ), Mwamba ( Cheetham ), Safa ( Trialist ), Trailist A – Sol Loza ( Trialist )